TRANSPARENT AND ETHICAL GOVERNMENT
CHAPTER 1
PUBLIC RECORDS ACT
74-115. Proceedings to enforce right to examine or to receive a copy of records — Retention of disputed records. (1) The sole remedy for a person aggrieved by the denial of a request for disclosure is to institute proceedings in the district court of the county where the records or some part thereof are located, to compel the public agency to make the information available for public inspection in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. The petition contesting the public agency’s decision shall be filed within one hundred eighty (180) calendar days from the date of mailing of the notice of denial or partial denial by the public agency. In cases in which the records requested are claimed as exempt pursuant to section 74-107(1) or (24), Idaho Code, the petitioner shall be required to name as a party and serve the person or entity that filed or provided such documents to the agency, and such person or entity shall have standing to oppose the request for disclosure and to support the decision of the agency to deny the request. The time for responsive pleadings and for hearings in such proceedings shall be set by the court at the earliest possible time, or in no event beyond twenty-eight (28) calendar days from the date of filing.
(2) The public agency shall keep all documents or records in question until the end of the appeal period, until a decision has been rendered on the petition, or as otherwise statutorily provided, whichever is longer.
(3) Nothing contained in this chapter shall limit the availability of documents and records for discovery in the normal course of judicial or administrative adjudicatory proceedings, subject to the law and rules of evidence and of discovery governing such proceedings. Additionally, in any criminal appeal or post-conviction civil action, this chapter shall not make available the contents of prosecution case files where such material has previously been provided to the defendant nor shall this chapter be available to supplement, augment, substitute or supplant discovery procedures in any other federal, civil or administrative proceeding.
History:
[74-115, added 2015, ch. 140, sec. 5, p. 363; am. 2022, ch. 306, sec. 9, p. 989.]