Alabama Administrative Code › Title 410 - STATE HEALTH PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY › Chapter 410-1-3 - ADMINISTRATION › Section 410-1-3-.06 - State Agency Records

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
(1) All
			 information collected, assembled, or maintained by the state agency in
			 connection with its transaction of official business is public information and
			 available for public inspection and disclosure during normal business hours,
			 unless otherwise protected from disclosure under law.
(2) Upon request to the Agency's public
			 records coordinator, designated by the Executive Director, public records
			 maintained by the Board shall be available for inspection and duplication at
			 the office of the Board during regular business hours in accordance with this
			 rule. The inspection and duplication of public records shall be under the
			 supervision of the Executive Director or other agency designee, at a designated
			 time coordinated with the public records coordinator.
(3) For the purpose of this rule, a request
			 for copies of public records shall be considered a "Standard Request" if it
			 seeks one or more discretely identified public records that the Executive
			 Director or other agency designee determines will take less than eight (8)
			 hours of staff time to process, taking into consideration the need to identify
			 and to redact or take other measures to withhold legally protected action. A
			 Standard Request should require no or minimal clarification by the requestor. A
			 "Time-Intensive Request" is defined as a request that the Executive Director or
			 other agency designee determines will take more than eight (8) hours of staff
			 time to process, taking into consideration the need to obtain clarification of
			 broad or vague requests, and to identify and to redact or take other measures
			 to withhold legally protected action and any time needed to redact or take
			 other measures to withhold legally protected information.
(4) Any person wishing to obtain copies of
			 public records shall submit a written request in PDF format by email to
			 public.records@shpda.alabama.gov, addressed to the Agency's public records
			 coordinator, using the form provided for this purpose on the public records
			 page of the Board's public web site. ''Standard Requests" shall be accompanied
			 by a minimum fee of $20.00. Should the staff time associated with the response
			 exceed one hour, the requesting party shall pay an additional fee of $20.00 for
			 each additional hour incurred prior to production. All requests will be
			 acknowledged within two (2) business days from receipt, at which time the
			 requesting party shall be notified if the request is deemed a Time-Sensitive
			 Request. If practicable, the requestor will be given an estimate of the staff
			 time and related fees associated with a Time-Intensive Request prior to
			 processing, which must be paid prior to production. The requestor will be
			 provided a substantive response fulfilling or denying the request within
			 fifteen (15) business days for Standard Requests, and forty-five (45) days for
			 Time-Intensive Requests. These deadlines may be extended in additional fifteen
			 (15) day and forty-five (45) day increments, respectively, upon written notice
			 to the requestor. All fees must be paid prior to production.
(5) Records requests fulfilled will be
			 provided via electronic means wherever possible. Where paper copies are
			 required, the agency may charge an additional per-page fee of $.50 per page for
			 copies per black and white copied page, 8.5 x 11 inches in size. All certified
			 copies shall be provided in printed form.
(6) In addition, upon request, the Agency may
			 provide non-routine data compilation or summary of health care data to third
			 parties in accordance with a fee schedule based on total costs incurred by the
			 Agency, as determined by the Executive Director, approved by the CON Review
			 Board, and published on the Agency's website.
(7) Personnel records, data and/or materials
			 relating to judicial proceedings, and other documents subject to a legal
			 privilege or confidentiality requirement under state or federal law are not
			 available for public disclosure or access.
(8) Nothing in this rule shall authorize the
			 Agency to impose a fee for staff time associated with preparation and initial
			 publication of any report or statistical update which it is required to publish
			 under law or rule.
Author:
Alva M. Lambert
Statutory Authority:
Code of Ala.
				  1975
, 22-21-271, 22-21-274.