Request By:
Hon. Mark Fitzgerald
State Representative
Route 1
Cynthiana, Kentucky 41031
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion of the Attorney General as to whether the Harrison County Water Association, Inc. is subject to the provisions of Kentucky's Open Records and Open Meetings Law. You state that the above named corporation operates under KRS Chapter 273.
It appears that the Harrison County Water Association, Inc. is a nonprofit, nonstock private corporation and as such it would not be subject to the Open Meetings Law, KRS 61.805-61.850. The Open Meetings Law defines a public agency as "any state legislative, executive, administrative, or advisory board, commission, committee, policy making board of an institution of education or other state agency which is created by or pursuant to statute or executive order." KRS 61.850(2). All public agencies within this definition must comply with the Open Meetings Law unless otherwise exempted. Private, nonprofit corporations are not public agencies and need not comply with the Open Meetings Law. (See KRS 273.233 as to the record keeping requirements of private corporations.)
As to the Open Records Law, some private, nonprofit corporations come within the definition of public agencies by virtue of the fact that they derive at least 25 percent of their funds from state or local authority. KRS 61.870(1).
From the name of the corporation, we are assuming that it is not a water district organized under the provisions of KRS Chapter 74. Such a water district is subject to the provisions of both the Open Meetings and Open Records laws. A water district organized under KRS 74.012 is not a private nonprofit corporation and is therefore a public agency. Cf. OAG 75-402.