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  • Dean Smith

ICU Does Not Overlook the Opportunity to Utilize OPRA Requests

OPRA requests are one of the best tools the public has to obtain government information on a state, county, or municipal level. This New Jersey law is often overlooked as a means to collect public information, but the New Jersey Open Public Records Act mandates that the public agency produces the record requested within seven business days of receiving the request.

We can request records from specific departments (then an agency within that department) such as:

Agriculture

Banking and insurance

Children and families

Civil service commission

Commissions and agencies

Community affairs

Corrections

Education

Environmental protection

Office of Governor

Health

Human Services

Labor

Law and public safety

Military and veterans affairs

State

Transportation

Treasury

And many more!

It is important to remember that some records are exempt from disclosure. Exempt records are listed below:

Criminal Investigation Records

Records relating to an ongoing investigation

Personnel/pension records (with some exceptions)

Inter- or intra-agency advisory

Consultative or deliberative material (drafts of documents)

Records protected by court order

Records protected by attorney-client privilege

Job applicant records

Fingerprint cards

Illegitimacy records

Records that would substantially impair the state’s ability to defend against sabotage or terrorism

Legislative records

Medical examiner records

Victims’ records

Trade secrets and proprietary commercial or financial information

Administrative or technical information regarding computer hardware, software and networks which, if disclosed would jeopardize computer security

Emergency or security information or procedures for buildings or facilities which, if disclosed, would jeopardize security of the building or facility or persons therein

Security measures and surveillance techniques which, if disclosed, would create a risk to the safety or persons, property, electronic data or software

Information which, if disclosed, would give an advantage to competitors or bidders.

Information generated by or on behalf of public employers or public employees in connection with:

Any sexual harassment complain filed with a public employer

Any grievance filed by or against an individual

Collective negotiations including documents and statement of strategy o0r negotiating position

Information which is a communication between a public agency and its insurance carrier, administrative service organization or risk management offic

Certificate of honorable discharge issued by the US government filed with a public agency

Personal identifying information (social security numbers, credit card numbers, unlisted telephone numbers, drivers’ license numbers)

Certain records of higher education institutions (academic research records, test questions/scoring keys/etc)

Biotechnology trade secrets

Limitations to convicts – personal information pertaining to the person’s victim or the victim’s family, including but not limited to a victim’s home address, home telephone number, work or school address, work telephone number, social security account number, medical history or any other identifying information

Public defender records that relate to the handling of any case

Privacy Interest – “a public agency has a responsibility and an obligation to safeguard from public access a citizen’s personal information with which it has been entrusted when disclosure thereof would violate the citizen’s reasonable expectation of privacy.”

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Posted in News | Tagged government, opra, records, requests

#government #opra #records #requests

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