HARDY MYERS
1\lTOR.'\;EY CENER,\I
Carol Koppenstein
P.O. Box 69
Lebanon, OR 97355
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
1162 Court Street NE
Ju~tice Building
Salt>m, Oreg(m 97310-0506
Telephone' (503) 378-4400
TDD' (503) 378-5938
May 28, 1997
Re: Petition for Public Records Disclosure Order:
Appraiser Certification and Licensure Board Records
Dear Ms. Koppenstein:
DAVID SCHUMAN
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL
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 May 21, 1997, asks the Attorney General to direct the Appraiser Certification
and Licensure Board (ACLB) to produce copies of:
1. Previous request dated 4-26-97
2. Also - copy of each document in every appraisers file in which my
name has been placed.
For the reasons that follow, we respectfully deny your petition.
In your petition, you state that on April 25, 1997, Elizabeth Harchenko, Special
Counsel to the Attorney General, denied your records request. In fact, Ms. Harchenko's
letter dated April 25, 1997, was the Attorney General's order on your petition dated April
16, 1997, which had asked the Attorney General to order the ACLB to mail to you copies of
38 categories of ACLB records. That order, a copy of which is enclosed, stated that with
respect to the records described in items 1, 2, 4, 5, 18, 20, 10 and 38, this office denied
your petition as moot because the ACLB had offered to make available to you the requested
records, to the extent they exist, upon your prepayment of $711. 75, which is the ACLB's
cost of making those records available. With respect to items 3, 6-15, 17-19, 21, 22, 24-29
Carol Koppenstein
Page 2
May 28, 1997
and 31-37, that order stated that this office denied your petition as premature because you
had not requested those records of the ACLB. Absent a request for records to, and a denial
by, a state agency, the Attorney General has no authority to order disclosure. With respect
to item 16, your petition was also denied because no such records exist. 11
Unless there has been some change in circumstances or apparent error, this office will
not issue more than one order on a petition for the same records by the same petitioner. If
you wish to receive items 1, 2, 4, 5, 18, 20, 10 and 38 of your original petition, you will
need to prepay to the ACLB that agency's cost of making those records available. If you
wish to receive items 3, 6-15, 17-19, 21, 22, 24-29 and 31-37 of your original petition, you
must first make a request to the ACLB for those records. Linda Riddell, ACLB
Administrator, informs us that to date you have not requested these records from the ACLB.
Your current petition also seeks a copy of 11 each document in every appraisers file in
which my name has been placed. 11 Although this request is similar to item 26 in your earlier
petition, it appears to seek different records. As is the case with item 26 from your earlier
petition, Ms. Riddell informs us that you have not requested such records from the ACLB.
Absent a request to and a denial by the ACLB, the Attorney General has no authority to
order disclosure. See ORS 192.450(1). Accordingly, as to these records, we deny your
petition as premature. You must first make a request to the ACLB for these records.
JAA02431
c: Linda Riddell, ACLB Administrator
James M. Brown, Attorney at Law
Enfield, Brown, Collins & Knivila
214 Pioneer Trust Bldg.
117 Commercial St. NE
Salem, OR 97301-3498
Sincerely,
~~
DAVID SCHUMAN
Deputy Attorney General
11 No item 23 was listed in your original petition.
