Opinion ID: 891791
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Exceptions to Disclosure Under IPRA

Text: {12} Our Legislature enacted IPRA to promote the goal of transparency in our state government: Recognizing that a representative government is dependent upon an 5 informed electorate, the intent of the legislature in enacting the Inspection of Public Records Act is to ensure, and it is declared to be the public policy of this state, that all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of public officers and employees. Section 14-2-5. “IPRA is intended to ensure that the public servants of New Mexico remain accountable to the people they serve.” San Juan Agric. Water Users Ass’n v. KNME-TV, 2011-NMSC-011, ¶ 16, 150 N.M. 64, 257 P.3d 884. “The citizen’s right to know is the rule and secrecy is the exception.” Newsome, 90 N.M. at 797, 568 P.2d at 1243. {13} Under IPRA, “[e]very person has a right to inspect public records,” § 14-2-1(A), by making a request pursuant to the procedures set forth in Section 14-2-8. This right is limited only by the Legislature’s enumeration of certain categories of records that are excepted from inspection. See Section 14-2-1(A)(1) to (7) (inter alia, attorney-client privileged information, law enforcement records that reveal confidential sources, and governmental emergency response plans).2 In addition to the specifically enumerated exceptions, records may be excepted from inspection under IPRA “as otherwise provided by law.” Id. § 14-2- 1(A)(8). This “catch-all” exception includes statutory and regulatory bars to disclosure, such as the Privacy Acts. See City of Las Cruces v. Pub. Emp. Labor Relations Bd., 1996-NMSC024, 121 N.M. 688, 690-91, 917 P.2d 451, 453-54. The “catch-all” exception also includes constitutionally mandated privileges, as recognized by the parties and the Court of Appeals, Republican Party, 2010-NMCA-080, ¶ 24, as well as privileges established by our rules of evidence, Estate of Romero v. City of Santa Fe, 2006-NMSC-028, ¶ 7, 139 N.M. 671, 137 P.3d 611; see also Rule 11-501 NMRA (limiting privileges that may be asserted to those grounded in the constitution, the rules of evidence, and other rules adopted by the Court). Although courts may use common law principles when interpreting IPRA, see San Juan Agric. Water Users Ass’n, 2011-NMSC-011, ¶ 20, this does not mean common law privileges provide a valid basis for withholding documents from public scrutiny when we do not otherwise recognize such privileges in our courts of law or by statute, see Estate of Romero, 2006-NMSC-028, ¶ 11; First Judicial, 96 N.M. at 257, 629 P.2d at 333. Without proof of the Legislature’s intent to the contrary, we do not construe IPRA to contemplate privileges not applicable elsewhere in our state government. {14} In order to determine whether an exception not specifically identified in IPRA 2 After the parties submitted briefing and presented oral arguments in this appeal, the Legislature amended IPRA, reducing the number of enumerated exceptions from eleven to seven. 2011 N.M. Laws, ch. 134, § 2. The Court of Appeals’ opinion refers to the “as otherwise provided by law” provision under its former subsection, Section 14-2-1(A)(12). Republican Party, 2010-NMCA-080, ¶ 24. The exceptions removed by the amendment concerned records regarding applicants for university presidencies and certain veterans’ discharge papers, and therefore are not relevant to this appeal. 6 shielded the documents at issue from disclosure, the Court of Appeals applied the “rule of reason,” Republican Party, 2010-NMCA-080, ¶ 24, an approach we introduced in Newsome, 90 N.M. at 797, 568 P.2d at 1243; see also Cox v. N.M. Dep’t of Public Safety, 2010NMCA-096, ¶ 7, 148 N.M. 934, 242 P.3d 501. The plaintiff in Newsome was a reporter for the University of New Mexico Daily Lobo who sought access to university personnel records. 90 N.M. at 792, 568 P.2d at 1238. When the university denied him access to some of the records, the plaintiff filed suit under the then-existing version of IPRA, which shielded from disclosure only the first three specific categories of documents exempted today—medical records of institutionalized individuals, certain letters of reference, and documents expressing matters of opinion in personnel or student files—and “as otherwise provided by law.” Id. at 793-94, 568 P.2d at 1239-40 (citing NMSA 1953, § 71-5-1 (Supp. 1975)). The university withheld some of the disputed records on the basis of enumerated exceptions. Id. at 792, 568 P.2d at 1238. Other documents, the university contended, while not specifically exempted from disclosure by IPRA were “of a personal or sensitive nature . . . that, for reasons of public policy, should be kept confidential and not be subject to disclosure.” Id. at 794, 568 P.2d at 1240. Acknowledging that no New Mexico court at that time had “face[d] this issue squarely,” id., Newsome reviewed caselaw from other states and concluded that the list of enumerated exceptions to public records disclosure should not be treated as exhaustive. Id. at 794-97, 568 P.2d at 1240-43. Newsome cited approvingly to a California Supreme Court case which held that the public’s right to access government records is “not absolute, but [is] subject to an implied rule of reason” by which a court can create additional exceptions to disclosure. Id. at 797, 568 P.2d at 1243 (quoting Bruce v. Gregory, 423 P.2d 193, 199 (Cal. 1967)). {15} Following Bruce and other cases, Newsome adopted an approach whereby courts determine whether records not specifically exempted by IPRA nonetheless should be withheld from the requester on the grounds that disclosure “would not be in the public interest.” 90 N.M. at 798, 568 P.2d at 1244. Newsome stated that [i]t would be helpful to the courts for the Legislature to delineate what records are subject to public inspection and those that should be kept confidential in the public interest. Until the Legislature gives us direction in this regard, the courts will have to apply the “rule of reason” to each claim for public inspection as they arise. Id. at 797, 568 P.2d at 1243. {16} The Legislature has since responded to the Court’s request, obviating any need that existed for application of the “rule of reason,” by enumerating specific exceptions to disclosure, including attorney-client privilege, § 14-2-1(A)(6), and maintaining the exception “as otherwise provided by law,” § 14-2-1(A)(8). Accordingly, courts now should restrict their analysis to whether disclosure under IPRA may be withheld because of a specific exception contained within IPRA, or statutory or regulatory exceptions, or privileges adopted by this Court or grounded in the constitution. Therefore, cases applying the “rule 7 of reason” to all of the exceptions enumerated by the Legislature are overruled to the extent they conflict with this Opinion. See, e.g., City of Farmington v. The Daily Times, 2009NMCA-057, ¶ 8, 146 N.M. 349, 210 P.3d 246; Bd. of Comm’rs of Doña Ana Cnty. v. Las Cruces Sun-News, 2003-NMCA-102, ¶ 11, 134 N.M. 283, 76 P.3d 36.