Smythers, James Allen

Oklahoma Open Records Act

Title 51 Oklahoma Statutes § 24A.1 et seq.

The Oklahoma Open Records Act is a series of laws designed to guarantee that public has access to all public records of governmental bodies. Section 24A.2 defines records as "all documents, including, but not limited to, any book, paper, photograph, microfilm, data files created by or used with computer software, computer tape, disk, and record, sound recording, film recording, video record or other material regardless of physical form or characteristic, created by, received by, under the authority of, or coming into the custody, control or possession of public officials, public bodies, or their representatives in connection with the transaction of public business, the expenditure of public funds or the administering of public property." This specifically includes all records of the transfer of public funds.

According to the Oklahoma Open Records Act, anyone may request public records and no statement of purpose is required. However, if the purpose is commercial, fees will be charged for document collection. There is no restriction on the use of records and the law does not specify a time limit for responses to requests.