Oklahoma Open Records Act
From Sunshine Review
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The Oklahoma Open Records Act is a series of laws designed to guarantee that the public has access to public records of governmental bodies in Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma Open Meetings Act 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: Oklahoma FOIA procedures
[edit] Recent news
- See also: Oklahoma transparency headlines
[edit] Transparency blocking
- Oklahoma Supreme Court's Rule Prevents Bulk Release of Case Information Oct 21, 2009
- Students seek transparency in UOSA Jun 13, 2009
- Nine Oklahoma cities fail records law test Jun 13, 2009
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
- Oklahoma Senator Pushes for Access to Police Cruiser Cameras Dec 01, 2009
- New Law Improves Access to Police Records Jun 13, 2009
- Public records should remain public Jun 13, 2009
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 Oklahoma. For more information go the page or go to Oklahoma 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 |
|---|---|
| City of Lawton v. Moore | 1993 |
| International Association of Firefighters, Local No. 2479 v. Thorpe | 1981 |
| Oklahoma City News Broadcasters Association Inc. v. Nigh | 1984 |
| Oklahoma Pub. Co. v. City of Moore | 1984 |
| Sanders v. Benton | 1978 |
| State of Oklahoma v. Migliaccio | 1996 |
| Tulsa Tribune Co. v. Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission | 1986 |
[edit] Proposed transparency legislation
[edit] 2010
Here is a list of transparency legislation for Oklahoma in 2010:
| Rating | Bill | Current Status | Progress | Information | ||||||||||||||||||||
 A | House Bill 2575 | Current Status: Z (Failed Veto override, 05/18/2010, 64-Ayes, 35-Nayes) |
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HB 2575 would have required the state Department of Education to "finalize its reporting codes and procedures by May, and then prohibited the department from changing the codes more than once a year."[1] It was vetoed by the Governor after passing both chambers. | ||||||||||||||||||||
 B | House Bill 3155 | Current Status: X(Waiting on conference agreement) |
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HB 3155 is a bill proposed by Rep. Leslie Osborn which would create an exemption for autopsy reports of homicide or unknown deaths, provided that the district attorney may choose to release some of the files. [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| A | House Bill 3382 | Current Status:X (Waiting on conference agreement) |
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HB 3382 is a bill proposed by Rep. Randy Terrill which would remove the exemption for highway patrol video recordings, excluding recordings being used in current criminal investigations. [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| A | Senate Bill 1318 | Current Status: C (Judiciary Committee) |
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SB 1318 is a bill, sponsored by Senator Patrick Anderson which would cap open records fees at $0.25 a copy for county clerks. [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| A | Senate Bill 1729 | Current Status:C(General Government Committee) |
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SB 1729 is a bill proposed by Senator Charlie Laster which would bring the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association under the public records act. [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
 C | Senate Bill 1753 | Current Status:X (Awaiting third reading) |
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SB 1753 is a bill proposed by Senator Debbe Leftwich which would restrict access to the birth dates of public employees in an effort to prevent identity theft. The bill has come under a great deal of criticism from media outlets who use the birth dates to distinguish between individuals with the same name when doing research.[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
[edit] 2009
- Main article at Proposed reforms in state sunshine laws, 2009.
- House Representative John Carey (D-Durant) proposed House Bill 1049 [1] that "seeks to clarify that police should make incident reports available to the public, even if there are no arrests." Executive vice president of the Oklahoma Press Association Mark Thomas is in favor of the bill since "the way some local police jurisdictions have interpreted the law, no incident reports are required unless someone is taken into custody". He said in some circumstances, that essentially permits “secret police actions” with no public accounting, and making it clear that incident reports are required could solve the problem. [2] HB1049 has passed the House, and moves to the Senate for further debate. [3]
- The Oklahoma House of Representatives Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee is considering a bill that would allow the chief medical examiner to withhold the public release of autopsy reports at the request of a district attorney or law enforcement agency if the records may impede an ongoing criminal investigation.[4]
[edit] Oklahoma's transparency report card
A 2008 study, BGA - Alper Integrity Index, conducted by the Better Government Association and sponsored by Alper Services, ranked Oklahoma #21 in the nation with an overall percentage of 53.10%. [5]
A 2007 study, Graded state responsiveness to FOI requests, conducted by BGA and the NFOIC, gave Oklahoma 41 points out of a possible 100, a letter grade of "F", and a ranking of 38 out of the 50 states.[6]
A 2002 study, Freedom of Information in the USA, conducted by IRE and BGA, ranked Oklahoma's law as the 37th worst in the country, giving it a letter grade of "D".[7]
[edit] Features of the law
"As the Oklahoma Constitution recognizes and guarantees, all political power is inherent in the people. Thus, it is the public policy of the State of Oklahoma that the people are vested with the inherent right to know and be fully informed about their government." [8]
Attorney General Drew Edmondson issued an opinion July 24, 2008 saying that "Written or electronic exchanges between legislators are not subject to the Open Records Act".[9]
[edit] What records are covered?
records are defined to include "all documents, including, but not limited to, any book, paper, photograph, microfilm, data files created by or used with computer software, computer tape, disk, and record, sound recording, film recording, video record or other material regardless of physical form or characteristic, created by, received by, under the authority of, or coming into the custody, control or possession of public officials, public bodies, or their representatives in connection with the transaction of public business, the expenditure of public funds or the administering of public property" [10] This specifically includes all records of the transfer of public funds. [10]
[edit] Exemptions
Notable exemptions include but are not limited to:
- Personal financial information of individuals applying for licenses
- Attorney client privilege records
- Toll booth records [10]
- All personal records, including home contact information, that would constitute an invasion of privacy[10]
- Law enforcement records, excluding arrest descriptions, crime logs, warrants, conviction information, crime summaries and radio and jail logs [10]
- Records that would create unfair advantage including business plans especially the marketing research of state hospitals [10]
- Library and museum donors [10]
- Litigation files and investigations of the attorney general and all subsequent district attorneys[10]
- Crop and livestock reports provided by farmers [10]
- Educational records [10]
- Research [10]
- Public Utilities records [10]
- Office of Juvenile System Oversight [10]
Oklahoma law does require the seperation of exempt from non-exempt material and the subsequent release of non-exempt material in records that contain both.[10]
[edit] What agencies are covered?
Public agencies include all branches of government and all state and local levels and all organizations that are "supported in whole or in part by public funds or entrusted with the expenditure of public funds or administering or operating public property". [10]
[edit] Who may request records?
Anyone may request public records in Oklahoma. [11]
[edit] Must a purpose be stated?
The law does not require a statement of purpose for records request. However, if the purpose is commercial intended fees will be charged for document collection.
[edit] How can records be used?
There is no restriction on the use of records in Oklahoma.
[edit] Time allowed for response
- See also: Request response times by state.
Oklahoma law specifies no response times.
[edit] Fees for records
For records made by an individual for non-commercial purposes, fees may only be charged for the cost of duplication of the records. For records requests made with commercial intent or for records that present an abnormally large amount of labor, fees may be charged that cover the cost of labor involved in the search and duplication. [10]
[edit] Open meetings
"It is the public policy of the State of Oklahoma to encourage and facilitate an informed citizenry's understanding of the governmental processes and governmental problems." [12]
[edit] Notable requests
[edit] See also
- Oklahoma FOIA procedures
- Oklahoma transparency headlines
- Oklahoma transparency advocates
- Oklahoma transparency legislation
- Private agency, public dollars-Oklahoma
- Oklahoma Open Meetings Act
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ↑ HB1049 history, use the "Basic Search Form" to find HB1049 and click on "Introduced" for the bill's text
- ↑ Oklahoma Press Association official wary of attempts to tweak state's Open Records Act, Enid News, January 25, 2009
- ↑ Enid News, New bill would ensure the public's right to know, February 27, 2009
- ↑ KSWO-TV, "Committee postpones open records bill", Feb 4, 2009
- ↑ Integrity Index available for download here
- ↑ Graded state responsiveness to FOI requests, 2007
- ↑ Freedom of Information in the USA, 2002
- ↑ Oklahoma Statutes 24A.2 - Political Power - Public Policy and Purpose of Act
- ↑ Open record ruling protects Legislature The Oklahoman, July 25, 2008
- ↑ 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 10.11 10.12 10.13 10.14 10.15 Open Records Act, 24A.3.1
- ↑ Oklahoma Statutes Citationized
- ↑ Oklahoma Statutes Section 302 - Public Policy
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