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Stonewalled: Legislature redacts, delays and denies access to messages
Four months ago, the Arizona Capitol Times set out to learn how much of the state’s business is being conducted on smartphones, via newer technologies like text messages, social media chats and third-party messenger applications. But getting access to those messages, which most experts and public officials agree are covered under the state public records laws, can be extremely difficult.
The end of transparency? Corp commissioner Burns considering further restrictions to public records
After three months of fighting with the Washington DC-based Checks and Balances Project over records of an Arizona Corporation Commission member’s text messages, emails and call logs, a fellow commissioner was fed up. "When does too much become too much?” Commissioner Bob Burns wrote in an email to Jodi Jerich, executive director of the Corporation Commission.
Social media, smartphone apps threaten public records retention
Technology’s rapid advances in the past decade haven’t bypassed lawmakers and public officials, and new methods that purport to destroy communications may pose a threat to the retention of public records.
Corp. Comm. agrees to turn over phone to find deleted texts
The Corporation Commission agreed to turn over Commissioner Bob Stump’s phone to a retired judge and independent technology expert to see if any text messages are retrievable and subject to public records laws.
AG opinion says SRP must comply with public records law
Salt River Project has filed documents in Maricopa County Superior Court arguing that it is exempt from the state's public record laws because it is not technically a public body. SRP is one of the largest utility companies in the state and is considered a quasi-governmental agency because it operates as both a private, for-profit company and a political subdivision of the state.
Judge sets date for SRP records hearing
Salt River Project and a pair of Arizona municipalities will face off in court over a public records dispute in February. A Maricopa County judge on Dec. 2 set a hearing date of Feb. 17. The two sides will debate whether the quasi-governmental utility company is subject to the state's public records law. Prescott and Prescott Valley have filed two public records requests with SRP, and the utili[...]
SRP fighting to keep records private
The nation's third-largest public power utility and one of the state's largest water suppliers avoided a ruling earlier this year that would have determined whether it was subject to Arizona public records law. But now the Salt River Project is again bracing against claims that its quasi-governmental status requires it to maintain and provide access to documents.
Municipalities file special action for access to SRP watershed records
Two municipalities are challenging the authority of one of the state's largest utilities and are now asking a Maricopa County court to order Salt River Project (SRP) to turn over records under the state's public records law.
