FRANKFORT, Ky. (June 29, 2021) – Attorney General Daniel Cameron today announced that his office filed a regulation to establish a new standardized form that the public may use to make open records requests on public agencies subject to the Open Records Act. The form fulfills the requirements, under House Bill 312, that the Attorney General’s Office publish a standardized form. Although public agencies must accept a request using the form, the public is not required to use the form to make a request under the Act.
“Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed House Bill 312, which requires our office to develop a standard form for statewide open records requests,” said Attorney General Cameron. “We fulfilled this statutory duty by filing regulations to create the form, and we invite the public to comment on both of these regulations.”
To comply with the new law, Attorney General Cameron filed an emergency regulation, 40 KAR 1:040E, which will take effect immediately. The regulation titled “Standardized Open Records Request Form” provides agencies and members of the public with access to the form. In addition to the emergency regulation, Attorney General Cameron also filed an identical ordinary regulation under the same name, which will replace the emergency regulation after the adoption process is complete. To view the proposed standardized open records request form, visit our website.
To assist public agencies, Attorney General Cameron has also issued an advisory, which can be viewed here. The advisory outlines recent statutory changes to the Open Records and Open Meetings Acts so that public agencies may ensure they comply with the law.
Those wishing to submit a public comment or speak at the public hearing on the emergency and the ordinary regulation may email Marc Manley at marc.manley@ky.gov. The public comment period for the emergency regulation, 40 KAR 1:040E, ends at 11:59 p.m. on August 31, 2021. A public hearing will occur at 10:00 a.m. on August 22, 2021, at the Capitol East Complex, 1024 Capital Center Drive, Frankfort, Kentucky, 40601 in Conference Room A.
The public comment period for the ordinary regulation, 40 KAR 1:040, ends at 11:59 p.m. on September 30, 2021. A public hearing will occur at 10:00 a.m. on September 22, 2021, at the same location.
To view the proposed emergency regulation and ordinary regulation, visit the Legislative Research Commission’s website here.
Attorney General Cameron is committed to ensuring government transparency by assisting citizens and public officials with compliance of the Open Records and Open Meetings Acts. The Attorney General’s office has prepared a guide to Kentucky’s open records and open meetings laws.
In addition to developing a standard form for open records requests, under Kentucky law, the Attorney General’s Office is responsible for issuing legally binding decisions to settle disputes under Kentucky’s Open Records and Open Meetings Acts. Decisions issued from 1993 to the present are publicly available on the Attorney General’s website.