Request By:
Mr. Robert E. Gainer
Executive Director
Emergency Ambulance Service, Inc.
2785 Greenup Avenue
Ashland, Kentucky 41101
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Ann M. Sheadel Director, Civil and Environmental Law Division
Jim Malone, a staff writer for The Daily Independent, has appealed your denial of his request to have access to certain records of Emergency Ambulance Service, Inc ("EASI").
By hand-written request dated April 26, 1990, Mr. Malone asked to review the "minute book" and 1989 and 1990 financial statements for EASI. You denied this request on April 26, 1990, in a letter to Mr. Wickliffe Powell, Editor of The Daily Independent. The basis for your denial was that, although EASI contracts with the Boyd County Emergency Ambulance Service District, EASI is a private corporation that is not subject to the requirements of the Open Records Act.
By letter of April 28, 1990, Mr. Malone appealed your refusal to allow him to have access to the requested material. Mr. Malone alleges that EASI is a public agency subject to the requirements of the Open Records Act because EASI contracts exclusively with the Boyd County Emergency Ambulance Service District to provide ambulance service and that more than 80% of EASI's budget comes from this service district. You have confirmed by telephone conversation that EASI receives more than 80% of its budget from the Boyd County Emergency Ambulance Service District.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Kentucky's Open Records Act provides that "[a]ll public records shall be open for inspection by any person, except as otherwise provided" in the Act. KRS 61.872(1). "Public records" are documentary materials, as defined in KRS 61.870(2), that are prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by a public agency. A "public agency" is defined as, among other things, any body that "derives at least twenty-five percent (25%) of its funds from state or local authority. " KRS 61.870(1).
Accordingly, if EASI derives at least twenty-five percent (25%) of its funds from state or local authority, it will be considered a "public agency" for purposes of the Open Records Act and must comply with the requirements of that Act.
EASI receives well over twenty-five percent (25%) of its funds from the Boyd County Emergency Ambulance Service District. As we pointed out in OAG 89-46, copy enclosed, emergency ambulance service districts are created pursuant to KRS Chapter 108 and clearly are "local authorities" within the meaning of KRS 61.870(1). Because EASI receives over twenty-five percent (25%) of its funds from "local authority, " it is a "public agency" for purposes of the Open Records Act and must comply with the requirements of that Act.
Accordingly, in accordance with the provisions of the Open Records Act (KRS 61.870 et seq. ), you should allow Mr. Malone the opportunity to inspect the records that he has requested.
As required by statute, a copy of this opinion is being sent to Jim Malone, who requested it. You have the right to initiate further proceedings in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882.