An Act To Ensure Access to Public Information

Sec. 1. 5 MRSA §1982, sub-§9,  as enacted by PL 2005, c. 12, Pt. SS, §16, is amended to read:

Sec. 2. 5 MRSA §1982, sub-§10  is enacted to read:

summary

Current law provides that data files of state agencies are the property of the agency or agencies responsible for their collection and use. The Office of Information Technology's current policy prohibits the office from providing access to other agencies' electronic records, but the office refers the requests to the appropriate agencies.

This bill amends the laws governing the Office of Information Technology to provide that the office must provide access to public records that exist in electronic format if the records requested are created, collected or used by an agency or agencies for which the office provides services. The bill requires the Chief Information Officer to adopt routine technical rules to carry out this change in law.