Citizen Know How: How to File an OPRA Request

The first time I filed a public records request a neighbor guided me through the process — sort of. Told me to get the form. To be careful with my wording. To expect to get turned down. But I wasn’t! Encouraged by the experience, I went on to get better at the process. Knowing how to obtain public records set me on the path of really examining how policy is set, how money is spent — in essence, how power operates. It’s essential citizen knowledge and I’m excited to share it with others.

What is an OPRA Request?

OPRA stands for “Open Public Records Act,” the legislation which mandates that “government records shall be readily accessible for inspection, copying, or examination by the citizens, with certain exceptions, for the protection of the public interest.” The Open Public Records Act (OPRA) and related Open Public Meetings Act(OPMA) were both first enacted in the 1970s, post-Vietnam and Watergate to bring greater transparency to government operations. The Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) is also known as the Sunshine Law, a nod to the quote by lawyer and associate justice on the Supreme Court, Louis Brandeis that “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.”

What is a Public Record?

Any document, recording or piece of information created by a government entity in process of conducting government business is a public record. Meeting agendas, meeting minutes, ordinances and resolutions ought to be easily accessible to the public but too often they are not. Other public documents you are unlikely to encounter unless you specifically request them such as officials’ emails, monthly bill list or contracts with hired firms or vendors.

How Do I Make an OPRA Request?

I always recommend that people use OPRAmachine.com to make a public records request in NJ. Created by data scientist and former journalist Gavin Rozzi, OPRAmachine streamlines the process of submitting a request. You simply type in the name of the authority (the governing body, agency or commission you want to get info from) and hit “make a request to this authority.” An email will automatically be created that is pre-populated with the required legal language for your request. All you need to do is enter the records you are requesting and hit send!

In addition to sending the email to that government agency for you, OPRAmachine also tracks responses. You will get an email from OPRAmachine telling you when, by law, you should have heard back and what to do if you get no response. You will also get a link to your request that you can share on social media or with other citizens who are also interested in seeing the information that you are requested. If you want to submit anonymously, you can do that as well.

So What Exactly Should I Ask For?

When you’re submitting an OPRA request, it’s important to keep in mind that you can’t directly request information. Instead, you have to ask for the documents that get you that information. For instance, if you want to know how much your county government paid a particular consultant you could ask for invoices, copies of checks or purchase orders to get to that number. If you want to know how policing dollars are being spent in your town, you could request a detailed line item budget for your local police department for the past budgetary year.

When you are making your request, think in terms of:

• contracts
• logs
• emails
• invoices
• permits
• certifications
• job postings
• Requests for Proposals (RFPs) or Request of Qualifications (RFQs)
• audits
• purchase orders

Yet another advantage of using OPRAmachine: you can hit “browse requests” and look at the sort of documents other people have asked for. You may want to use the language of other people’s successful requests to gain the information you’re looking for.

Finally, keep in mind that just like with treasure hunting, filing OPRA requests may require some digging. A request for a monthly bill list might yield info that piques your curiosity about a particular government expenditure. A request for the log of sent and received emails for a particular elected official might tip you off to a problem or possibility worth exploring.

What Authority Am I Submitting My Requesting To?

This might be less straightforward than it seems at first glance. Again, using OPRAmachine offers an advantage, as you can type in a location (ie. your county or town) as a keyword to find the authority you are looking for. Generally all towns have two “body politics” — their school board and their town council. However, decisions are made in more than just these two spaces. Town councils appoint individuals to serve on decision making bodies such as planning boards, zoning boards, library boards, recreation boards, etc. Your school board may create ad-hoc committees that make recommendations for spending or policy. There are numerous board, commissions and authorities in your county, overseeing public utilities, county colleges, libraries, taxation, elections. This is another benefit of filing public records requests — gaining a fuller understanding of how power is divvied up where you live.

What Response Should I Expect & When?

Custodians of public records are required to respond within seven business days. You might get a response within that time frame asking for an extension. If you grant an extension make sure you know when you will hear back from them again.

These are some records that are exempted from OPRA in order to protect the privacy of minors, attorney-client confidentiality, certain security measures etc. You can find the full list here and it’s worth keeping these exemptions in mind as you are making your request.

If you get a response that your request is overly broad, think about how you can narrow it down by scope or time range. More than once, I’ve heard back from the Camden County Board of Elections that the request I made would require so much work to fill that they would have to charge me thousands of dollars. There can be some cost associated with making an OPRA request though those are mostly if you want a hardcopy of the document you request. Should you encounter the sort of response I’ve gotten from the Camden County Board of Elections, asking for thousands of dollars in payment, I would suggest narrowing the scope to something they will agree upon and after you have that information, request more in the same vein to gradually pursue all the information you are looking for.

Go Forth and OPRA!

Public records requests are sort of a gateway drug to greater citizen knowledge. If you don’t get exactly what you’re looking for on your first try, don’t get discouraged. You’ll get better at the process each attempt you make. Don’t forget to share your findings. And once you’ve gotten good at it, don’t forget to teach someone else how to use the magic of OPRA.