Open Public Records Act

This document is a complete copy of P.L. 2001, c. 404, commonly known as the Open Public Records Act. It is the full text of the law, specially formatted to be easily readable and to serve as a reference document for users. The formatting consisted of adding bullet points, paragraph breaks, and spacing to facilitate easy use. However, no text or punctuation has been altered. This is also available in PDF format.

To assist readers in using the law, references have been made in the left margin to highlight the content of each section or important subsections.

Reference	NJSA Section #		Title
Legislative policy declaration	47:1A-1		Legislative findings, declarations.
Definitions	47:1A-1.1		Definitions
Biotechnology exemption	47:1A-1.2		Restricted access to biotechnology trade secrets
Limits to convicts	47:1A-2.2		Access to certain information by convict prohibited; exceptions
Ongoing Investigations	47:1A-3		Access to records of investigation in progress.
When access is available	47:1A-5		Times during which records may be inspected, examined, copied; access; copy fees.
Challenges to access denial	47:1A-6		Proceeding to challenge denial of access to record.
Government Records Council	47:1A-7		Government Records Council.
Continuation of common law	47:1A-8		Construction of act.
Continuation of existing exemptions	47:1A-9		Other laws regulations, privileges unaffected.
Access to personnel and pension records	47:1A-10		Personnel, pension records not considered public document; exceptions.
Violations	47:1A-11		Violations, penalties, disciplinary proceeding.
47:1A-12.		Court rules
47:1A-13		Annual budget request for the council.
Section 15		Privacy Study Commission
Section 16		Appropriation.
Section 17		Repealer.
Section 18		Effective Date.

government records shall be readily accessible for inspection, copying, or examination by the citizens of this State, with certain exceptions, for the protection of the public interest, and any limitations on the right of access accorded by P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.) as amended and supplemented, shall be construed in favor of the public's right of access;

all government records shall be subject to public access unless exempt from such access by: P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.) as amended and supplemented; any other statute; resolution of either or both houses of the Legislature; regulation promulgated under the authority of any statute or Executive Order of the Governor; Executive Order of the Governor; Rules of Court; any federal law, federal regulation, or federal order ;

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; and nothing contained in P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.), as amended and supplemented, shall be construed as affecting in any way the common law right of access to any record, including but not limited to criminal investigatory records of a law enforcement agency.

information received by a member of the Legislature from a constituent or information held by a member of the Legislature concerning a constituent, including but not limited to information in written form or contained in any e-mail or computer data base, or in any telephone record whatsoever, unless it is information the constituent is required by law to transmit;

any memorandum, correspondence, notes, report or other communication prepared by, or for, the specific use of a member of the Legislature in the course of the member's official duties, except that this provision shall not apply to an otherwise publicly-accessible report which is required by law to be submitted to the Legislature or its members;

any copy, reproduction or facsimile of any photograph, negative or print, including instant photographs and videotapes of the body, or any portion of the body, of a deceased person, taken by or for the medical examiner at the scene of death or in the course of a post mortem examination or autopsy made by or caused to be made by the medical examiner except:

when used in a criminal action or proceeding in this State which relates to the death of that person,

for the use as a court of this State permits, by order after good cause has been shown and after written notification of the request for the court order has been served at least five days before the order is made upon the county prosecutor for the county in which the post mortem examination or autopsy occurred,

for use in the field of forensic pathology or for use in medical or scientific education or research, or

for use by any law enforcement agency in this State or any other state or federal law enforcement agency;

criminal investigatory records;

victims' records, except that a victim of a crime shall have access to the victim's own records;

trade secrets and proprietary commercial or financial information obtained from any source. For the purposes of this paragraph, trade secrets shall include data processing software obtained by a public body under a licensing agreement which prohibits its disclosure;

any record within the attorney-client privilege. This paragraph shall not be construed as exempting from access attorney or consultant bills or invoices except that such bills or invoices may be redacted to remove any information protected by the attorney-client privilege;

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

emergency or security information or procedures for any buildings or facility 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 of 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 complaint filed with a public employer or

with any grievance filed by or against an individual or

in connection with collective negotiations, including documents and statements of strategy or negotiating position

information which is a communication between a public agency and its insurance carrier, administrative service organization or risk management office;

information which is to be kept confidential pursuant to court order; and

any copy of form DD-214, or that form, issued by the United States Government, or any other certificate of honorable discharge, or copy thereof, from active service or the reserves of a branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, or from service in the organized Militia of the State, that has been filed by an individual with a public agency, except that a veteran or the veteran's spouse or surviving spouse shall have access to the veteran's own records; and

that portion of any document which discloses the social security number, credit card number, unlisted telephone number or driver license number of any person; except for:

use by any government agency, including any court or law enforcement agency, in carrying out its functions,

or any private person or entity acting on behalf thereof,

or any private person or entity seeking to enforce payment of court-ordered child support; except with respect to the disclosure of driver information by the Division of Motor Vehicles as permitted by section 2 of P.L.1997, c.188 (C.39:2-3.4); and

A government record shall not include, with regard to any public institution of higher education, the following information which is deemed to be privileged and confidential:

Pedagogical, scholarly and/or academic research records and/or the specific details of any research project conducted under the auspices of a public higher education institution in New Jersey, including, but not limited to research, development information, testing procedures, or information regarding test participants, related to the development or testing of any pharmaceutical or pharmaceutical delivery system, except that a custodian may not deny inspection of a government record or part thereof that gives the name, title, expenditures, source and amounts of funding and date when the final project summary of any research will be available;

test questions, scoring keys and other examination data pertaining to the administration of an examination for employment or academic examination;

records of pursuit of charitable contributions or records containing the identity of a donor of a gift if the donor requires non-disclosure of the donor's identity as a condition of making the gift provided that the donor has not received any benefits of or from the institution of higher education in connection with such gift other than a request for memorialization or dedication;

valuable or rare collections of books and/or documents obtained by gift, grant, bequest or devise conditioned upon limited public access;

information contained on individual admission applications; and

information concerning student records or grievance or disciplinary proceedings against a student to the extent disclosure would reveal the identity of the student.

any of the principal departments in the Executive Branch of State Government, and any division, board, bureau, office, commission or other instrumentality within or created by such department;

the Legislature of the State and any office, board, bureau or commission within or created by the Legislative Branch; and

any independent State authority, commission, instrumentality or agency.

When federal law or regulation requires the submission of biotechnology trade secrets and related confidential information, a public agency shall not have access to this information except as allowed by federal law.
A public agency shall not make any biotechnology trade secrets and related confidential information it has access to under this act available to any other public agency, or to the general public, except as allowed pursuant to federal law.

where a crime has been reported but no arrest yet made, information as to the type of crime, time, location and type of weapon, if any;

if an arrest has been made, information as to the name, address and age of any victims unless there has not been sufficient opportunity for notification of next of kin of any victims of injury and/or death to any such victim or where the release of the names of any victim would be contrary to existing law or Court Rule. In deciding on the release of information as to the identity of a victim, the safety of the victim and the victim's family, and the integrity of any ongoing investigation, shall be considered;

if an arrest has been made, information as to the defendant's name, age, residence, occupation, marital status and similar background information and, the identity of the complaining party unless the release of such information is contrary to existing law or Court Rule;

information as to the text of any charges such as the complaint, accusation and indictment unless sealed by the court or unless the release of such information is contrary to existing law or court rule;

information as to the identity of the investigating and arresting personnel and agency and the length of the investigation;

information of the circumstances immediately surrounding the arrest, including but not limited to the time and place of the arrest, resistance, if any, pursuit, possession and nature and use of weapons and ammunition by the suspect and by the police; and

information as to circumstances surrounding bail, whether it was posted and the amount thereof.

The custodian of a government record shall permit the record to be inspected, examined, and copied by any person during regular business hours; or

in the case of a municipality having a population of 5,000 or fewer according to the most recent federal decennial census,

a board of education having a total district enrollment of 500 or fewer, or

a public authority having less than $10 million in assets,

during not less than six regular business hours over not less than three business days per week or the entity's regularly-scheduled business hours, whichever is less;

unless a government record is exempt from public access by: P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.) as amended and supplemented; any other statute; resolution of either or both houses of the Legislature; regulation promulgated under the authority of any statute or Executive Order of the Governor; Executive Order of the Governor; Rules of Court; any federal law; federal regulation; or federal order.

use by any government agency, including any court or law enforcement agency, in carrying out its functions,

or any private person or entity acting on behalf thereof, or

any private person or entity seeking to enforce payment of court-ordered child support; except with respect to the disclosure of driver information by the Division of Motor Vehicles as permitted by section 2 of P.L.1997, c.188 (C.39:2-3.4); and

except that a social security number contained in a record required by law to be made, maintained or kept on file by a public agency shall be disclosed when access to the document or disclosure of that information is not otherwise prohibited by State or federal law, regulation or order or by State statute, resolution of either or both houses of the Legislature, Executive Order of the Governor, rule of court or regulation promulgated under the authority of any statute or executive order of the Governor.

first page to tenth page, $0.75 per page;

eleventh page to twentieth page, $0.50 per page;

all pages over twenty, $0.25 per page.

in a medium not routinely used by the agency;

specific directions and procedures for requesting a record;
a statement as to whether prepayment of fees or a deposit is required;
the time period within which the public agency is required by P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.) as amended and supplemented, to make the record available;
a statement of the requestor's right to challenge a decision by the public agency to deny access and the procedure for filing an appeal;
space for the custodian to list reasons if a request is denied in whole or in part;
space for the requestor to sign and date the form;
space for the custodian to sign and date the form if the request is fulfilled or denied.

institute a proceeding to challenge the custodian's decision by filing an action in Superior Court which shall be heard in the vicinage where it is filed by a Superior Court Judge who has been designated to hear such cases because of that judge's knowledge and expertise in matters relating to access to government records; or

in lieu of filing an action in Superior Court, file a complaint with the Government Records Council established pursuant to section 8 of P.L.2001, c.404 (C.47:1A-7).

establish an informal mediation program to facilitate the resolution of disputes regarding access to government records;

receive, hear, review and adjudicate a complaint filed by any person concerning a denial of access to a government record by a records custodian;

issue advisory opinions, on its own initiative, as to whether a particular type of record is a government record which is accessible to the public;

prepare guidelines and an informational pamphlet for use by records custodians in complying with the law governing access to public records;

prepare an informational pamphlet explaining the public's right of access to government records and the methods for resolving disputes regarding access, which records custodians shall make available to persons requesting access to a government record;

prepare lists for use by records custodians of the types of records in the possession of public agencies which are government records;

make training opportunities available for records custodians and other public officers and employees which explain the law governing access to public records; and

operate an informational website and a toll-free helpline staffed by knowledgeable employees of the council during regular business hours which shall enable any person, including records custodians, to call for information regarding the law governing access to public records and allow any person to request mediation or to file a complaint with the council when access has been denied;

regulation promulgated under

an individual's name, title, position, salary, payroll record, length of service, date of separation and the reason therefor, and the amount and type of any pension received shall be a government record;

personnel or pension records of any individual shall be accessible when required to be disclosed by another law, when disclosure is essential to the performance of official duties of a person duly authorized by this State or the United States, or when authorized by an individual in interest; and

data contained in information which disclose conformity with specific experiential, educational or medical qualifications required for government employment or for receipt of a public pension, but not including any detailed medical or psychological information, shall be a government record.