Maximizing public records requests in Ohio for Sunshine Week

By no means thoughts these cloudy skies. It is Sunshine Week, the annual, nationwide celebration of accessing public data to advertise an open authorities.

Why it issues: Governmental our bodies like metropolis councils, police departments and faculty districts are your tax {dollars} at work.

• State and federal public data necessities, often called “sunshine legal guidelines,” assist hold these highly effective establishments accountable.

What’s occurring: Requesting public paperwork is essential to investigative journalism, however you do not should be a reporter to entry them. Anyone can do it!

• Some tips about the way to be an Ohio data professional:

🕵️ Know what you are searching for: Something that paperwork authorities exercise on a “mounted medium” — both bodily or digital — is public report.

• Examples embody: assembly recordings, receipts, disciplinary notices, police stories and emails to and from public officers — even when it is a private e-mail deal with used to debate public enterprise.

👍 Be good: Decide who retains an workplace’s data, comparable to a metropolis clerk or college lawyer.

• Some businesses, just like the Columbus Division of Police, have on-line request varieties, however in different circumstances, you might have to ask the place to submit a request.
• Verbal requests are allowed, however written emails or varieties assist with making paper trails.
• Governments can cost charges for bodily copies of data, however you’ll be able to ask to go to and evaluate them totally free. You do not even have to have a motive to your requests.

✍️ Be descriptive: This prevents getting rejected for being “overly broad.”

• A great instance: “I’m requesting digital copies of Mayor John Doe’s emails despatched between March 1-15, 2023, concerning his re-election marketing campaign.”

⏰ Be persistent: Ohio legislation requires producing data in a “affordable period of time” — however that is, sadly, open to interpretation.

• Observe up typically if you have not heard again.
• Initially, we propose asking recipients to substantiate receipt of your request.

Professional tip: In case your request is denied otherwise you suspect data are being withheld illegally, you’ll be able to file a criticism within the Ohio Courtroom of Claims for $25.

🔎 Go deeper: Take a look at the Ohio legal professional common’s 2023 Sunshine Handbook.