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Friday, January 23, 2009

Since when did state open records laws not apply to county officials?

Officials in Maricopa County in Arizona may soon have to file an internal request for county records rather than using the open records law. Citizens and journalists will still have the right to file county requests through the state's FOI process but officials would have to explain how their request relates to their job. Aren't officials considered citizens also?
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday passed a resolution to try to force other county officials to go through an internal request for county records instead of using the state public-records law.

The move was in response to what the supervisors call "excessive" requests for information from the County Attorney's and Sheriff's offices, which the county claims are overly costly.

But the County Attorney's Office claims that the new policy is a way to skirt the state's public-records law.
More here.

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