Title 19, Miscellaneous Matters Related to Government and Public Affairs

(1) Except where form and frequency of reports are specified by law, every receiving agency shall prescribe by rule standardized forms for all reports and shall fix the frequency with which reports shall be submitted. (2) Receiving agencies in the executive or administrative bran…

As used in ORS 192.235 to 192.245: (1) “Report” means informational matter that is published as an individual document at state expense or as required by law. “Report” does not include documents prepared strictly for agency administrative or operational purposes. (2) “State agenc…

(1) The Legislative Assembly finds that: (a) Many state agency reports are published for reasons that are historical and no longer based on the public’s need to be informed. (b) The format of many state agency reports is not economical or well suited to providing needed informati…

To comply with the state policy relating to reports outlined in ORS 192.235, a state agency shall do the following: (1) Use electronic communications whenever the agency determines that such use reduces cost and still provides public access to information. (2) Whenever possible, …

(1) In accordance with rules adopted by the Oregon Department of Administrative Services and to reduce the amount of paper used by state agencies, by June 30, 2005, each state agency shall make available on the Internet any report that the state agency is required by law to publi…

(1) Whenever a law of this state requires a written report be submitted to the Legislative Assembly, the requirement shall be met by distribution of an executive summary of no more than two pages sent to every member of the Legislative Assembly by electronic mail and one copy of …

The Director of the Oregon Department of Administrative Services shall report to the Legislative Assembly by appearing at least once during each biennium before the appropriate interim committees designated by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the S…

As used in ORS 192.270 and 192.275: (1) “Public” does not include any state officer or board, commission, committee, department, institution, branch or agency of state government to which a report is specifically required by law to be submitted but does include any such to which …

Notwithstanding ORS 192.230 to 192.245, if any state or federal law requires a state agency to send, mail or submit a report to the public, the state agency may meet this requirement by mailing notice of the report to the public. The notice shall state that if the recipient retur…

As used in ORS 192.311 to 192.478: (1) “Business day” means a day other than Saturday, Sunday or a legal holiday and on which at least one paid employee of the public body that received the public records request is scheduled to and does report to work. In the case of a community…

(1) Every person has a right to inspect any public record of a public body in this state, except as otherwise expressly provided by ORS 192.338, 192.345 and 192.355. (2)(a) If a person who is a party to a civil judicial proceeding to which a public body is a party, or who has fil…

(1) The custodian of any public records, including public records maintained in machine readable or electronic form, unless otherwise expressly provided by statute, shall furnish proper and reasonable opportunities for inspection and examination of the records in the office of th…

(1) A public body that is the custodian of any public record that a person has a right to inspect shall give the person, upon receipt of a written request: (a) A copy of the public record if the public record is of a nature permitting copying; or (b) A reasonable opportunity to i…

(1) A public body shall complete its response to a written public records request that is received by an individual identified in the public body’s procedure described in ORS 192.324 as soon as practicable and without unreasonable delay. (2) A public body’s response to a public r…

(1) A public body that, acting in good faith, discloses a public record in response to a request for public records is not liable for any loss or damages based on the disclosure unless the disclosure is affirmatively prohibited by state or federal law or by a court order applicab…

If any public record contains material which is not exempt under ORS 192.345 and 192.355, as well as material which is exempt from disclosure, the public body shall separate the exempt and nonexempt material and make the nonexempt material available for examination. [Formerly 192…

(1) The Attorney General shall maintain and regularly update a catalog of exemptions created by Oregon statute from the disclosure requirements of ORS 192.311 to 192.478. The catalog must be as comprehensive as reasonably possible and must be freely available to the public in an …

The following public records are exempt from disclosure under ORS 192.311 to 192.478 unless the public interest requires disclosure in the particular instance: (1) Records of a public body pertaining to litigation to which the public body is a party if the complaint has been file…

The following public records are exempt from disclosure under ORS 192.311 to 192.478: (1) Communications within a public body or between public bodies of an advisory nature to the extent that they cover other than purely factual materials and are preliminary to any final agency d…

(1) When a public record is subject to disclosure under ORS 192.355 (9)(b), in lieu of making the public record available for inspection by providing a copy of the record, the public body may prepare and release a condensation from the record of the significant facts that are not…

(1) A request for the disclosure of records described in ORS 192.355 (3) or 192.365 must include the following information: (a) The names of the individuals for whom personal information is sought; (b) A statement describing the personal information being sought; and (c) A statem…

(1) Upon compliance with ORS 192.363, a public body that is the custodian of or is otherwise in possession of the following information pertaining to a home care worker or personal support worker as defined in ORS 410.600, an operator of a child care facility as defined in ORS 32…

(1) An individual may submit a written request to a public body not to disclose a specified public record indicating the home address, personal telephone number or electronic mail address of the individual. A public body may not disclose the specified public record if the individ…

(1) As used in this section, “public body” has the meaning given that term in ORS 174.109. (2) A public body may not disclose the identification badge or card of an employee of the public body without the written consent of the employee if: (a) The badge or card contains the phot…

(1) A public body may not disclose records or information that identifies a person as a current or former holder of, or applicant for, a concealed handgun license, unless: (a) The disclosure is made to another public body and is necessary for criminal justice purposes; (b) A cour…

A public body that is the custodian of or is otherwise in possession of information that was submitted to the public body in confidence and is not otherwise required by law to be submitted, must redact all of the following information before making a disclosure described in ORS 1…

(1) A public body or any official of the public body that determines that a party requesting information under ORS 192.355 (3), 192.363 or 192.365 has demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that the public interest requires disclosure in a particular instance is immune fro…

(1) As used in this section: (a) “Law enforcement unit” has the meaning given that term in ORS 181A.355. (b) “Public body” has the meaning given that term in ORS 192.311. (c) “Public safety officer” has the meaning given that term in ORS 181A.355. (2) A public body may not disclo…

Notwithstanding ORS 192.338, 192.345 and 192.355 and except as otherwise provided in ORS 192.398, public records that are more than 25 years old shall be available for inspection. [Formerly 192.495] Note: 192.390 was added to and made a part of 192.311 to 192.478 by legislative a…

A record of an agency of the executive department as defined in ORS 174.112 that contains the following information is a public record subject to inspection under ORS 192.314 and is not exempt from disclosure under ORS 192.345 or 192.355 except to the extent that the record discl…

The following public records are exempt from disclosure: (1) Records less than 75 years old which contain information about the physical or mental health or psychiatric care or treatment of a living individual, if the public disclosure thereof would constitute an unreasonable inv…

(1)(a) A person denied the right to inspect or to receive a copy of a public record of a health professional regulatory board, as defined in ORS 676.160, that contains information concerning a licensee or applicant, and petitioning the Attorney General to review the public record…

(1) A person who has submitted a written public records request in compliance with a public body’s policy may seek review of the following, in the same manner as a person petitions when inspection of a public record is denied under ORS 192.311 to 192.478: (a) The failure of a pub…

(1) Subject to ORS 192.401 (1) and 192.427, 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. Except as provid…

(1) ORS 192.401 and 192.411 apply to the case of a person denied the right to inspect or to receive a copy of any public record of a public body other than a state agency, except that: (a) The district attorney of the county in which the public body is located, or if it is locate…

(1) The failure of the Attorney General or district attorney to issue an order under ORS 192.401, 192.411 or 192.415 denying, granting, or denying in part and granting in part a petition to require disclosure within seven days from the day of receipt of the petition shall be trea…

(1) A petition to the Attorney General or district attorney requesting the Attorney General or district attorney to order a public record to be made available for inspection or to be produced shall be in substantially the following form, or in a form containing the same informati…

In any case in which a person is denied the right to inspect or to receive a copy of a public record in the custody of an elected official, or in the custody of any other person but as to which an elected official claims the right to withhold disclosure, no petition to require di…

(1) In any suit filed under ORS 192.401, 192.411, 192.415, 192.422 or 192.427, the court has jurisdiction to enjoin the public body from withholding records and to order the production of any records improperly withheld from the person seeking disclosure. The court shall determin…

(1) The office of the Public Records Advocate is created as an independent office within the executive department, separate and distinct from any other state agency. (2) The Public Records Advocate shall be appointed by the Public Records Advisory Council under ORS 192.481. (3) T…

(1)(a) The Public Records Advocate shall provide facilitated dispute resolution services when requested by a person described in subsection (2) of this section or by a state agency under the conditions described in subsection (3) of this section. (b) The Public Records Advocate m…

Consistent with ORS 192.464 and rules adopted thereunder, the Public Records Advocate possesses sole discretion over the conduct of facilitated dispute resolution sessions. [2017 c.728 §3]

Written records, documents, notes or statements of any kind prepared for or submitted to the Public Records Advocate, prepared by the advocate or exchanged between parties seeking a facilitated dispute resolution are subject to ORS 36.220 to 36.238. The Public Records Advocate ma…

(1) The Public Records Advocate shall provide training for state agencies and local governments on the requirements and best practices for processing and responding to public records requests. (2) The Public Records Advocate shall perform training sessions throughout this state. …

(1) On or before January 1 preceding the start of a biennium, the Public Records Advocate shall estimate the expenses the advocate will incur for the upcoming biennium in carrying out the provisions of ORS 192.461 to 192.477. The advocate shall report the estimate to the Oregon D…

(1) The Public Records Advocate Fund is established in the State Treasury, separate and distinct from the General Fund. Interest earned by the Public Records Advocate Fund shall be credited to the Public Records Advocate Fund. (2) The Public Records Advocate Fund shall consist of…

The Judicial Department is not subject to ORS 192.464 and 192.475. [2017 c.728 §6]

(1) The Public Records Advisory Council is created. (2) The Public Records Advisory Council consists of: (a) The Secretary of State or a designee of the Secretary of State; (b) The Attorney General or a designee of the Attorney General; (c) The Director of the Oregon Department o…

(1) The Public Records Advisory Council created under ORS 192.481 shall periodically perform all of the following: (a) Survey state agency and other public body practices and procedures for: (A) Receiving public records requests, identifying the existence of records responsive to…

As used in ORS 192.485 to 192.513, “public record” has the meaning given that term in ORS 192.311. [2017 c.654 §1] Note: 192.485 to 192.513 were enacted into law by the Legislative Assembly but were not added to or made a part of ORS chapter 192 or any series therein by legislati…