Open Up Oregon

In theory, Oregon's state agencies will provide public records - emails, budgets, invoices, meeting minutes, etc - to anyone who asks, on request. But in practice, the Oregon DOJ has taken a narrow interpretation of those laws, and it is much harder to get public records in Oregon than is true in most other states. Open Up Oregon attempts to address this situation by providing practical advice about how to get public records, and by pressuring the Oregon DOJ to enforce and interpret Oregon's public records law to encourage agencies to improve access to records.
Note: We are in the process of registering OpenUpOregon as a tax-exempt non-profit, and upgrading our website. Please check back for more info. 

    Free, clean searchable pdf of the Oregon Public Records Manual

    10/26/2009: (short repost with link to new pdf)

    Every 2 years the Oregon DOJ publishes the "Oregon Attorney General's Public Records and Meetings Manual". Essential reading for people trying to use their right to get public records from Oregon government agencies. The Oregon DOJ has been trying to keep me from redistributing this manual.

    The Oregon DOJ email to me said:
    "The State, by and through DOJ, owns copyright to the Manual, and it is not to be redistributed without our permission in any format. This measure is to help protect the copyright."
    But James Madison, author of the US Constitution, said:
    "A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."
    Given that this quote is prominently posted on the cover of the very manual which AG John Kroger is trying to keep off the internet, I hold with those who favor farce, and, with the help of Carl Malamud at public.resource.org, I've posted the manual online at my official UO faculty website.

    So, you can go here and pay the DOJ $25 for the dead-tree version or download a searchable and environmentally friendly 6MB pdf, free, here.


    UPDATE: In November - 5 months after I first tried to get this manual, the AG caved. It's now posted online at the Oregon DOJ website complete with a creative commons copyright. 

    More on this is on the OPB show  Think Out Loud with Attorney General John Kroger and UO Economics Professor Bill Harbaugh. Stories in Oregonian, RG, Jack Bog, LoveSalem, Oregonian Editorial.

    Database of Oregon DOJ Public Records Orders for 2008-present

    We are now working to put all of the DOJ PROs (starting from 2008) online, along with some metadata. The DOJ's Government Transparency Counsel, Michael Kron, has been sending us these as a courtesy, which we very much appreciate. There are about 125 of them at the moment, so the details will take a bit and we are still working on what data to include. But all links are active. Comments welcome. Go here to see the whole spreadsheet. If you would like to edit the spreadsheet metadata, email me at openuporegon at gmail dot com.

    ATTORNEY GENERAL JOHN KROGER ANNOUNCES GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE

    Update: The OPB show "Think Out Loud" is doing a show with Attorney General John Kroger and UO Economics Professor Bill Harbaugh (of OpenUpOregon) at 9 AM Monday. It should be interesting.


    This is - potentially - a very significant step towards the reform of Oregon's public records process. Stories in Oregonian, RG, Jack Bog, LoveSalem, Oregonian Editorial. Here is the press release:

    December 2, 2009

    Initiative seeks to improve Oregon's open government laws
    Attorney General John Kroger today announced a broad plan to improve government transparency in Oregon. "A democracy cannot properly function without strong open government laws," said Attorney General Kroger. "We've implemented some immediate reforms that will improve transparency in state government. But I'm also committed to far greater changes."

    Immediate changes include:
    Putting the 2008 Attorney General's Manual on Public Records and Public Meetings online. Until now, the manual has been exclusively available in a hard copy at a cost of $25. Free online access will significantly increase its usefulness.
    The Oregon Department of Justice web site now includes a Citizen's Guide to Public Records and Public Meetings. The guide is designed for citizens who need a quick and easy understanding of Oregon's open government laws.
    A new online Public Records Request Form is also now available. Previously, public records request forms needed to be printed out and mailed or faxed. The form is designed for requesting records from the Department of Justice.

    Attorney General Kroger also has created the Government Transparency Counsel, a new position in the Department of Justice designed to ensure that state government properly complies with state transparency laws.

    The next step is a systematic review of Oregon's open government laws to identify weak points and suggest improvements for the 2011 Legislature. This effort requires input from the public, the media and government officials. To that end, Attorney General Kroger will conduct meetings around the state that will be co-sponsored by the Oregon Newspaper Publishers' Association.
    The online PR manual appears to be the direct consequence of pressure from this website and from Carl Malamud at Public Resource - creative commons license and all. The "Government Transparency Counsel (Michael Kron) has a great title and we hope will have authority to ride herd on the state agencies.

    We are a little worried about the hearings. We started this website in part to encourage the DOJ to use the authority they have under current law to prevent agencies from using unreasonable delays, excessive redactions, and unreasonable fees to prevent access to public records. They have made progress on the delays, but have not done much - that I can see - on the other topics. I am cautiously optimistic that Michael Kron will make this a priority - and I intend to find out soon!
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    More from Carl Malamud

    10/30/2009: Carl Malamud of public.resource.org has now posted still more "copyrighted" manuals from the Oregon DOJ for download as printable, searchable pdfs. All free.
    gov.oregon.ag.adminlaw.2008.pdf  30-Oct-2009 13:43   48M  Attorney General's Administrative Law Manual
    gov.oregon.ag.contracts.2008.pdf 30-Oct-2009 12:41   55M  Attorney General's Public Contracts Manual
    gov.oregon.ag.meetings.2008.pdf  26-Oct-2009 12:21  5.8M  Attorney General's Public Records and Public Meeting Manual
    or_fire.pdf                      30-Oct-2009 13:46   41M  The Oregon Fire Code, which incorporates IFC-2006, the 2006 International Fire Code.
    or_mechanical.pdf                30-Oct-2009 13:46   23M  The Oregon Mechanical Code, which incorporates IMC-2006, the 2006 International Mechanical Code.
    or_residential.pdf               30-Oct-2009 13:46   42M  The Oregon Residential Code, which incorporates IRC-2006, the 2006 International Residential Code.
    or_structural.pdf                30-Oct-2009 13:46   69M  The Oregon Structural Specialty Code, which incorporates IBC-2006, the 2006 International Building Code.
    ors_2005.tgz                     12-Apr-2008 18:49   16M  2005 Oregon Revised Statutes
    ors_2007.tgz                     12-Apr-2008 18:46  115M  2007 Oregon Revised Statutes
    A pdf of the Oregon Fire Code costs $79.20 from the website recommended by the State Fire Marshal. Seems like Oregon Attorney General Kroger should be helping Mr. Malamud break this copyright, and that's the way we hope this fight ends. More at Boingboing.net.

    Carl Malamud in Oregon


    I've been lax on updates, but a lot has been happening on the public records front. Carl Malamud from public.resource.org made a sweep through Oregon - giving talks at Attorney General Kroger's law school, Lewis and Clark, and the University of Oregon Library, with a stop in between to buy copies of the legal manuals the Oregon DOJ is trying to keep off the web. I wonder what he is going to do with them?

    Here's video of his talk at UO. It's a great talk, ranging from the definition of a "smatterer" (1:50 in) to an insinuation of nepotism by John Adams to the early history of the SCOTUS to the rationale for copyright law to why John Kroger is going to have a really hard time asserting copyright on the Oregon DOJ manuals on public records, and other topics. My favorite part is here, of course! CJ Ciamarella has a good article in the ODE about Carl's visit.
    Go here for the original post about the Oregon DOJ's efforts to keep the "Attorney General's Public Records and Meeting Manual" off the internet, with a copy of their letter warning me not to redistribute it, and with links to the free and illegal pdfs.
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    AG's PR manual update

    9/17/2009 update: When I first posted this I was a little nervous - one guy with a laptop against the 500 lawyers in the Oregon DOJ. Then Jack Bog, Jeff Mapes, Richard Coe at The Bend Bulletin, slashdot.org and Volokh.com wrote about it. I got thousands of hits and the pdfs of the manual (or at least the preface) have been downloaded hundreds of times and are now safely mirrored at several sites. I also got a lot of comments and letters of support. I really appreciate those!

    DOJ spokesperson Tony Green then called and we had a long phone conversation. He was a little shell-shocked. I think the AG is hoping it will be a long, long time before his name shows up on slashdot again!
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    Illegal copy of the Oregon Attorney General's Public Records and Meetings Manual

    Update: On Dec 2, more than 4 months after I first tried to get a copy of the Attorney General's Public Records Manual, the DOJ finally stopped trying to use its copyright to restrict public access. AG Kroger announced his Government Transparency Initiative, and posted the pdf online.


    9/14/2009: Every 2 years the Oregon DOJ publishes the "Oregon Attorney General's Public Records and Meetings Manual". Essential reading for people trying to use their right to get public records from Oregon government agencies. The DOJ has been trying to keep me from redistributing this manual, on the grounds that they own the copyright to it.

    Trying to use copyright law to keep the public from getting information about how to get public records strikes me as wrong, so I've posted the manual online at my official UO faculty website. As the email below explains, I am posting this despite the fact that the AG's office has explicitly warned me not to redistribute this manual.

    So, you can go here and pay the DOJ $25 for the dead-tree version, or download my pdf free. Here are the links. Internet volunteers are currently preparing a searchable version, which we expect to have online and googled in a few days.

    Oregon PR Manual Section 0
    Oregon PR Manual Section 1
    Oregon PR Manual Section 2
    Oregon PR Manual Section 3

    Meanwhile, Jeff Mapes of the Oregonian reports that Attorney General Kroger is now considering what action to take against me for illegally redistributing this public records manual. As James Madison said,
    "A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."
    Given that this quote is prominently posted on the cover of the very manual which AG John Kroger is trying to keep off the internet, I hold with those who favor farce.

    Kroger is not going to take any action against me. His spokesperson Tony Green is soon going to stop answering calls about this. Kroger is never going to do anything to improve access to Oregon's public records, and he is going to blame this on the legislature, claiming he is powerless to act.

    I needed to the Public Records Manual to figure out how to get the AG to release a copy of his office's investigation of Special Assistant Attorney General Melinda Grier. While the AG quickly and freely released everything he had about the Adams case, he has only given up heavily redacted parts of the Grier investigation. His Associate AG David Leith is trying to charge $1800 to see even those redacted pages. Ms Grier is not the mayor of Portland, but she is a DOJ Special Assistant Attorney General, and the spouse of DOJ Solicitor General Jerry Lidz. The AG hasn't explained how this legitimately creates a need a redaction when there was none for the Adams case!

    9/13/2009 email:
    Dear Attorney General Kroger:

    In July I tried to obtain a pdf of the 2008 "Oregon Attorney General's Public Records and Meetings Manual" from your office, as part of my still unsuccessful efforts to get a copy of the DOJ's ethics investigation of UO General Counsel and Oregon Assistant AG Melinda Grier.

    I was surprised that this manual was not already posted on your public records website. It it seems clear to me that Oregon law regarding public records, and specifically ORS 192.243, requires the DOJ to post this manual online. I was even more surprised when my questions about this and my efforts to get the DOJ to do sol - or at least email me a pdf so that I could post it - were repeatedly ignored by your office.

    Eventually I did get the response below, offering to sell me a copy, and warning me ... "it is not to be redistributed without our permission in any format" ... This doesn't seem right to me. This manual describes Oregon's public records law and gives practical advice for state agencies and for people attempting to get public records. The preamble, signed by then AG Hardy Myers, goes on about this for quite a bit. This manual should be posted on the DOJ website where people can google it and use it for its intended purpose.

    As you know, previous efforts by the Oregon DOJ to assert its copyright over the Oregon Revised Statutes were ridiculed by the legal community and repudiated by the state legislature in 2008. See http://public.resource.org/oregon.gov/index.html, for example. Attempting to using copyright law to keep a manual on public records off the web - of all things - seems even stranger than this strange episode - especially given your campaign promises to increase the transparency of Oregon's government.

    So, I checked a copy of the 2008 PR Manual out of the UO Law Library, scanned it, and I posted the pdf on my official University of Oregon faculty website, at http://harbaugh.uoregon.edu/ORDOJ_PR_Manual and also at http://openuporegon.com. I understand that it is illegal for me to post copyrighted material on the web without permission of the copyright owners. Furthermore, the Oregon PR manual states that copyright of this manual is held by the Oregon DOJ, and as the email below from the DOJ makes clear, the DOJ has explicitly told me not to redistribute the Manual. I am putting it online anyway.

    I suppose that you could send me a letter asking me to remove this public records manual from my website, or just request or order UO to do so. Alternatively, you could post the official pdf - which your office already has - on the DOJ's public records website, and make it available to other websites such as http://open-oregon.com. I hope you will do the latter - and also that your office will provide the documents I have requested regarding the Grier investigation without further delay, or unnecessary redactions.

    Sincerely,

    Bill Harbaugh
    Professor of Economics
    1285 University of Oregon
    Begin forwarded message:
    From: "Kron Michael C"
    Date: Jul 24, 2009 3:27:11 PDT
    To:
    Cc: "Green Tony " , "Altenhofen Martin"
    Subject: Your request for a PDF of the Public Records Manual.


    Good afternoon, Professor Harbaugh.

    You requested our Public Records Manual in PDF format. I believe that Tony has told you that, pursuant to our administrative rule, the Manual costs $25. OAR 137-008-0010(4)(d). Upon receipt, you can send a check in that amount to

    Publications Section
    Oregon Department of Justice
    1162 Court St NE
    Salem OR 97301-4096

    Please enclose a copy of this email with your check.

    Our IS people require you to follow the instructions below before we send you the PDF. The State, by and through DOJ, owns copyright to the Manual, and it is not to be redistributed without our permission in any format. This measure is to help protect the copyright. (emphasis added)

    If you have any technical questions about the process, please feel free to direct them to Martin Altenhofen, the author of the email below. I would appreciate it if you would copy me on any correspondence with Martin

    ...

    Sincerely,

    Michael

    Update: See here for more "copyrighted" law manuals from the Oregon DOJ, and here for a nice clean compact OCR'd pdf of the "Oregon Attorney General's Public Records and Meetings Manual" all courtesy of Carl Malamud at public.resource.org.
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    Attorney General Issues New FOIA Guidelines to Favor Disclosure and Transparency

    Sorry - false alarm. This is for the Federal Government, not Oregon.

    Below is the memo US Attorney General Eric Holder sent out March 9 2009, 6 weeks after his senate confirmation. Here in Oregon, we are still awaiting similar action from our Oregon Attorney General John Kroger. No new law is needed to fix Oregon's secretive public records practices - just firm action from our AG, along these lines.

    Attorney General Issues New FOIA Guidelines to Favor Disclosure and Transparency

    WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder issued comprehensive new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) guidelines today that direct all executive branch departments and agencies to apply a presumption of openness when administering the FOIA. The new guidelines, announced in a memo to heads of executive departments and agencies, build on the principles announced by President Obama on his first full day in office when he issued a presidential memorandum on the FOIA that called on agencies to "usher in a new era of open government." At that time, President Obama also instructed Attorney General Holder to issue new FOIA guidelines that reaffirm the government’s commitment to accountability and transparency. The memo rescinds the guidelines issued by the previous administration.

    "By restoring the presumption of disclosure that is at the heart of the Freedom of Information Act, we are making a critical change that will restore the public’s ability to access information in a timely manner," said Attorney General Holder. "The American people have the right to information about their government’s activities, and these new guidelines will ensure they are able to obtain that information under principles of openness and transparency."

    The new FOIA guidelines address both application of the presumption of disclosure and the effective administration of the FOIA across the government. As to the presumption of disclosure, the Attorney General directs agencies not to withhold records simply because they can technically do so. In his memo, the Attorney General encourages agencies to make discretionary disclosures of records and to release records in part whenever they cannot be released in full.

    The Attorney General also establishes a new standard for the defense of agency decisions to withhold records in response to a FOIA request. Now, the Department will defend a denial only if the agency reasonably foresees that disclosure would harm an interest protected by one of the statutory exemptions, or disclosure is prohibited by law. Under the previous defensibility standard of the rules rescinded today, the Department had said it would defend a denial if the agency had a "sound legal basis" for its decision to withhold.

    In addition to establishing criteria governing the presumption of disclosure, the Attorney General’s FOIA guidelines emphasize that agencies must be sure to have in place effective systems for responding to requests. In the memo, the Attorney General calls on each agency to be fully accountable for its administration of the FOIA.

    The Attorney General’s memo also emphasizes that FOIA is the responsibility of everyone in each agency, and that in order to improve FOIA performance, agencies must address the key roles played by a broad range of personnel who work with each agency’s FOIA professionals. The memo highlights the key role played by agency Chief FOIA Officers who will now be reporting each year to the Department of Justice on their progress in improving FOIA administration. And, the Attorney General also directs FOIA professionals to work cooperatively with FOIA requesters and to anticipate interest in records before requests are made and to make requested records available promptly.

    The Office of Information Policy will conduct training and provide guidance on the new FOIA guidelines to executive branch departments and agencies, as well as to interested groups, in order to maintain a comprehensive approach to greater government transparency.

    Today’s memo rescinds the guidelines issued on Oct. 12, 2001, by former Attorney General John Ashcroft.
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