Request By:
[NO REQUESTBY IN ORIGINAL]
Opinion
Opinion By: Albert B. Chandler III, Attorney General; Amye L. Bensenhaver, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
This matter having been presented to the Attorney General in an open records appeal, and the Attorney General being sufficiently advised, we find that although the Public Service Commission violated KRS 61.880(1) by failing to respond in writing, and within three business days, to Jeffrey M. Sanders's March 25, 1999, request to inspect and copy Kentucky West Virginia Gas Company's Annual Report for Gas Transmission and Gathering Systems for the years 1989 through 1996, its belated denial of the request was substantively correct. We believe that 94-ORD-140, a copy of which is attached hereto and incorporated by reference, is dispositive of the issue of the agency's duties under KRS 61.872(4) when the requested records are not in its custody or control. The Public Service Commission discharged this duty by notifying Mr. Sanders that the records were not in its custody or control, explaining why this is so, and directing him to the custodian of the records, in this case the U. S. Department of Transportation's Office of Pipeline Safety. The Open Records Act does not require more.
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General should be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.