Alaska proposes letting state agencies halt public records work after 15 hours

The Alaska Department of Administration proposed regulations Wednesday that would let executive branch agencies stop work on a public records request after manually reviewing 250 records or spending 15 hours of staff time. An agency that stops would still have to hand over any releasable records it had ready by then.

The proposal would amend, repeal or readopt every section of the state's public records regulations and add new ones. Written comments are due by 5 pm Dec. 11. After that, the department may adopt the rules, adopt different ones on the same subject or take no action, according to its public notice.

Under the proposed regulations, requesters could not use a third-party service or automated process, including artificial intelligence, to submit a request. Agencies could decline requests made for financial or commercial gain or to get personal information about someone other than the requester. They could also put Alaska residents' requests ahead of nonresidents'.

If search and copying took more than five hours of staff time in a calendar month, the requester would pay for all of the labor, including the first five hours. The Department of Law's current guidance describes the same charge. That guidance also says agencies do not charge for time spent reviewing records for protected information.

Requesters would have 30 working days to appeal an agency action. Current guidance gives 60 working days to appeal a denial to the agency head. A final decision on an appeal would be due within 45 working days after the record is compiled. Agencies would still owe a first response within 10 working days.

The rules would not cover the Alaska Railroad Corporation or the University of Alaska.

The department says the changes are meant to improve efficiency, ensure uniform application and modernize practices. It does not expect them to require more state money. The proposal came from agency staff, according to the department's filing.

Records fees have come up in the Legislature this year. At an April 21 House State Affairs Committee hearing on a public records bill, Antonia Onaxet Comack, a Wasilla advocate for families of missing and murdered Indigenous people, said records costs are already a barrier to justice and opposed removing the five-hour rule from state law. At an April 7 hearing of the same committee, Fairbanks Police Chief Ron Dupie said one evidence custodian now does nothing full-time but redact video and answer records requests.