An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Right To Know Advisory Committee Concerning Response Deadlines and Appeals
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 1087
Committee: Judiciary
Amends: 1 MRSA §408-A, 1 MRSA §409, 1 MRSA §413

Legislative Document 
No. 1087 
H.P. 748 
House of Representatives, March 25, 2015 
An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Right To Know 
Advisory Committee Concerning Response Deadlines and Appeals 
Reported by Representative HOBBINS of Saco for the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary 
pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 1, section 411, subsection 6, paragraph G. 
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed pursuant to Joint 
Rule 218. 
ROBERT B. HUNT 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  1 MRSA §408-A, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2013, c. 350, §2, is further 
amended to read: 
4.  Refusals; denials.  If a body or an agency or official having custody or control of 
any public record refuses permission to inspect or copy or abstract a public record, the 
body or agency or official shall provide written notice of the denial, stating the reason for 
the denial or the expectation that the request will be denied in full or in part following a 
review, within 5 working days of the receipt of the request for inspection or copying.  
Failure to comply with this subsection is considered failure to allow inspection or 
copying and is subject to appeal as provided in section 409. 
Sec. 2.  1 MRSA §409, sub-§1, as repealed and replaced by PL 2013, c. 350, §3, 
is amended to read: 
1.  Records.  Any person aggrieved by a refusal or denial to inspect or copy a record 
or the failure to allow the inspection or copying of a record under section 408-A may 
appeal the refusal, denial or failure within 30 calendar days of the receipt of the written 
notice of refusal, denial or failure to any the Superior Court within the State for the 
county where the person resides or the agency has its principal office as a trial de novo.  
The agency or official shall file an answer a statement of position explaining the basis for 
denial within 14 calendar days of service of the appeal.  If a court, after a trial de novo 
review, with taking of testimony and other evidence as determined necessary, determines 
such refusal, denial or failure was not for just and proper cause, the court shall enter an 
order for disclosure.  Appeals may be advanced on the docket and receive priority over 
other cases when the court determines that the interests of justice so require. 
Sec. 3.  1 MRSA §413, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 662, §8, is amended to 
read: 
1.  Designation; responsibility.  Each agency, county, municipality, school 
administrative unit and regional or other political subdivision shall designate an existing 
employee as its public access officer to serve as the contact person for that agency, 
county, municipality, school administrative unit and regional or other political 
subdivision with regard to requests for public records under this subchapter.  The public 
access officer is responsible for ensuring that each public record request is acknowledged 
within a reasonable period of time 5 working days of receiving the request and that a 
good faith estimate of when the response to the request will be complete is provided 
according to section 408-A.  The public access officer shall serve as a resource within the 
agency, county, municipality, school administrative unit and regional or other political 
subdivision concerning freedom of access questions and compliance. 
SUMMARY 
This bill amends the Freedom of Access Act to make clear that an agency's or 
official's written notice of denial in response to a request to copy or inspect records may 
be a statement that the agency or official expects to deny the request in full or in part, but 
that decision can be made only after reviewing the records subject to the request.  The 
agency or official is required to provide the written response within 5 days of the receipt 
of the request. 
The bill clarifies the procedures for an appeal from a denial of a request to inspect or 
copy public records.  Current law allows the appeal to be filed in any Superior Court; this 
bill requires the appeal to be filed in the Superior Court for the county in which either the 
requestor lives or in which the agency has its principal office.  Instead of filing an answer 
to the complaint, the agency or official may file a more informal statement of position 
explaining the basis for denial within 14 days of the service of the appeal.  This bill 
eliminates the need for a de novo trial and instead requires the Superior Court to conduct 
a review de novo, taking whatever testimony or other evidence the court determines 
necessary.  The basis for the decision, whether the agency's or official's refusal, denial or 
failure was not for just and proper cause, is not changed from current law. 
The bill also amends the laws governing public access officers by specifically 
requiring that a request for public records be acknowledged within 5 working days of the 
receipt of the request.  This is consistent with the current acknowledgement deadline in 
the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 1, section 408-A, subsection 3.