Opinion
Opinion By: Jack Conway,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 Charon Anderson's appeal from the Department of Corrections, Division of Probation and Parole's disposition of her December 11, 2014, request for a copy of "the preliminary hearing date to show the exact dates the hearing was scheduled and held; or if the hearing was not helled [sic] in a timely fashion, proof of discharge" is time-barred. Ms. Anderson's request reached the Division on December 17 and the Division responded on December 18. Ms. Anderson's letter of appeal which contains an abbreviated handwritten copy of her request but no copy of the Division's response, is dated December 17. It reached this office on January 21, 2015.
KRS 197.025(3) states:
KRS 61.870 to 61.884 to the contrary notwithstanding, all persons confined in a penal facility shall challenge any denial of an open record with the Attorney General by mailing or otherwise sending the appropriate documents to the Attorney General within twenty (20) days of the denial pursuant to the procedures set out in KRS 61.880(2) before an appeal can be filed in a Circuit Court.
Ms. Anderson's appeal did not include a full-text copy of her request or a copy of the Division's written response. It did not, therefore, contain "the appropriate documents." Nor was it mailed within the statutorily mandated twenty days of the Division's response. Once again, Ms. Anderson "has not complied with the legal requirements for submission of an open records request and appeal." 15ORD-026, p. 3. Given the fact that her December 11 request was identical to an earlier request that the Division honored on October 28, 2014, and that she again failed to comply with the requirements for submission, we believe that her use of the Open Records Law, in this case, bordered on "an abuse of the Law within the contemplation of KRS 61.872(6)." 15-ORD-026, p. 3 citing 96-ORD-193.
Either party may appeal this decision 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.