Idaho Public Records Act

From Sunshine Review

Jump to:navigation, search

Contents

WikiFOIA
Find your State
Sunshine Laws
Open Records laws
Open Meetings Laws
How to Make Records Requests
Sunshine Headlines
Across the Country or by State
Major Records Requests
Sunshine Legislation
2010
Sorted by State, Year and Topic
Sunshine Litigation
Sorted by State, Year and Topic
Sunshine Nuances
Private Agencies, Public Dollars
Deliberative Process Exemption

The Idaho Public Records Act governs access to public documents in Idaho. The law was first enacted in 1990.

The Idaho Open Meeting Law legislates the methods by which public meetings are conducted.

To learn more about how to make a public records request in this state, please see: Idaho FOIA procedures

[edit] Recent news

See also: Idaho transparency headlines

[edit] Transparency blocking

More transparency blocking news from across the country.

[edit] Litigation

No recent news. If you have news add it here

More FOIA litigation news from across the country.

[edit] Legislation

More FOIA legislation news from across the country.

[edit] Sunshine Guardians

No recent news. If you have news add it here

Other Sunshine Guardians from across the country.


[edit] Relevant legal cases

See also: Court cases with an impact on state FOIA

Here is a list of lawsuits in Idaho. For more information go the page or go to Idaho sunshine lawsuits.
(The cases are listed alphabetically. To order them by year please click the icon to the right of the Year heading)

Lawsuit Year
Federated Publications Inc. v. Boise City 1996


[edit] Proposed transparency legislation

[edit] 2010

See also Proposed transparency legislation, 2010

Here is a list of transparency legislation for Idaho in 2010:

RatingBillCurrent StatusProgressInformation
BBHouse Bill 531Current Status:Yes.pngY (Signed 04/08/2010
Legislationbar.png
       ballotpedia:Idaho House of Representatives Committeeshort.png Yesshort.png ballotpedia:Idaho Senate Committeeshort.png Yesshort.png Yesshort.png Yesshort.png Cloudyshort.png
9

HB 531 would exempt from records requests all personal information submitted to hunting and fishing regulatory agencies for the purposes of obtaining hunting licenses and permits. This bill is designed to counteract harassment of hunters by animal rights organizations. [1]

Sunshine Review:WikiProject Proposed state sunshine legislation/Stub pages and implementation#Transparency ratingCSenate Bill 1346Current Status:Yes.pngY(Signed 04/12/2010)
Legislationbar.png
       ballotpedia:Idaho Senate Committeeshort.png Yesshort.png ballotpedia:Idaho House of Representatives Committeeshort.png Yesshort.png Yesshort.png Yesshort.png Stormyshort.png
9

SB 2346 would exempt from the Idaho Public Records Act nutrient management plans, submitted to the Idaho Department of Agriculture for the purposes of maintaining water quality. The bill would place the plans under the current exemption for trade secrets. [1]

BBSenate Bill 1378Current Status:Yes.pngY (Signed 03/31/2010)
Legislationbar.png
       ballotpedia:Idaho Senate Committeeshort.png Yesshort.png ballotpedia:Idaho House of Representatives Committeeshort.png Yesshort.png Yesshort.png Yesshort.png Cloudyshort.png
9

SB 1378 is a bill being considered by the 2010 Idaho legislature that would exempt the home addresses and telephone numbers of police and correction officers, judges, and probation and parole officers from public records requests. The bill is designed to protect the home lives of these officials and prevent retaliatory crimes from being committed. [1]


[edit] 2009

See also: Proposed reforms in state sunshine laws, 2009

In 2009, Idaho lawmakers changed the Idaho Public Records Act (Idaho Code § 9-340). After the change, the code says that records relating to a retired law enforcement officer's application for a concealed weapons permits are exempt from disclosure. Records relating to concealed weapon permits for non-retired police officers were already exempt. The change means that records of retired police officers are now on a par with the records of any other applicant in the state.[1]

[edit] Idaho's transparency report card

A 2008 study, BGA - Alper Integrity Index, conducted by the Better Government Association and sponsored by Alper Services, ranked Idaho #44 in the nation with an overall percentage of 39.20%. [2]

A 2007 study, Graded state responsiveness to FOI requests, conducted by BGA and the NFOIC, gave Idaho 50 points out of a possible 100, a letter grade of "F", and a ranking of 24 out of the 50 states.[3]

A 2002 study, Freedom of Information in the USA, conducted by IRE and BGA, ranked Idaho's law as the 25th worst in the country, giving it a letter grade of "C-".[4]

[edit] Features of the law

"Every person has a right to examine and take a copy of any public record of this state and there is a presumption that all public records in Idaho are open at all reasonable times for inspection"[5]

[edit] What records are covered?

According to the Public Records Act statute, all records are presumed to be open records.[6]

[edit] Exemptions

Exceptions included:

However, if a record contains both exempt and non-exempt information, departments are still required to release the non-exempt information[6]

[edit] What agencies are covered?

According to the Public Records Act all agencies that are considered part of the government of Idaho including both state and local agencies are covered with the exception of the state militia. [6]

[edit] Who may request records?

See also: List of who can make public record requests by state.

Any person may request public records in Idaho. "Every person has a right to examine and take a copy of any public record of this state" [7]

[edit] Must a purpose be stated?

The Idaho PRA does not require a purpose to be stated and further allows a degree of anonymity with the exception of preventing the records from being used for mailing lists.

[edit] How can records be used?

The only restriction on the use of open records is the creation of mailing or phoning lists.[6]

[edit] Time allowed for response

See also: Request response times by state.

The PRA requires a department to respond within three business days to any request by either granting it or denying it. If the department feels that the request may take longer they may extend the time to ten days by notifying the person in writing[6].


[edit] Fees for records

Fees can include duplication costs whether paper or digital [6] as well as fees associated with cost of the staff time consumed by the search [6]

[edit] Open meetings

To read more about open meetings in Idaho, please see: Idaho Open Meeting Law

"The people of the state of Idaho in creating the instruments of government that serve them, do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies so created. Therefore, the legislature finds and declares that it is the policy of this state that the formation of public policy is public business and shall not be conducted in secret."[8]

[edit] Notable requests

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

Sunshine Review
Collaboration tools
Toolbox