Skip to main content

Opinion

Opinion By: Daniel Cameron, Attorney General; Marc Manley, Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Decision

Steven Dasenbrock ("the Appellant") submitted a request to the Corporation seeking the legal authority upon which the Corporation relied in determining who is eligible to receive certain housing assistance funds. The Corporation denied the request because the Appellant sought information rather than a specific public record. 1The Corporation, however, provided the Appellant with a "working draft" of its policy document describing who was eligible to receive funding. This appeal followed.

The Act does not require public agencies to fulfill requests for information, but only requests for records. KRS 61.872;

Dept. of Revenue v. Eifler , 436 S.W.3d 530, 534 (Ky. App. 2013) ("The ORA does not dictate that public agencies must gather and supply information not regularly kept as part of its records."). Here, the request was clearly one for information: the state or federal law upon which the Corporation relied in reaching a legal conclusion. See, e.g. , 00-ORD-130 (finding that public agencies are "not obligated to conduct research by locating relevant statutes and regulations pertaining to the subject of" the request). Accordingly, the Corporation did not violate the Act when it denied the Appellant's request as one seeking information rather than public records. 2

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 within 30 days from the date of this decision. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General shall be notified of any action in circuit court, but shall not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceedings. The Attorney General will accept notice of the complaint emailed to OAGAppeals@ky.gov.

Footnotes

Footnotes

LLM Summary
The decision addresses an appeal by Steven Dasenbrock regarding a denied open records request. Dasenbrock requested the legal basis for eligibility determinations for certain housing assistance funds from the Corporation, which denied the request on the grounds that it sought information, not specific records. The decision upholds the Corporation's action, citing that the Open Records Act requires only the provision of existing records, not the performance of research or the provision of information.
Disclaimer:
The Sunshine Law Library is not exhaustive and may contain errors from source documents or the import process. Nothing on this website should be taken as legal advice. It is always best to consult with primary sources and appropriate counsel before taking any action.
Requested By:
Steven Dasenbrock
Agency:
Kentucky Housing Corporation
Type:
Open Records Decision
Lexis Citation:
2021 KY. AG LEXIS 243
Cites:
Neighbors

Support Our Work

The Coalition needs your help in safeguarding Kentuckian's right to know about their government.