HARDY MYERS
A ITORNEY GENERAL
DAVID SCHUMAN
QEPUn' ATTORNEY GENERAL
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John Praggastis
225 SE 44th A venue
Portland, OR 97215-1004
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
1162 Court Street NE
Justice Building
S<llem, Oregon 97310-0506
Telephone: (503) 378-4400
TDD: (503) 378-5938
January 30, 1998
Re: Petition for Public Records Disclosure Order:
Health Division Emergency Medical Services Section
Dear Mr. Praggastis:
This letter is the Attorney General's order on your petition for disclosure of records
under the Oregon Public Records Law, ORS 192.410 to 192.505. Your petition, which we
received on January 23, 1998, asks the Attorney General to direct the Emergency Medical
Services Section of the Oregon Health Division (EMS) to produce certain public records
regarding EMS policies, guidelines, procedures and formulas, as well as any current
information routinely provided to all Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedics regarding
continuing education courses and course content. In addition, you request a certified copy of
list(s) used to select audit candidates, including any list used to select you for audit. We
respectfully deny your petition as premature.
The Attorney General may order a state agency to disclose records only when the
agency has denied a request for the records. See ORS 192.450(1). Gregg Lander, Section
Manager of EMS, informs us that EMS is processing your request and that you should
receive a response from them shortly.
The Public Records Law allows a public body a "reasonable" time to respond to a
records request. What is "reasonable" will depend on many factors, including the volume of
the records requested, the staff available to respond to the records request and the difficulty
in determining whether any of the records are exempt from disclosure. The public records
custodian acts reasonably even if the custodian does not comply with timelines imposed by
IL)J ;_,,_,;
John Praggastis
Page 2
January 30, 1998
the requestor. OREGON ATTORNEY GENERAL'S PUBLIC RECORDS AND MEETINGS MANUAL
at 6 (1995).
Here, you state that, on January 5, 1998, your request was hand delivered to the
Emergency Medical Services Section, along with a certified check in the amount of fifty
dollars to cover possible costs. Given the time that has elapsed, we do not find that there
has been a constructive denial of your records request.
Absent a denial of a records request by a state agency, the Attorney General has no
authority to order disclosure. Because EMS has not denied your request for records, your
petition to this office is premature. See Morse Bros. v. ODED, 103 Or App 619, 798 P2d
719 (1990) (law clearly contemplates that agencies have the opportunity to review the
requested records and to act on the request before the Attorney General can review the
matter). Accordingly, we respectfully deny your petition.
JAA02945
Sincerely,
STEPHANIE STRIFFLER
Special Counsel to the
Attorney General
