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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:

  1. Agriculture

  2. Banking and insurance

  3. Children and families

  4. Civil service commission

  5. Commissions and agencies

  6. Community affairs

  7. Corrections

  8. Education

  9. Environmental protection

  10. Office of Governor

  11. Health

  12. Human Services

  13. Labor

  14. Law and public safety

  15. Military and veterans affairs

  16. State

  17. Transportation

  18. Treasury

  19. And many more!

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

  1. Criminal Investigation Records

  2. Records relating to an ongoing investigation

  3. Personnel/pension records (with some exceptions)

  4. Inter- or intra-agency advisory

  5. Consultative or deliberative material (drafts of documents)

  6. Records protected by court order

  7. Records protected by attorney-client privilege

  8. Job applicant records

  9. Fingerprint cards

  10. Illegitimacy records

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

  12. Legislative records

  13. Medical examiner records

  14. Victims’ records

  15. Trade secrets and proprietary commercial or financial information

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

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

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

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

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

  21. Any sexual harassment complain filed with a public employer

  22. Any grievance filed by or against an individual

  23. Collective negotiations including documents and statement of strategy o0r negotiating position

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

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

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

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

  28. Biotechnology trade secrets

  29. 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

  30. Public defender records that relate to the handling of any case

  31. 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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