With the help of a volunteer Freedom of Information Committee, SPJ Oregon has pushed hard at the Legislature and elsewhere to defend and improve Oregon’s records and meetings laws, securing improvements to several major bills. In 2019 SPJ worked closely with Milwaukie Rep. Karin Power, other lawmakers and a coalition of open-government groups to help create Oregon’s first-ever penalty for agencies that ignore or slow-walk records requests.

Learning the basics of Oregon’s public records and meetings laws can be not just helpful, but crucial for reporters inform members of the public about issues that affect them. Below are some basic tools and advice. For more in-depth resources and advice, or for an invite to our FOI slack channel, contact the SPJ Oregon board.

Public Records 101

Frame your request as narrowly as possible: Ask for a specific document, cite who you believe generated it or received it, or provide a time frame that you’d like the search to cover.

Get help: If it is a complicated or broad request, ask the agency for a 15-minute background interview to help narrow your request. Research the issue to be as surgical as possible.

Consider the public interest: Many exemptions require a test in which the agency considers whether the public interest in disclosure outweighs reasons to withhold a document. The public-interest argument you make in your request can describe the financial or human stakes involved, the questions raised by past disclosures or publicity, and evidence of the public’s interest. 

Don’t embrace the obstacle: It’s easy to get dissuaded by a denial or a hefty cost estimate. But often the exemption the agency cites to deny your request can be overcome on appeal. Meanwhile, a cost estimate can be a useful tool to help focus your request or consider a different path; it also can be appealed.

An appeal may be necessary: Oregon’s law is pro-disclosure, but some agencies mistakenly err on the side of denial. If you believe you were improperly denied, appeal local-agency denials to the county District Attorney, and appeal state-agency denials to the Attorney General.

Public Records Tools

• The nonprofit Open Oregon offers a quick guide to Oregon Public Records Law.

• Open Oregon’s quick form for creating a standard records request.

• Open Oregon’s form for appealing a denial of your request.

• Browse Attorney General public records orders.

• Research a denial and your appeal in the Attorney General Public Records and Meetings Manual.

• The Oregon Public Records Advocate was created in 2017 to assist the public with records issues and help resolve disagreements with government agencies.

Public Meetings 

Oregon law requires that the public receive advance notice of public meetings and that agendas be posted. Some issues, however, will be discussed in executive session, meaning they are confidential and closed to the public. To prevent the kinds of executive-session abuse that has occurred in other states, journalists in Oregon are allowed to be present at many types of executive session, such as discussions about pending litigation. Oregon’s law requires journalists to not disclose or report what is disclosed inside executive session beyond what is disclosed in regular public meetings or elsewhere.

Open Oregon has a handy quick reference guide to Oregon’s public meetings law.