An Act To Improve the Freedom of Access Laws of Maine
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 1575
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: HARNETT, BREEN
Amends: 1 MRSA §402, 1 MRSA §408-A

Legislative Document
No. 1575
H.P. 1137
House of Representatives, April 16, 2019
An Act To Improve the Freedom of Access Laws of Maine
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative HARNETT of Gardiner.
Cosponsored by Senator BREEN of Cumberland.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  1 MRSA §402, sub-§1-B is enacted to read:
1-B.  Public or governmental business.  "Public or governmental business" means 
the administration of public policy and the exercise of governmental power through laws, 
rules, ordinances, regulations and the equivalent.  "Public or governmental business" does 
not include personal communications of agency staff or public officials unless the subject 
of the communication is the administration of public policy or the exercise of 
governmental power through laws, rules, ordinances, regulations or the equivalent.
Sec. 2.  1 MRSA §408-A, sub-§1-A is enacted to read:
1-A.  Request.  A person who requests to inspect or copy a public record under this 
section shall provide to the office of the agency or official having custody of the public 
record sufficient information to identify the record sought.  At a minimum, a request for a 
public record must include:
A.  The specific subject matter contained in the record; and
B.  The date or dates upon which the record was created.  If the person is not aware of 
the specific date or dates upon which the record was created, the person may provide 
a broad range of dates within which the record may have been created.
Sec. 3.  1 MRSA §408-A, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2015, c. 317, §1, is further 
amended to read:
3.  Acknowledgment; clarification; time estimate; cost estimate.  The agency or 
official having custody or control of a public record shall acknowledge receipt of a 
request made according to this section within 5 working days of receiving the request and 
may request clarification concerning which public record or public records are being 
requested.  Within a reasonable time 30 days of receiving the request, the agency or 
official shall provide a good faith, nonbinding estimate of the time within which the 
agency or official will comply with the to the requester an update on the agency's or 
official's progress on the request, as well as a cost estimate as provided in subsection 9.  
The Within 30 days of providing the update on the agency's or official's progress, the 
agency or official shall make a good faith effort to fully respond to the request within the 
estimated time fulfill the request or, if fulfillment of the entirety of the request is not 
possible within the 30-day time frame, the agency or official shall fulfill that portion or 
portions of the request that it can fulfill within the 30-day time frame and shall provide to 
the requester an explanation of the reason or reasons that the request cannot be fulfilled 
within the 30-day time frame and a written estimate of the expected date of compliance 
with the remainder of the request.  A requester that is aggrieved by the inability of an 
agency or official to comply with a request within the 30-day time frame may file a 
complaint with the Public Access Ombudsman appointed under Title 5, section 200-I.  
For purposes of this subsection, the date a request is received is the date a sufficient 
description of the public record, in accordance with subsection 1-A, is received by the 
agency or official at the office responsible for maintaining the public record.  An agency 
or official that receives a request for a public record that is maintained by that agency but 
is not maintained by the office that received the request shall forward the request to the 
office of the agency or official that maintains the record, without willful delay, and shall 
notify the requester that the request has been forwarded and that the office to which the 
request has been forwarded will acknowledge receipt within 5 working days of receiving 
the request.
Sec. 4.  Review; report.  The Right To Know Advisory Committee, established 
under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, section 12004-J, subsection 14, shall examine 
the specific challenges of ensuring public access to public records in the face of new and 
emerging technologies and shall develop recommendations that are designed to preserve 
communications that can be accessed by the public. In conducting its review, the 
committee shall specifically examine:
1.  The effect of the increasing reliance on the use of text messaging to conduct 
business and how text messaging fits within the parameters of the Freedom of Access 
Act;
2.  How to ensure the preservation of public records when the use of technology that 
does not create a permanent record, such as Snapchat, is surging; and
3.  Strategies to encourage public agencies and public officials to adopt business 
practices that are specifically designed to preserve public records that are subject to the 
Freedom of Access Act.
The Right To Know Advisory Committee shall submit its report, together with any 
proposed implementing legislation, to the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary by 
December 4, 2019.  Upon receipt and review of the report, the joint standing committee 
may report out a bill to the Second Regular Session of the 129th Legislature.
SUMMARY
The purpose of this bill is to enhance access to public records without imposing 
undue burdens on the efficient and effective functioning of government.  This bill makes 
the following changes to the Freedom of Access Act.
1.  Current law defines public records that are subject to the Freedom of Access Act 
as matter in the possession or custody of an agency or public official that has been 
received or prepared for use in connection with, or that contains information relating to, 
the transaction of public or governmental business. This bill defines "public or 
governmental business" as the administration of public policy and the exercise of 
governmental power through laws, rules, ordinances, regulations and the equivalent.
2.  The bill requires that, when requesting to inspect or to receive a copy of a public 
record, a person must provide to the agency or official with custody of the record 
sufficient information to identify the record sought.  Under the bill, a request for a public 
record must include, at a minimum, the specific subject matter contained in the record 
and the date or dates upon which the record was created or a range of dates within which 
the record may have been created.
3.  Current law requires that, within "a reasonable time" of receiving a request for 
information, the agency or official must provide a good faith, nonbinding estimate of the 
time within which the agency or official will comply.  This bill instead requires that the 
agency or official, within 30 days of receiving the request, provide to the requester an 
update on progress on the request and, within 30 days of providing the update, fulfill the 
request.  If the agency or official is unable to fulfill the entirety of the request within the 
specified time period, the agency or official must provide to the requester an explanation 
of the reason or reasons it was unable to comply, fulfill those portions of the request that 
it can fulfill and provide a written estimate of the expected date of compliance with the 
remainder of the request.
4.  The bill directs the Right To Know Advisory Committee to examine the specific 
challenges of ensuring public access to public records in the face of new and emerging 
technologies and to develop recommendations that are designed to preserve 
communications that can be accessed by the public.  The Right To Know Advisory 
Committee is directed to report its findings and recommendations to the Joint Standing 
Committee on Judiciary, which is authorized to report out a bill to the Second Regular 
Session of the 129th Legislature.