For Good + Deals, with Nick and Kristie
Public Records Help Finder
Legal information, not legal advice. This site summarizes public sources so you can find the right office and ask clearly. It is not legal advice, and it does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Laws, fees and office details change; always check the linked official source, and talk to a lawyer about your specific situation. Every fact below shows its source and the date it was last checked (2026-10-17).

Sources and verification

Every fact on this site comes from one of these pages, read on 2026-10-17 (the Arizona, Wisconsin, Colorado, Minnesota and Maryland sources on 2026-10-18; the Connecticut, Oregon, Tennessee, Kentucky and South Carolina sources and the official U.S. Code copy of FOIA on 2026-10-20). Statute pages were read in full for the sections cited. Some state agency pages block direct reading; where noted, the text was read another way. Unofficial copies of statutes (for example the Vermont Statutes Online) say so on their own pages. One NH fact comes from a training document for town clerks; one registry list is from the NHDeeds.org site, which does not date it. Several facts (the clerk training document, the Cheshire and Grafton registry pages, the Maine ombudsman page and the DigitalMaine town-report examples) were read from search-result excerpts of the linked pages rather than the full page, and are marked for a full re-read in the maintenance plan.

When sources disagree

New Hampshire's Secretary of State pages give two different cutoffs for open birth, death, marriage and divorce records. We show both and say so. If you find an error, please use the Suggest a correction email link below or in the footer.

Federal and other-state entries: how they were read

The federal and New York, Texas, California and Florida entries were added 2026-10-17. The federal statute text was read on a Cornell Legal Information Institute copy because the official U.S. Code page could not be read; Cornell is an educational site, not the official source, and the FOIA.gov pages are official. The Texas Attorney General's 2024 handbook (which reprints the statute and the Attorney General's cost rules) and the Texas Legislature's statute site (sections 552.001 to 552.117 only) were read; the handbook may not reflect 2025 amendments. California Legislature pages returned an access error to this site's fetcher, so the California sections were read from excerpts of the official pages returned by a web search, with one section read in a California Law Revision Commission memo; they are marked in the entry and need a full re-read. The Florida Attorney General's Sunshine Manual could not be read; the Florida statutes were read on the Florida Senate's 2026 statute pages. Every entry also lists what was not researched.

The Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia and Massachusetts entries were added 2026-10-17. Pennsylvania: the Right-to-Know Law text and the Office of Open Records' Citizens' Guide are PDFs on the Office of Open Records website, read as extracted text; its web pages were read directly. Illinois: the Illinois General Assembly's statute pages and an Attorney General PDF. Ohio: the Ohio Revised Code pages on codes.ohio.gov and the Attorney General's web pages; the Attorney General's Sunshine Laws Manual itself was not read. Georgia: the statute was read as reprinted in an older Attorney General guide (it names a former Attorney General), cross-checked against the Attorney General's web pages and one Governor's office page; the Attorney General's FAQ page gives 25 cents per page for copies, which differs from the 10 cents in the statute reprint, and the entry flags this. Massachusetts: the Legislature's pages for chapter 66, sections 10 and 10A, the Secretary of the Commonwealth's guide (December 2022 edition) and its appeal page; the Secretary's other pages and the regulations (950 CMR 32.00) could not be read directly. Every entry lists what was not researched.

The New Jersey, Michigan, Virginia, North Carolina and Washington entries were added 2026-10-17. New Jersey: the Government Records Council's readable version of OPRA (as of September 3, 2024, PDF, read as extracted text) and its Time Frame, Fees and FAQ pages; the Council's other pages (exemptions list, forms, regulations) were not read. Michigan: the Michigan Legislature's pages for MCL 15.232 to 15.235, 15.240 and 15.240a, read in full; exemptions and the other sections were not read. Virginia: the Virginia Law (Code of Virginia) pages for sections 2.2-3700, 3701, 3704 to 3704.2, 3713 and 3714, and 30-179; the exemption sections were not read, and the Freedom of Information Advisory Council website returned a service error, so no contact details from it are listed. North Carolina: the General Assembly's PDFs for G.S. 132-1, 132-6, 132-6.2, 132-9 and 7A-38.3E; the sections read set no fixed response deadline, and exemptions were not summarized. Washington: the Legislature's pages for RCW 42.56.010, .030, .080, .120, .520, .530, .550 and .580 and the Attorney General's Obtaining Records page; the Attorney General page gives a per-day penalty range of $5 to $100 while the statute text says "not to exceed one hundred dollars", and the entry flags this. Every entry lists what was not researched.

The Arizona, Wisconsin, Colorado, Minnesota and Maryland entries were added 2026-10-18. Arizona: the Legislature's pages for A.R.S. 39-121, 39-121.01 to 39-121.03, 39-122 and 39-127; Chapter 6 of the Attorney General's Agency Handbook (the PDF is posted in a 2025-05 folder, but its page footers read "Revised 2018", so later changes may not be reflected); and the Ombudsman-Citizens' Aide how-to, FAQ and contact pages. Sections 39-123 and 39-124, the exemptions and the agencies' own fee schedules were not read or summarized. Wisconsin: the Legislature's pages for sections 19.31 to 19.35 and 19.37 and the Department of Justice's Public Records Law Compliance Guide (June 2025); the exemptions (sections 19.36 and 19.356) and the later paragraphs of section 19.35(3) were not summarized, and the guide's printed email address for the Department was not published here because it looks like a typo. Colorado: the official statute text could not be read (the state website returned an access error to this site's fetcher and was not retried), so the entry rests on the General Assembly's Office of Legislative Legal Services summary of the Colorado Open Records Act (last reviewed 09/18/2024, which says it is not an official legal opinion) and the General Assembly's own open-records policy; it is short, and the denial and pre-suit notice rules are listed as not yet researched. Minnesota: the Office of the Revisor of Statutes pages for sections 13.02 to 13.05, 13.072, 13.08 and 13.085 and the Department of Administration's Data Practices Office page; the classification sections and the data practices rules were not read. Maryland: the Maryland General Assembly's 2026 Regular Session PDFs for General Provisions sections 4-101, 4-103, 4-202 to 4-206, 4-362 and 4-1A-04, and the Public Access Ombudsman's contact and FAQ pages; the exemptions in subtitle 3 and the Attorney General's Public Information Act Manual were not read. Every entry lists what was not researched.

The Connecticut, Oregon, Tennessee, Kentucky and South Carolina entries were added 2026-10-20. Connecticut: the official statute text on the General Assembly's website could not be read by this site's fetcher (a certificate error, which was not bypassed), so the entry uses the Freedom of Information Commission's compilation of the Act including 2025 amendments, which the Commission describes as unofficial, plus the Commission's FAQ, Citizen's Guide and contact page; the exemptions were not summarized. Oregon: the Legislature's ORS chapter 192 page (2025 edition), sections 192.311 to 192.478; the page notes that some chapter 192 sections were amended in the 2026 session, and those changes were not checked. Tennessee: the state's code is not published on a state website this site could read, so the entry rests on the Comptroller's Office of Open Records Counsel FAQ, which quotes and cites the statute, and its Schedule of Reasonable Charges (effective January 20, 2017). Kentucky: the General Assembly's pages for KRS 61.872, 61.876 and 61.880 and the Attorney General's guide to the Open Records and Open Meetings Acts (revised September 2025); fee and court-remedy points come from that guide. South Carolina: the Legislature's code page for Title 30, Chapter 4. Every entry lists what was not researched.

Federal FOIA: on 2026-10-20 the statute citations on the federal guide were moved from an educational copy to the official Government Publishing Office copy of 5 U.S.C. 552 (United States Code, 2024 edition, on govinfo.gov), and each cited provision was checked against that text.

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