``It will be very heavily debated starting tomorrow,'' state Sen. Jim King said in an interview on CNN. ``It will probably be amended.''

The Senate Criminal Justice Committee is scheduled to hear the initial testimony on the measure Tuesday in the Florida Legislature which has created some of the nation's strongest open government and public records laws.

Earnhardt's widow, Teresa, asked King to file a bill to change the state's public records law to stop a newspaper's request for autopsy photographs and videos. King's district includes the Daytona International Speedway where Earnhardt was killed.

King's bill, which has the support of Gov. Jeb Bush, would make it a third-degree felony to release the records with a maximum sentence of five years in jail and a $5,000 fine.

``We're not trying to put a cloak over the right of public knowledge,'' said King, adding the measure doesn't cut off all access to medical examiner records.

``We're trying to still allow accessibility to legitimate requests for those photos,'' he said. ``While cutting off the more sensational of the tabloids or the internet folks from commercializing them.''

Earnhardt was killed in a crash Feb. 18 at the Daytona 500. Teresa Earnhardt sued Volusia County four days later to stop release of the medical examiner's photos. The next day, an Orlando Sentinel reporter made a public-records request for the pictures to help determining the cause of death.

A judge has yet to make a final ruling on the widow's request, although he issued a temporary injunction barring the photos from being released until a March 19 hearing.