investigators, administrators and consultants. Ada County, Idaho, website, https://adacounty.id.gov/coroner (last visited July 13, 2015). The Coroner’s office is a part of the Ada County government. The Coroner’s budget ($1,634,454 in 2013) is paid from Ada County’s general fund. Deputy coroners are “paid at a rate fixed by the county commissioners.” Idaho Code Ann. § 31-2809. Under some circumstances, the Ada County commissioners have the power to remove the Coroner or confirm a coroner appointed by the executive. Idaho Code Ann. § 31-5213 (coroner may be “appointed by the executive with the advice and consent of the board of county commissioners,” or the commissioners may eliminate the coroner’s office in favor of an elected or appointed replacement). The 2013 Ada County budget lists the Coroner as a “department” under the category “Governmental,” and the Coroner has a webpage on the County’s website. And as the pleadings in this case demonstrate, both Ada County and the Coroner filed this declaratory relief action and are represented by the Ada County prosecuting attorney, even though Disability Rights directed its records access request to the Coroner. Disability Rights Statement ¶ 15; Coroner’s Statement at 2-3. ARGUMENT Congress created a system of independent protection and advocacy organizations in response to a history of widespread abuse and neglect of individuals with disabilities by the facilities charged with their care. Following the creation of the nationwide P&A system through passage of the Developmentally Disabled Assistance and Bill of Rights Act in 1975, Pub. L. No. 94-103, 89 Stat. 486 (1975) (originally codified at 42 U.S.C. §§ 6041-6043 and currently at 42 U.S.C. §§ 15041-15045), Congress has continued to expand the authority of P&As to protect individuals with disabilities. The PAIMI Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 10801-10851, extended the P&As’
“agency charged with investigating” because that is what it exists to do regardless of how the Coroner acquired the position. One federal court has confirmed that a coroner’s office should be viewed as an “agency charged with investigating” under PAIMI. In Wisconsin Coal. For Advocacy, Inc. v. Busby, Case No. 02-C-871 *12 (E.D. Wis. September 24, 2003), the Winnebago County coroner refused for three months to comply with the P&A’s request for records, claiming the documents were not “records” under PAIMI. Id. The district court disagreed, holding that “A coroner’s office is an agency charged with investigating deaths (certainly a form of injury), . . . .” so its investigatory records “fall within the P&A system access authority.” Id. at 12-13. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an agency’s similar attempt to split hairs with the meaning of “agency charged with investigating” in order to avoid producing records under PAIMI. Disability Rights Wisconsin, Inc. v. Wisconsin, 463 F.3d 719, 726-27 (7th Cir. 2006). In Disability Rights Wisconsin, the court found that it was “beside the point” that the agency at issue was not “charged” with investigating reports of abuse or neglect because the agency “did in fact investigate complaints of potential abuse or neglect.” Id. The court found that preventing the P&A from obtaining information it needed to investigate “on the basis that DPI did something it was not required to do” would frustrate the goals of the P&A system. Id. Congress Intended that the PAIMI Act Apply to Administrative Divisions of Government Such as the Coroner. Congress clearly intended that PAIMI apply to state and local governmental entities. The PAIMI legislative history indicates that the term “agency” refers to “any State, county, or municipal agency charged with the responsibility of investigating incidents of abuse and neglect in public residential facilities for the treatment of mentally ill individuals.” S. 2393, 100th Cong., 134 Cong. Rec. S14450-03, 1988 WL 180662; S.2393, 100th Cong., 134 Cong. Rec.