Judges: W.A. DREW EDMONDSON, Attorney General of Oklahoma
Filed Date: 3/13/1996
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/6/2016
Dear Representatives Webb,
¶ 0 This office has received your request for an Attorney General's Opinion in which you asked, in effect, the following questions:
1. Are telephone bills received by a municipality, for use oflandline and cellular phones by elected officials andadministrative personnel, records open for public inspection? 2. If the answer to the first question is yes, may amunicipality withhold portions of the bill or blackoutinformation on the bill (such as a listing of the numbers calledfrom the landline and cellular phones) leaving only the totalamount due for the bill?
The Oklahoma Open Records Act shall not create, directly or indirectly, any rights of privacy or any remedies for violation of any rights of privacy; nor shall the Oklahoma Open Records Act, except as specifically set forth in the Oklahoma Open Records Act, establish any procedures for protecting any person from release of information contained in public records. The purpose of this act is to ensure and facilitate the public's right of access to and review of government records so they may efficiently and intelligently exercise their inherent political power.
51 O.S. 1991, § 24A.2[
¶ 2 All records of public bodies and public officials must be open to any person for inspection, copying and or mechanical reproduction unless those records are protected by a privilege of confidentiality. 51 O.S.Supp. 1995, § 24A.5[
¶ 3 Public bodies have a specific duty to keep and maintain complete records related to the receipt and expenditure of public funds:
In addition to other records which are kept or maintained, every public body and public official has a specific duty to keep and maintain complete records of the receipt and expenditure of any public funds reflecting all financial and business transactions relating thereto, except that such records may be disposed of as provided by law.
51 O.S. 1991, § 24A.4[
¶ 4 A search of State and federal law indicated no specific authority to allow a municipality to maintain its telephone records as confidential. Therefore, from the plain language of the Act, we must conclude that telephone bills of municipalities for landline and cellular phones are public records pursuant to the Open Records Act.
¶ 6 It is, therefore, the official Opinion of the AttorneyGeneral that:
1. Telephone bills received by a municipality for use ofmunicipal landline and cellular phones by elected officials andadministrative personnel are records open for public inspectionpursuant to the Oklahoma Open Records Act at 51 O.S.Supp. 1995,§ 24A.3(1) and § 24A.5.
2. A municipality may withhold portions of the bill or deleteinformation on the bill only if a privilege of confidentialityexists which authorizes confidentiality of the information. 51O.S. 1991, § 24A.2[
W.A. DREW EDMONDSON ATTORNEY GENERAL OF OKLAHOMA
JAMES ROBERT JOHNSON ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL