A positive step by the Governor-elect to ensure that his new office and all state agencies comply with the recently enacted amendment to the open records law requiring all public agencies to accept emailed open records requests.

Beshear's office has twice ruled that the amendment to KRS 61.872, which took effect on June 27, is mandatory and not permissive. Local governments, schools, and universities that fail to comply expose themselves to successful legal challenge.

https://ag.ky.gov/orom/2019/19-ORD-180.doc

https://ag.ky.gov/orom/2019/19-ORD-175.doc

(Note 2, declaring that an agency "may no longer continue its former policy of refusing to discuss open records matters by email").

Unless Beshear's successor overrules these two open records decisions, or an appellate court rejects the reasoning of the decisions in a published opinion, or the legislature amends the amendment, they are the precedent that will guide interpretation of public agency duties under the open records law in future appeals to the attorney general.