GRAMA – the Records Law
The Government Records Access Management Act (GRAMA), Title 63G Chapter 2 of the Utah Code, is the records law for the State of Utah. GRAMA defines what a record is and establishes the criteria for accessing government records. Salt Lake City Corporation complies with GRAMA under Salt Lake City Code, Section 2.64.
What is a public record?
As defined in Utah Code Ann. § 63G-2-103, public record means a record that is not private, controlled, or protected and is prepared, owned, received or retained by the governmental entity. Records requested must be able to be reproduced from the original record.
What are private, controlled, and protected records?
A private record generally relates to an individual’s private interests and disclosure of such to the public would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy. A record is considered “controlled” if it contains medical, psychiatric or psychological data about an individual. A protected record covers a variety of records some of which are trade secrets and information that would impair governmental procurement proceedings. For a detailed list, see Utah Code Ann. § 63G-2, Part 3.
Who can initiate a GRAMA request?
Any person can make a public records request. However, public disclosure is regulated by several different statutes dependent upon the record. If you are the subject of the record, you may be entitled to information not available to the general public.
What is the time limit for a response to a GRAMA request?
A governmental entity has ten (10) business days after receiving a written request to provide the record, deny the request, or notify the requester that it cannot immediately provide a response due to extraordinary circumstances. Extraordinary circumstances may require more processing time.
The media is entitled to any record that is deemed to be a public record pursuant to Utah Code Ann. § 63G-2-301. A governmental entity has five (5) business days after receiving a written request to provide the record, deny the request, or notify the requester that it cannot immediately provide a response due to extraordinary circumstances.
