Open Records

Oregon’s public records law is the Oregon Public Records Law, ORS Chapter 192. It establishes a policy of disclosure, not confidentiality – “every person has a right to inspect any public record of a public body in this state” except as expressly provided in the statute (ORS 192.314(1)).

Who can request records

Any natural person, corporation, partnership, firm, association, or member/committee of the Legislative Assembly may request records. A requester’s identity or purpose doesn’t matter at the outset – and a requester who accepts the records offered, doesn’t challenge any withheld records as exempt, and pays fees in full generally can’t be questioned about their identity or intended use afterward.

What’s covered

Public bodies must have a written procedure for handling records requests. Records related to an active criminal investigation are exempt until the case is resolved, and confidential communications between government officials and their government lawyers are also exempt – these are two of Oregon’s more than 500 total statutory exemptions, spread across many different sections of Oregon law (the records-law chapter itself contains only about 7 of them directly).

How to request

Submit the request in writing (including by email) to the agency or official who has or controls the record.

Response timeline

Agencies have 5 business days to acknowledge a request. They then have 15 business days to complete the request or provide a “reasonably estimated completion date” if more time is needed – this extended timeline can be impractical to meet if key staff are on leave, if compliance would impede other essential services, or if the volume of simultaneous requests makes it infeasible, in which case the agency must still acknowledge and complete the response “as soon as practicable and without unreasonable delay.”

Fees

– Fees must be kept to the agency’s actual cost, though each agency determines its own actual labor cost – there’s no single statute dictating per-page or per-record pricing statewide. – Common practice: many agencies waive the first 30 minutes of staff time for free, then charge tiered hourly rates for time beyond that – commonly around $25/hour for clerical work, $40/hour for managerial, and $75/hour for professional/IT/analyst work, plus actual attorney rates for any legal review needed. – If the estimated fee exceeds a certain amount (commonly $25), the agency will provide a cost estimate before proceeding, and the response is suspended until the fee is paid or waived. – A requester can submit a written request for a fee waiver or reduction when disclosure is primarily in the public interest – decided case-by-case by the agency, and if denied, can be appealed to the Attorney General. – If a requester doesn’t pay a fee or respond to a request for clarification within 60 calendar days, some agencies will close the request (it can be resubmitted as new).

Exemptions

Oregon’s public records exemptions total more than 500 across the entire body of Oregon law – the records-law chapter itself contains just a handful directly, with the rest scattered elsewhere, making this one of the more complex exemption landscapes among the states.

If your request is denied

If a state agency denies a request (or a fee waiver/reduction request), the requester can petition the Oregon Attorney General for a Public Records Order compelling the agency to provide the records or adjust the fee. This administrative path exists at the state level, though local government denials may need to go straight to court instead – the only appeals option for local agencies is litigation.

A note on terminology

Oregon’s law is officially the “Oregon Public Records Law” (ORS Ch. 192) – the same basic type of law that other states call an “Open Records Act,” “FOIA Laws” (South Carolina), or “Public Records Laws” (Tennessee).