The Kentucky Open Government Coalition recently filed an amicus (or "Friend of the Court") brief in an open records appeal before the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

The underlying dispute involves access to records for which the attorney work product doctrine was invoked.

In our motion to the Court, we stated:

"The Kentucky Open Government Coalition, Inc., is a Kentucky nonpartisan, nonprofit corporation founded in 2019 in response to legislative attempts to circumscribe the statutory rights of the public to open records and meetings. From its inception, the Coalition identified transparency and accountability as core principles. The Coalition is one of 35 active members of the National Freedom of Information Coalition across the United States.

The Coalition: engages in education and outreach aimed at promoting broader public understanding and use of the laws; offers training for the public and public officials designed to foster both compliance with, and appreciation for the value of, the laws; assists citizens and the news media in challenging improper agency action under the laws; and monitors and reports on judicial, legislative and administrative developments in the laws as a means of furthering the goal of open government. The Coalition advocates to preserve existing rights under the open records and meetings laws in a sometimes hostile legislative climate.

Given its demonstrated commitment to, and efforts on behalf of, government transparency and accountability, the Kentucky Open Government Coalition has an immediate and direct interest in ensuring that interpretation of the Open Records Act, the issue that lies at the heart of this appeal, continues to reflect the recognized presumption of openness for the public good. In this particular case, that presumption militates in favor of disclosure of records that advance "the citizens' right to be informed as to what their government is doing." Zink v. Commonwealth, 902 S.W.2d 825, 829 (Ky. App. 1994).

The Coalition's interest in this case is in having this Court reverse the Franklin Circuit Court's over-expansive interpretation of the doctrine of attorney work product to justify nondisclosure of nonexempt public records."

In our brief, we vigorously argued, "As the attorney client privilege and work product doctrine jockey for the lead position in the race to become the most overused exceptions to the Open Records Act, it is imperative that the courts of the Commonwealth strictly construe these exceptions and hold agencies to their statutorily assigned burden of proof as a check against abuse."

We hope that this will be the first of many amicus briefs we file.

The Coalition's goal is to fight on every battlefield to preserve the public's rights under Kentucky's open government laws while promoting citizen awareness and understanding of those rights.