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The 1967 law is available for use by any Arkansan and requires no complicated forms to be filled out or letters to be written to gain access to public documents. Oral requests are sufficient.

Under the open meetings portion of the FOIA, however, citizens who want notification prior to public meetings should make the request in writing.

Ferris Williams, FOIArkansas Project

The Arkansas FOIA, approved by the Arkansas General Assembly and signed by Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller in 1967, is one of the broadest in the United States in its reach and scope. Similar legislation exists at the federal level though the rules, as might be expected, are more cumbersome and less user-friendly.

The Arkansas FOIA is set out at Chapter 25-19-101 in Arkansas Code Annotated and a copy of the act can be obtained at most public libraries in the state. A version is available at the FOIArkansas Web site.

The Arkansas attorney general also regularly issues opinions about questions which arise under the FOIA. The opinions, although not binding, usually provide guidance on using the act. Attorney general opinions are available in most law libraries and can be obtained online through the attorney general's Web site.

Public officials sometimes question whether documents requested under the FOIA are available for inspection. The act offers a broad definition of public records, however:

"'Public records' means writings, recorded sounds, films, tapes, or data compilations in any form, required by law to be kept or otherwise kept, and which constitute a record of performance or lack of performance of official functions which are or should be carried out by a public official or employee, a governmental agency, or any other agency wholly or partially supported by public funds or expending public funds. All records maintained by public offices or by public employees within the scope of their employment shall be presumed to be public records."

A misconception widely held by public officials is that they have three days to answer a request for any public document.

Without mention of any waiting period, the FOIA provides that all public records "shall be open to inspection and copying by any citizen of the State of Arkansas during the regular business hours of the custodian of records."

The only exception offered in the act is when a public record "is in active use or storage." In that instance, a custodian of a record the official responsible for maintaining a particular record has three working days to make it available. The law also specifies that in such situations,the custodian must certify in writing that the record is "in active use or storage" and set a date and time when the record will be available.

Confusion sometimes exists about which agencies are subject to the FOIA.

Any agency that receives a substantial portion of its funds from taxpayers is subject to the act. For instance, agencies not thought of as traditional government units, such as some nonprofit corporations, must adhere to the FOIA.

Misunderstandings also may occur over the hours public documents must be open to inspection.

The state Supreme Court has ruled that jail logs records showing who is being held in the jail are available for inspection 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

What about situations in which the person who normally handles FOI requests is out of the office?

Citizens seeking records should ask to speak to the highest-ranking official available, who becomes the official custodian of the records.

Questions about where the records can be viewed also are addressed in the act.

An entity subject to the act must make the records available to anyone who requests to see the records in an area with "reasonable comforts and facilities for the full exercise of the right to inspect and copy those records."

"Copy" does not necessarily mean photocopy, although most agencies will provide photocopies. If agencies make copies, they must be made at commercially reasonable prices. An attorney general's opinion in the 1980s said 25 cents was "reasonable," but no other guidance has been offered.

Agencies are not required to create records on request. For example, someone could not ask an agency to create a list of all taxpayers who owe more than $500 in delinquent taxes, unless such a list already existed.

Personnel records often are a source of confusion under the FOIA.

The act exempts personnel records of governmental employees "to the extent that disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

While many agencies believe that personnel records are never to be disclosed, courts have ruled that they are available under a balancing test.

In situations in which there are both private and public interest in such records, the custodian must determine whether the public interest outweighs the interest of privacy.

The custodian of the records may delete exempt information from personnel records and then release whatever remains.

The attorney general and the courts have said in opinions and rulings that there is little privacy interest in the salaries of public employees and officials, their training or education background, and previous work experience. Such information, therefore, must be disclosed.

By contrast, public employees, according to the courts and attorney general, are entitled to privacy in their personal histories, Social

Security numbers, marital and family status, and tax withholding and payroll deductions.

In a recent case, the Arkansas Supreme Court opined that police officers' home addresses were not subject to disclosure.

What if, for instance, an Arkansas resident wanted to see the most recent performance evaluation of his or her child's public school teacher? Such job evaluations are subject to public disclosure only upon final administrative resolution of suspension or termination proceedings at which the records form a basis for the decision to suspend or terminate the teacher.

The FOIA also provides that the custodian of records shall, within 24 hours of receiving a request for personnel or evaluation records, determine whether the records are exempt from disclosure and notify the subject of the records and the person who requested it.

The subject (in this case, the teacher), the requester or the custodian of the records may seek an opinion from the attorney general, who within three working days, shall issue an opinion stating whether the decision to release or withhold the records is consistent with the act.

If an opinion from the attorney general is sought, no personnel records can be released until the opinion is issued. Arkansas attorneys general consistently have acted quickly in Issuing personnel opinions. Attorney General Mark Pryor notes on the state's Web site, "Requests for personnel records under the FOIA must be answered within three work days."

The FOIA contains exemptions for several documents, including income tax records, medical records, scholastic records and adoption records.

The act also exempts from disclosure grand jury minutes, unpublished drafts of judicial opinions, unpublished memoranda, working papers and correspondence of the governor, members of the General Assembly, Supreme Court justices and the attorney general.

Records of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program and the Arkansas Archaeological Survey also are exempt from disclosure under the act.

Finally, undisclosed investigations by law enforcement agencies of suspected criminal activity are exempt from disclosure under the FOIA.Police, however, are required to make available copies of incident reports, jail-booking sheets and arrest reports, accident reports and traffic citations.

The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act is a valuable tool, available to any Arkansan to learn more about government and its operation. However, as the FOIArkansas Project has shown, it doesn't always work the way it was intended.