In Oklahoma, House Bill 2163, proposes the creation of a Public Access Counselor within the Office of the Attorney General to handle complaints related to denied public records. 

According to reporting from the Oklahoma Voice, Republican House Rep. John Pfeiffer, R-Orlando, who authored the bill, said he hopes this will give private individuals, the media, and lawmakers a path to speed up the release of public record.

In its current text, the bill states that individuals whose requests for public records are denied can file for review with the Public Access Counselor within 30 days of the denial as a means of addressing concerns over delayed responses and improper denial of requests.  

During this review, the Public Access Counselor will assess whether further action is needed, forwarding requests to the public body involved. Additionally, the bill empowers the Attorney General to subpoena records or individuals to aid in the investigation and issue advisory opinions to public bodies to offer guidance on how to comply with the Oklahoma Open Records Act. 

The bill allows the counselor to ignore appeals from individuals who submit frivolous or repeated requests to the Public Access Counselor’s office.
 

This proposal has its pros and cons, according to a growing body of research collected by the Brechner FOI Project. The advantage of the proposal is that the decisions are binding – agencies must cough up the records if the Public Access Counselor says so. That is stronger than a lot of state public record ombudsman offices, such as in Indiana, whose decisions are simply advisory, and therefore often ignored. 

The disadvantage is the office is within the Attorney General’s office, which is a conflict of interest (the state’s attorney!). The best systems, like in Connecticut, Ohio and dozens of other nations, set up entities entirely independent of the executive branch.

HB 243 will now head to the Oklahoma Senate after passing 80-9 with bipartisan support. 

Posted: April 8, 2025
Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: Brechner FOI Project, Brechner Freedom of Information Project, FOI, Government Transparency, open records laws, Secrecy Tracker