THEODORE R. KULONGOSKI
t ATTO!{;\;FY CENFRAL
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Wayne P. McGee, SID #10669149
Snake River Correctional Institution
777 Stanton Blvd.
Ontario, OR 97914
1162 Court Street NE
Justice Building
Salem, Oregon 97310
Telephone' (503) 378-4400
Too, (503) 378-5938
September 14, 1995
Re: Petition for Public Records Disclosure Order:
Marion County Circuit Court Records
Dear Mr. McGee:
THOMAS A. BALMER
DFl'UTY ATTORi':FY (;f'.\JERAL.
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 September 7, 1995, asks the Attorney General to direct the Clerk of the Marion
County Court to make available to you a certified copy of the court register for Marion
County Case No. 95C12098. For the reasons that follow, we respectfully deny your petition
for disclosure of public records.
The Public Records Law confers a right to access any public record of a public body
in Oregon, subject to certain exemptions and limitations. See ORS 192.420. The law
requires generally that the custodian of public records furnish proper and reasonable
opportunities for inspection and/or copying of the record in the office of the custodian.
ORS 192.430. Any person denied the right to inspect or to receive a copy of any public
record of a state agency may petition the Attorney General to review the public record to
determine if it may be withheld from public inspection. ORS 192.450(1). Under these
provisions, an agency may be said to have "denied" a request to inspect or to receive a copy
of a public record only if it receives a proper request for public records. Public Records
Order, July 7, 1989 (Baker).
The Public Records Law permits public bodies to establish and recover fees reasonably
calculated to reimburse it for its actual cost in making public records available, including the time
spent by agency staff in locating and reviewing the records in order to delete exempt material.
See ORS 192.440(3); see also, Public Records Order, April 7, 1989 (Martin).
Wayne P. McGee, SID #10669149
Page 2
September 14, 1995
Your petition states that your request for copies of public records was denied by an
unknown representative of the court clerk's office. Attached to and referenced in your petition in
support of your claim of denial is a form response from the Marion County Court Clerk's office.
Although the reason for the clerk's return of your records request to you without copies of the
records is not entirely clear from the form response, a handwritten note appearing on the form
indicates that your request for records was returned because you failed to include payment for the
copies with your request. 11 The form also indicates that the fee for obtaining copies is 25 cents
per page, but fails to indicate the number of pages of the records that are available for copying
pursuant to your request.
We have spoken with the court clerk's office regarding your petition. A representative of
the clerk's office confirms to us that your request for records was returned to you because you
failed to include the required payment for copies of the records with your request. The
representative also advises us that the clerk that reviewed your request inadvertently failed to
check the appropriate box on the form to indicate the reason for its return of your request, and
failed to fill in the blank on the form to indicate the number of pages available for copying. In
reviewing its records, the clerk's office advises us that the case register of the case you have
referenced in your petition is comprised of two pages, and that it remains willing to make copies
of those pages available to you upon prepayment of its fee for records.21
Because you failed to include payment for copies the records with your request, there has
been no denial of a request for records. Because you have not been denied access to the records,
the Attorney General lacks authority to order disclosure. See ORS 192.440(3). For these
reasons, we deny your petition as premature.
ESH:JVV:jvv:clr/JGGOC428
Sincerely,
rbt-A~j~d6 ,,d ';fii,zcrf0Jt Co , ti
ELIZABETH S. HARCHENKO
Special Counsel
to the Assistant Attorney General
11 The handwritten note on the form response follows a typed statement on the form informing the
requestor that his/her request for copies of records was returned because "Payment was not included:
(Oregon Revised Statutes ORS 21.580 requires that the fees for your request be paid in advance)."
The handwritten note states: "whether this is your case or not or if you are an indigent inmate or
not."
