Request By:
Buddy Adams, Secretary
Cabinet for Human Resources
275 East Main Street
Fourth Floor, West Wing
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Carl T. Miller, Jr., Assistant Attorney General
Mr. Frank Hampton Moore, Jr., Attorney for Arthur Eugene Deaton of Warren County, Kentucky, has appealed to the Attorney General under KRS 61.880 your denial of a copy of certain public records in your custody. The records are described as those which contain the names, addresses, and social security numbers of those individuals who have an unsatisfied obligation to support minors residing within the Commonwealth of Kentucky whose custodial parent or guardian has presently, or who has at times in the past, received benefits under the state and federal program entitled Aid to Families with Dependent Children. In a telephone conversation with this office Mr. Moore more particularly described the records as a computer printout of information furnished the Internal Revenue Service identifying those individuals against whom the Commonwealth of Kentucky has received a subrogated claim for recovery of support payments.
In a letter of response on your behalf, dated August 24, 1982, Mr. David E. Cathers, Staff Attorney of the Department for Human Resources denied the request for a copy of the described records on the basis of the exceptions provided by KRS 61.878(1)(j) which excludes public records or information the disclosure of which is prohibited or restricted or otherwise made confidential by enactment of the General Assembly. Mr. Cathers cited KRS 205.730, 205.735 and 205.175 as statutory provision whereby the General Assembly had made such records confidential.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that in denying the described open records request your agency has acted consistent with the provisions of the Open Records Law, KRS 61.870 to 61.884. Specifically, we hold that the records have been made confidential by the General Assembly by KRS 205.730 which is a part of the Child Support Recovery Act, KRS 205.810 to 205.800.
KRS 205.730 deals with the location of absent, responsible parents. Subsection (4) provides as follows:
"The information which is obtained by the department shall only be available to such governmental agencies or political subdivisions of any state for purposes of locating an absent parent to enforce their obligation of support."
KRS 205.730(3) mandates that all state, county and city agencies, officers and employees shall cooperate with the department in determining the location of parents who have abandoned or deserted children with all pertinent information relative to the location, income and property of such parents, notwithstanding any provision of state law making such information confidential.
KRS 205.735 requires all business concerns doing business in this state, to the extent that they have employees working within this state, to provide the department with information for the purpose of locating a parent upon certification by the secretary that the information will be treated as confidential. We, therefore, believe that release of the requested information to the public would be in violation of KRS 205.730 and 205.735.
As directed by statute, a copy of this opinion is being sent to the requester who has the right to challenge it in court as provided by KRS 61.880(5) .