A two-hour presentation by Catherine Starghill, Esq., Executive Director of the Government Records Council (GRC) of the State of New Jersey, attempted to answer the questions of the GIS community concerning open records in state and local government.  The time wasn’t enough for Ms. Starghill, and excellent presenter, to answer all questions, as the interest was overwhelming, and the questions numerous.

The Open Public Records Act (OPRA) replaces the Right to Know (RTK) law.  There is a cultural shift in the spirit of the law, as OPRA declares all government records open to the public by default, unless subject to exemption.  This represents a clear shift towards openness in government.

Not all is clear, however, as the barrage of questions from the audience made obvious.  Nor are all aspects of OPRA specific enough to address the circumstances of various GIS data request and distribution scenarios.  One thing is clear – GIS data are not treated any differently than any other data by OPRA.  It is very likely that GIS data should be given special attention by the legislation, but they haven’t.  

There are 24 exemptions to OPRA, most notably to guarantee the citizens’ reasonable expectation of privacy, and to guarantee security.  A few other notables:

•    GIS data must be provided in the medium requested.
•    Requestors’ need for access is irrelevant
•    The municipal clerk is the custodian of municipal records, including GIS data
•    The custodian may not put a restriction on what can be done with the data
•    Draft documents are exempt from disclosure

For more information visit the website of the Government Records Council (GRC) of the State of New Jersey.