Alabama law says every citizen has a right to inspect and get copies of public records, with some exceptions, but provides almost no guidance on how that right is enforced.

The public records law places no time requirements for government agencies to respond to requests. That means agencies can effectively deny access by ignoring a request or delaying indefinitely.

SB270 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would add timelines to the law and says citizens can file lawsuits if the timelines are missed or if a request is denied. The bill is scheduled for committee consideration when lawmakers return to Montgomery on Tuesday.

The Alabama Press Association supports the bill as an incremental step in putting more teeth into the public records law. The Senate passed a similar bill by Orr last year, but it did not come up for a vote in the House.

“We got very close last year,” Alabama Press Association Executive Director Felicia Mason said. “Even up until the last day of the session, we felt like we had a chance to get it out of the House.”

The Alabama Press Association is the state trade association for daily and weekly newspapers.

Mason said the governor’s office objected to parts of last year’s bill. Mason said the association has worked with the governor’s office, as well as organizations representing cities and counties and others that would be affected by changes in the public records law. Mason said she hopes the negotiations have produced a bill that can pass.

“Anytime you introduce a bill, there will be people that you don’t expect to come forward that have issues,” Mason said. “And so hopefully we can work all that out.”

A 2019 study by a researcher at the University of Arizona ranked Alabama last among states in responsiveness to requests for records.

Ivey issued an executive order last year directing state executive branch agencies to be more responsive to public records requests and setting timelines.

SB270 defines puts public records requests in two categories – standard requests and time-intensive requests.

Standard requests are for “one or more specifically and discretely identified public records that the public officer determines would take less than eight hours of staff time to process.”

SB270 requires public agencies to acknowledge receipt of standard requests within 10 business days. It requires a substantive response with 15 business days after that. A substantive response means providing the records, setting a time and place to provide the records, committing to provide the records after payment of a reasonable fee for costs, or denying the request with an explanation of why.

The public agency could extend the response time in increments of 15 business days by notifying the requester in writing.

SB270 says the requester could file a lawsuit if there is no substantive response within 30 business days, or no records produced within 30 business days of paying fees, or if the request is denied.

Time-intensive requests are those “that the public officer determines would take more than eight hours of staff time to process considering the time needed to identify and retrieve any responsive records and any time needed to redact or take other measures to withhold legally protected information.”

For time-intensive requests, public agencies would have to provide a substantive response within 45 business days, although they could extend that in increments of 45 business days by notifying the requester in writing.

Requesters could file a lawsuit if there is no substantive response within 180 business days, no records provided within 180 business days of paying requested fees, or if the request is denied in whole or in part.

Alabama’s public records law was passed in 1923. According to an article by attorney J. Evans Bailey published by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the law remained unchanged until 1983, when the Legislature exempted from public access the registration and circulation records of libraries. In 2004, the Legislature added exemptions for records concerning security plans, critical infrastructure, energy infrastructure, and other records for which the public disclosure could reasonably be expected to be detrimental to public safety or welfare.

SB270 says it is does not change or in any way affect any protections for sensitive or other nonpublic information provided under applicable law.

Mason, who has been executive director of the Alabama Press Association for more than 30 years, said the association determined that seeking incremental improvements in the law was more practical than a comprehensive overhaul.

“Probably the most important thing for the public and certainly for our membership is a timeline,” Mason said. “So that’s where we started and that’s where we are. We feel real good about where we are. Certainly, all the interested parties have been great to work with us to get to this point. So we’ll see.”

The Senate County and Municipal Government Committee is scheduled to take up Orr’s bill at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. Committee approval would put it in position for consideration by the full Senate.