Sadly the Arizona Public Records laws
are a bunch of toothless laws that pretend
to give the public access to public records.
The laws have no penalties for government
bureaucrats who refuse to obey them,
nor do they have any means for you to
force government bureaucrats to obey the public record laws,
other then suing them.
There is an ombudsman bureau to help people
who are being stonewalled when making public
records requests.
But again it is a toothless agency.
The agency doesn't have any power to
force government employees to obey the public records laws.
If they can't get a government agency
to obey the public records laws the
only thing they can do is send a letter
to the Arizona Governor and to the
Arizona House and Senate which says
they can't get the agency to honor
your request for public records.
39-121. Inspection of public records
Public records and other matters in the
custody of any officer shall be open to
inspection by any person at all times
during office hours.
39-121.01
SNIP
1. Any person may request to examine or be furnished copies,
printouts or photographs of any public record
during regular office hours
or may request that the custodian mail
a copy of any public record not
otherwise available on the public body's website
to the requesting person.
The custodian may require any person requesting
that the custodian mail a copy of any public
record to pay in advance for any copying
and postage charges.
The custodian of such records shall promptly
furnish such copies, printouts or photographs
and may charge a fee
if the facilities are available,
except that public records for purposes
listed in section 39-122 or 39-127 shall be
furnished without charge.
2. If requested, the custodian of the records
of an agency shall also furnish
an index of records or categories
of records that have been withheld
and the reasons the records or categories
of records have been withheld from
the requesting person.
The custodian shall not include in the index
information that is expressly made privileged
or confidential in statute or a court order.
SNIP
3. If the custodian of a public record does
not have facilities for making copies, printouts
or photographs of a public record which a person
has a right to inspect, such person shall be
granted access to the public record for the
purpose of making copies, printouts or photographs.
The copies, printouts or photographs
shall be made while the public record
is in the possession, custody and control
of the custodian of the public record and
shall be subject to the supervision of such custodian.
E. Access to a public record is deemed denied
if a custodian fails to promptly respond to
a request for production of a public record
or fails to provide to the requesting person
an index of any record or categories of records
that are withheld from production pursuant to
subsection D, paragraph 2 of this section.
