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As re-referred to Rules and Reference Committee
123rd General Assembly
Regular Session
1999-2000 | S. B. No. 78 |
SENATORS OELSLAGER-CUPP-DiDONATO-MUMPER-WATTS-HOTTINGER-BRADY
A BILL
To amend section 149.43 of the Revised Code to generally grant members of the
public the
option of choosing the medium in which they will receive copies of public
records and to require a public office to transmit copies of a public record
through the United States mail if so requested.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That section 149.43 of the Revised Code be amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 149.43. (A) As used in this section:
(1) "Public record" means any record that is kept by any
public office, including, but not limited to, state, county,
city, village, township, and school district units, except
that "public record" does not mean any of the following:
(a) Medical records;
(b) Records pertaining to probation and parole proceedings;
(c) Records pertaining to actions under section 2151.85 and division
(C) of section 2919.121 of
the Revised Code and to appeals of actions arising under
those sections;
(d) Records pertaining to adoption proceedings, including the
contents of an adoption file maintained by the department of health under
section 3705.12 of the Revised Code;
(e) Information in a record contained in the putative father registry
established by section 3107.062 of the Revised Code, regardless of whether the
information is held by the department of human services or, pursuant to
section 5101.313 of the Revised Code, the division of child support in the
department or a child support enforcement agency;
(f) Records listed in division (A) of section 3107.42 of the Revised Code or
specified in division (A) of section 3107.52 of the Revised Code;
(g) Trial preparation records;
(h) Confidential law enforcement investigatory records;
(i) Records containing information that is confidential under
section 2317.023 or 4112.05 of the Revised Code;
(j) DNA records stored in the DNA database
pursuant to section 109.573 of the Revised Code;
(k) Inmate records released by the department of rehabilitation and
correction to
the department of youth services or a court of record pursuant to division (E)
of section 5120.21 of the Revised Code;
(l) Records maintained by the department of youth services pertaining to
children in its custody released by the department of youth services to the
department of rehabilitation and correction pursuant to section 5139.05 of the
Revised Code;
(m) Intellectual property records;
(n) Donor profile records;
(o) Records maintained by the department of human services pursuant to
section 5101.312 of the Revised Code;
(p) Records the release of which is prohibited by state or federal
law.
(2) "Confidential law enforcement investigatory record"
means any record that pertains to a law enforcement matter of a
criminal, quasi-criminal, civil, or administrative nature, but
only to the extent that the release of the record would create a
high probability of disclosure of any of the following:
(a) The identity of a suspect who has not been charged
with the offense to which the record pertains, or of an
information source or witness to whom confidentiality has been
reasonably promised;
(b) Information provided by an information source or
witness to whom confidentiality has been reasonably promised,
which information would reasonably tend to disclose the source's or witness's
identity;
(c) Specific confidential investigatory techniques or
procedures or specific investigatory work product;
(d) Information that would endanger the life or physical
safety of law enforcement personnel, a crime victim, a witness,
or a confidential information source.
(3) "Medical record" means any document or combination of
documents, except births, deaths, and the fact of admission to or
discharge from a hospital, that pertains to the medical history,
diagnosis, prognosis, or medical condition of a patient and that
is generated and maintained in the process of medical treatment.
(4) "Trial preparation record" means any record that
contains information that is specifically compiled in reasonable
anticipation of, or in defense of, a civil or criminal action or
proceeding, including the independent thought processes and
personal trial preparation of an attorney.
(5) "Intellectual property record" means a record,
other than a financial or administrative record, that is produced or collected
by or for faculty or staff of a state institution of higher learning in the
conduct of or as a result of study or research on an educational, commercial,
scientific, artistic, technical, or scholarly issue, regardless of whether the
study or research was sponsored by the institution alone or in conjunction
with
a governmental body or private concern, and that has not been publicly
released, published, or patented.
(6) "Donor profile record" means all records about donors or potential
donors to a public institution of higher education except the names and
reported addresses of the actual donors and the date, amount, and conditions
of the actual donation.
(B)(1) All public records shall be promptly prepared and made
available for inspection to any person at all reasonable times
during regular business hours. Upon request, a PUBLIC OFFICE OR person
responsible for public records shall make copies available at
cost, within a reasonable period of time. In order to facilitate
broader access to public records, governmental units PUBLIC
OFFICES shall
maintain public records in a manner that they can be made
available for inspection in accordance with this division.
(2) IF ANY PERSON CHOOSES TO OBTAIN A COPY OF A PUBLIC RECORD,
THE PUBLIC OFFICE OR PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD SHALL PERMIT
THAT PERSON TO
CHOOSE TO HAVE THE PUBLIC RECORD DUPLICATED UPON PAPER, UPON THE SAME MEDIUM
UPON WHICH THE PUBLIC OFFICE OR PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD KEEPS
IT, OR UPON
ANY OTHER MEDIUM UPON WHICH THE PUBLIC OFFICE OR PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR THE
PUBLIC RECORD DETERMINES
THAT IT REASONABLY CAN BE DUPLICATED
AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE NORMAL OPERATIONS OF THE PUBLIC OFFICE OR PERSON
RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD. WHEN THE PERSON
SEEKING THE COPY MAKES A CHOICE UNDER THIS DIVISION, THE PUBLIC OFFICE OR
PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD SHALL PROVIDE A COPY OF IT IN
ACCORDANCE
WITH THE CHOICE MADE BY THE PERSON SEEKING THE COPY.
(3) UPON REQUEST, A PUBLIC OFFICE OR PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR PUBLIC RECORDS
SHALL TRANSMIT A COPY OF A PUBLIC RECORD TO ANY PERSON BY UNITED
STATES MAIL WITHIN A REASONABLE PERIOD OF TIME AFTER RECEIVING A
REQUEST FOR THE
COPY. THE PUBLIC OFFICE OR PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD MAY
REQUIRE THE PERSON MAKING
THE REQUEST TO PAY IN ADVANCE THE COST OF POSTAGE AND OTHER SUPPLIES USED IN
THE
MAILING.
ANY PUBLIC OFFICE
MAY ADOPT A POLICY AND PROCEDURES THAT IT WILL FOLLOW IN
TRANSMITTING, WITHIN A REASONABLE PERIOD OF TIME AFTER RECEIVING
A REQUEST, COPIES OF PUBLIC RECORDS BY
UNITED
STATES MAIL PURSUANT TO THIS
DIVISION. A PUBLIC OFFICE THAT ADOPTS A POLICY AND PROCEDURES
UNDER THIS DIVISION SHALL COMPLY WITH THEM IN PERFORMING ITS
DUTIES UNDER THIS DIVISION.
(C) If a person allegedly is aggrieved by the failure of a
governmental unit PUBLIC OFFICE to promptly prepare a public
record and to make
it available to the person for inspection in accordance with
division
(B) of this section, or if a person who has requested a copy of a
public record allegedly is aggrieved by the failure of a PUBLIC OFFICE OR
THE person
responsible for the public record to make a copy available to
the person allegedly aggrieved in accordance
with division (B) of this section, the person allegedly aggrieved
may commence a mandamus action to obtain a judgment that orders
the governmental unit PUBLIC OFFICE or the person responsible
for the public
record to comply with division (B) of this section and that
awards reasonable attorney's fees to the person that instituted
the mandamus action. The mandamus action may be commenced in the
court of common pleas of the county in which division (B) of this
section allegedly was not complied with, in the supreme court
pursuant to its original jurisdiction under Section 2 of Article
IV, Ohio Constitution, or in the court of appeals for the
appellate district in which division (B) of this section
allegedly was not complied with pursuant to its original
jurisdiction under Section 3 of Article IV, Ohio Constitution.
(D) Chapter 1347. of the Revised Code does not limit the
provisions of this section.
(E)(1) The bureau of motor vehicles may adopt rules pursuant to
Chapter 119. of the Revised Code to reasonably
limit the number of bulk commercial special extraction requests made by a
person for the same records or for updated records during a calendar year.
The rules may include provisions for charges to be made for bulk commercial
special
extraction requests for the actual cost of the bureau, plus special extraction
costs, plus ten per cent. The bureau may charge for
expenses for redacting information, the release of which is prohibited by
law.
(2) As used in division (E)(1) of this section:
(a) "Actual cost" means the cost of depleted supplies, records
storage media costs, actual mailing and alternative delivery costs, or other
transmitting costs, and any direct equipment operating and maintenance costs,
including actual costs paid to private contractors for
copying services.
(b) "Bulk commercial special extraction request" means a request
for copies of a record for information in a format other than the format
already available, or information that cannot be extracted without examination
of all items in a records series, class of records, or data base by a person
who intends to use or
forward the copies for surveys, marketing, solicitation, or resale for
commercial purposes. "Bulk commercial special extraction request" does not
include a request by a person who gives assurance to the bureau that the
person making the request does not intend to use or forward the requested
copies for surveys, marketing,
solicitation, or resale for commercial purposes.
(c) "Commercial" means profit-seeking production, buying, or
selling of any good, service, or other product.
(d) "Special extraction costs" means the cost of the time spent
by the lowest paid employee competent to perform the task, the actual amount
paid to outside private contractors employed by the bureau, or the actual cost
incurred to create computer programs to make the special extraction. "Special
extraction costs" include any charges paid to a public agency for computer or
records services.
(3) For purposes of divisions (E)(1)
and (2) of this section, "commercial surveys, marketing, solicitation, or
resale" shall be narrowly construed and does not include reporting or
gathering
news, reporting or gathering information to assist citizen oversight or
understanding of the operation or activities of government, or nonprofit
educational research.
Section 2. That existing section 149.43 of the Revised Code is hereby
repealed.
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