This is done if the attorney general determines that there is probable cause to believe that a knowing violation of the ethics code, or a violation that cannot be corrected in accordance with provisions of the law, has occurred, or that the subject of the complaint has failed to comply with a recommendation for corrective or preventive action. The Legislature in 1991 created the Alaska Aerospace Corporation as a public corporation, located for administrative purposes in the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development and affiliated with the University of Alaska, but with a separate and independent legal existence. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Its broad language was a comprehensive mandate that meetings of public agencies be open to the public. This statute has substantially impaired access to records previously availablein part because of the language of the statute itself, and in part because some law enforcement agencies and others have used the VRA as an excuse for denying and delaying access to documents not necessarily covered by that Act. AS 39.52.370. d. Conflict of Interest Statements. Determination of who is considered to be the prevailing party for purposes of Rule 82 is committed to the sound discretion of the trial court, see Alaska Wildlife Alliance v. Rue, 948 P.2d 976, 981 (Alaska 1997);Gwich'in Steering Committee v. Office of the Governor, 10 P.3d 572, 584 (Alaska 2000), as was the issue of status as a public interest litigant, Gwich'in, 10 P.3d at 585. Can the requester choose a format for receiving records? Although compliance by law enforcement agencies is uneven, 911 tapes should be presumptively disclosable under the Public Records Act. 898 P.2d at 923-924. E.g., can staff attend? Meetings of groups established by the University whose membership is not limited to employees (for example, those with student or community members) are not subject to this exclusion, but are covered by the act. In addition, local government units can go beyond the requirements of the state law in providing access. AS 16.05.815. b. Crab Surveys. allowing access, apply to the partially exempt state service. Be aware, however, that in the context of access to judicial proceedings, the courts have held there is a right to attend and observe court proceedings, but no right to record. The name, address, and other identifying information of a member of the public who makes an information request under this section is not a public record under the Public Records Act. In addition, action taken by a public body is not subject to being voided as the result of Open Meetings Act violations by purely advisory groups those governmental bodies that have only authority to advise or make recommendations to a public entity and have no authority to establish policies or make decisions for the public entity. In addition, they must keep current accounting and financial records. The court has discretion to vary presumptive fee awards based on consideration of any of nearly a dozen factors specified in the rule, including reasonableness of hourly rates, hours expended, number of attorneys used, and of claims and defenses pursued, the complexity of the matter, vexatious or bad faith conduct, the relationship between the amount of work performed and the significance of the matters at stake, the extent to which a given fee award may be so onerous to the non-prevailing party that it would deter similarly situated litigants from the voluntary use of the courts, and other relevant equitable factors. An opinion issued under this section must be issued with sufficient deletions to prevent disclosing the identity of the person or persons involved. How Many Seats Does a Boeing 737 Have? (By Variant & Airline) While the principle for which the case is cited in the text remains valid, it should be noted that the university was successful in reversing the Supreme Court's ruling when it convinced the legislature to entirely exempt faculty tenure committee hearings and other meetings of university employee groups from the coverage of the OMA as part of the 1994 OMA revisions. Information contained in the registry is confidential and is not subject to public inspection and copying under the public records act. Att'y Gen. No. Unfair Trade Practices. The personnel board can conduct a further hearing or oral argument, and must review each report submitted by a hearing officer and decide whether to adopt or amend the findings of fact, conclusions of law, and recommendations of the officer. After five years, the party's name will appear on the public index unless the presiding judge orders the name protected for an additional period of time, upon another showing that publication of the name is likely to result in substantial physical harm to the party or members of the party's household. See AS 14.20.180(b). Rule 7(c) states that recovery of expert witness costs is "limited to the time when the expert is employed and testifying and shall not exceed $50.00 per hour, except as otherwise provided in these Rules," which has been interpreted to mean that a party may not recover costs for an expert's preparation time, nor any costs associated with the experts if they do not testify. In such cases, giving only general public notice, or even giving the individual only notice of the time and place of the upcoming meeting, are inadequate. The superior court held that the Open Meetings Act and the Public Records Act applied to the Board and that the Board violated these acts. Such a request for advice is confidential. Guide-outfitters and transporters may not provide big game hunting or transportation services without a written contract with the client. Any appeal from the clerk's office or ombudsman's office is to the Anchorage Assembly, and any appeal from the school district is to the Anchorage School Board. Adm.R.37.5(c)(4). Id. . [Bear in mind that the state regulations contained in the administrative code provisions discussed in this section presumably apply only to state executive branch agencies. AS 18.60.475(b). (2) have access to all documents pertaining to collective bargaining exchanged by the employer and the representative of the bargaining unit, including copies of transcripts of the meetings. Information that collection agencies are required by law to file in order to be licensed is confidential. So, for example, a superior court ruled that the Board of Fisheries violated the Open Meetings Act where the board discussed proposed regulations at a dinner meeting that followed the adjournment of a regular board meeting. In 1972, the legislature bolstered the OMA by adding to it a strong statement of purpose, AS 44.62.312, as follows: AS 44.62.312. App. The insurance code also provides for the formation of a surplus lines association of surplus lines brokers to provide, among other things, verification of taxes and fees paid and of all surplus lines coverages written by its members to determine whether the coverages comply with state laws and regulations. The denial must be dated and signed by the person making the determination. e. Legislative Ethics. The Supreme Court once held that costs may not be assessed against a losing public interest litigant, in McCormick v. Smith, 799 P.2d 287, 288 (Alaska 1990). a governmental body that violates or is alleged to have violated this section may cure the violation or alleged violation by holding another meeting in compliance with notice and other requirements of this section and conducting a substantial and public reconsideration of the matters considered at the original meeting. Examinations. AS 44.62.310(f). AS 08.54.760 exempts records of guided hunts, collected and maintained by the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, from public disclosure. The Public Records Act is not specific about where requests must be made, other than it directs a public officer "having the custody of public records" to give copies upon request, and also indicates that public records of all public agencies are available for inspection "during regular office hours." Information communicated to a licensed marital or family therapist by a client about a matter concerning which the client has employed the therapist in a professional capacity is generally confidential. But the balancing test as described goes a long way toward accomplishing the goals of the qualified privilege. Our picks: rows 6 (curtain in front) and 17, rows 1-3. The commission may, after a hearing, decide to exonerate the judge of the charges, reprimand the judge publicly or privately, or refer the matter to the Supreme Court with recommendations that the judge be suspended, removed or retired from office or publicly or privately censured by the Supreme Court. AS 24.65.150. This "balancing test" was articulated, the CIG court noted, in the absence of any official assertion of a deliberative process privilege. (In 1931, Alaska had become an organized territory, and the territorial legislature enacted the forerunner of .110 that year. AS 21.39.035. k. Small Employer Health Insurance Plans. There is no provision in the law for citizens to appeal to or ask for a ruling from the state Attorney General concerning actual or threatened violations of the open meetings law, and the Attorney General will not entertain such requests for opinions from private citizens. The Alaska Sex Offender Registration Act (ASORA) requires persons convicted of sex offenses or child kidnapping to register and periodically re-register with the Alaska Department of Corrections, the Alaska State Troopers, or local police, and to disclose detailed personal information, including that specified in AS 12.63.010, some of which is not otherwise public. It noted that the superior court, in rejecting Revelle's claim for back pay and benefits, had interpreted the OMA as having been enacted for the public good rather than providing an avenue for obtaining private relief. The corporation may enter into confidentiality agreements with a public agency, as defined in AS 40.25.220, to allow release of confidential information. P. 32.1(b)(3). Ak.Civ.R.Pro. It is unavoidable and proper that the ratification body act upon all knowledge available to it. Like .310(d), Section .310(c) must also be construed narrowly to effectuate the policies of the OMA and avoid unnecessary executive sessions. They were pre-decisional because they were submitted before the governor made his final determinations as to his proposed budget. There is no express provision in the OMA allowing closed meetings to discuss litigation or to confer with the body's attorney or discuss advice from the attorney, although as discussed below the Alaska Supreme Court has recognized that the common law permits at least some such discussions. Similarly, meetings of the state child fatality review team are closed to the public and are not subject to the provisions of AS 44.62.310 and 44.62.312. If it is determined by recount that the plurality of votes was cast for a candidate, the director shall issue a certificate of election or nomination to the elected or nominated candidate as determined by the recount. do seats in front of exit rows recline? - Air Travel Forum While information in the possession of the Alaska Railroad Corporation is presumptively public and open to inspection and copying at reasonable times, AS 42.40.220, matters of a privileged or proprietary nature may be withheld from public disclosure, including proprietary information associated with specific shippers, divisions and contract rate agreements. AS 45.55.910. c. Trade Secrets Litigation. Meetings. AS 40.25.115(a). After Alaska became a state in 1959, the public records statutes were repealed and re-enacted (in 1962), and codified as AS 09.25.110 et seq. That position is not one where the adverse decision is never made. 23-24, ch. These new regulations replaced the state regulations governing access to information that had been adopted in 1982 by the Office of the Governor. ACCFT 677 P.2d at 892. Information that discloses the particulars of a business or the affairs of a private enterprise, investor, advisor, consultant, counsel, or manager that is developed or obtained by the corporation and related to the development, financing, construction, or operation of an in-state natural gas pipeline project by the corporation is confidential and not subject to the Public Records Act. However, because the issue was not litigated or ruled on in the superior court, the appellate court concluded the records retention claim was beyond the scope of the administrative appeal before it. A complementary rule encourages settlements by treating a party as the prevailing party if it loses at trial but betters a previously made offer of judgment. In Hickel v. Southeast Conference, 868 P.2d 919, 928-929 (Alaska 1994), the Supreme Court reversed a superior court finding that the Reapportionment Board had committed a violation of the OMA by failing to give notice of teleconference sites, failing to make materials available for teleconferences, and failing to take roll call votes during teleconferences, when it allowed public participation by phone without giving public notice of every location from which citizens might call in. In the past, there have been isolated threats to employ this statute against the news media when broadcasters or print reporters have run the name or a picture of individuals involved in court proceedings who are juveniles. Alaska has no intermediate court of appeals for civil cases, and appeals from decisions of the superior court are taken directly to the Alaska Supreme Court. This often prevents the complainant, licensee, and the Board from obtaining progress reports or information that may disclose the current status of an open investigation. AS 40.25.123(d). AS 33.30.211 provides that the commissioner of Department of Corrections shall adopt regulations providing for the confidentiality of documents that are transmitted to the correctional facility with a prisoner, including the pre-sentence report, and other information of the probation office or of the court that may affect the person's rehabilitation. Are subsequent or concurrent measures (formal or informal) available? See Section .310(d). Upon completion of the state ballot counting review the director shall certify the results of that review. See March 15, 1979 Attorney General Opinion, supra. The chair of the commission may review and circulate among the other members of the relevant commission appeal panel the drafts of the panel's formal decisions and decisions upon reconsideration. When it appears, from whatever source, that a death was by suicide or resulted from criminal conduct, the coroner must conduct an inquest by jury (unless a grand jury is looking into the death). The Department of Public Safety is required to maintain a central registry of sex offenders and child kidnappers. Note that the law now requires that a motion to convene an executive session must clearly and with specificity describe the subject of the proposed executive session. The judge said arguments for recognition of such a privilege should be addressed to the state legislature. The Court also rejected the argument that the privilege protects only essential, constitutionally mandated executive functions, and said that instead it protects any governmental decision-making function. AS 40.25.122. Proceedings relating to a child under 18 who is or is alleged to be in need of aid can arise for a variety of reasons, e.g., because the child has been abandoned, sexually abused, otherwise physically or mentally harmed, left alone or uncared for due to the parent's incarceration or substance abuse, engaging in conduct harmful to him or herself, exposed to criminal or abusive conduct by a parent or other member of the household. 12.61.140(a). 2 AAC 96.310(c). AS 24.60.037(c). AS 09.68.130. i. Within 30 days after the date of the child's 18th birthday (or after any later date on which the court releases jurisdiction over the child) the court must order all the court's official records pertaining to that child in a proceeding under this chapter sealed. AS 44.62.310(c)(4). It is unlawful for a person to permit inspection of, or disclose information contained in, vital statistics records, or to copy or issue a copy of all or part of such records, except as authorized by the statute or regulations. 35. I haven't flown up front with AS, but in the J or F cabins of other carriers' 737s it's more the seats' pitch and width than the recline that is notable. Further discussion of the interesting constitutional issues raised by access to legislative records is beyond the scope of this outline. May 11, 1981, Attorney General Opinion, at 6. The board in 2012 required charter boats use the devices and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has tried to educate other sport anglers. May anyone please tell me how much can the seat recline and does the comfort justify the cost to go for first class for a red eye flight? AS 44.62.310(d)(6). These reports may include identification of trends, patterns and risk factors in deaths of the children; analyses of the incidence and causes of deaths of children in this state; recommendations for improving the coordination of government services and investigations; and recommendations for prevention of future deaths of children. e. Opening or Publishing Contents of Sealed Letters. c. Paternity; Financial Responsibility. I chose the seats in front of an exit row since there were only two instead of three in that row (row 25). The Department of Law or its agents may not disclose the information except as necessary to collect on the restitution. For example, multidisciplinary child protection teams are created by the Department of Health and Social Services to assist in the evaluation and investigation of reports of harm to children made under AS 47.17 and to provide consultation and coordination for agencies involved in child protection cases under AS 47.10, the child-in-need-of-aid statute. 5. D. John McKay 1156 15th St. NW, Suite 1020, Washington, D.C. 20005, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press homepage, A Reporters Guide to Pre-Publication Review, Skip over table of contents to continue reading article. The Legislature has established centralized licensing and related administrative procedures for the delivery of services by a host of social service entities, including shelters, clinics, medical and psychiatric facilities, foster, maternity and assisted living homes, hospices, child care facilities, birth centers and others, and addresses requirements for obtaining and keeping licenses, non-renewals or denials of or conditions on licenses, complaints against and investigations of licensees, for hearings, for reports on the results of investigations and inspections, and for enforcement actions. All records of meetings and proceedings of the University of Alaska Board of Regents must be open to inspection by the public and press, and findings of an executive session must be made part of the record of proceedings. Most of the reports and information required to be filed under these laws are confidential for 24 months following the filing period set forth in the statute. AS 47.30.735(b)(3). 408 P.3d at 1180. The drafts are confidential documents, not subject to disclosure under the public records act or under .470(a). Second, the OMA specifically excludes from its reach "staff meetings or other gatherings of the employees of a public entity." Also, if a court finds at a hearing that there is probable cause for believing that a minor is delinquent but not amenable to treatment under AS 47.12, it will order the case closed and the minor may be prosecuted as an adult. Anchorage School Dist. The Alaska courts have not decided the question. In a complex case such as the one at hand, many equitable variables must be considered in passing upon the effectiveness of a voluntary ratification. . Requests by members of the state legislature for research and bill drafting services of the Legislative Affairs Agency are confidential. Groups of public employees who work for a particular department will often interact with each other in the process of making decisions or carrying out the functions of their agency. First, the Victims Rights Act of 1991 restricted access to records that include the names and addresses of victims of certain offensesprimarily sexual assaults, sexual abuse and kidnapping with intent to subject the victim to serious physical injury or sexual assaultand certain identifying information about witnesses generally, see AS 12.61.100-.150. AS 14.40.367(3). 3 AAC 161.090(a). Id. Information and records obtained in the course of a screening investigation, evaluation, examination or treatment of patients under the state civil commitment statute are confidential. Ct., 1st Jud. However, public records laws do not require public officials to create records that don't already exist. Clearly other factors must also guide the courts in fashioning a remedy. The OMA does not expressly address the question of non-governmental groups that include public officials, and there is no Alaska case law on the subject. Apparently an attorney or labor negotiator may be present in an executive session, since the law prohibits taking action at an executive session, "except to give direction to an attorney or labor negotiator regarding the handling of a specific legal matter or pending labor negotiations." FC, on a domestic FC seat, on a 737, will only be width, and pitch, plus maybe a few service amenities. An address, telephone number and e-mail address submitted to the lieutenant governor by a notary public or applicant for a notary public commission is confidential if so designated by the notary public or applicant, though a notary public must provide a nonconfidential address and phone number at which he or she can be contacted. By amending the law in 1994 to specify the number of members required to be present to constitute a meeting, the legislature intended to, and did, eliminate virtually all ambiguity about whether any particular gathering constitutes a meeting. 9. April 1, 1992, AG Op. . AS 18.65.903. o. Various programs exist to promote economic development through government agencies. Records pertaining to recipients of aid under the state program providing home heating assistance are confidential and not subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act. AS 44.62.310(d)(6). The third and last section of economy class seats has 17 rows of seats. It also keeps the name of any such employee or employee representative confidential. The Alaska Supreme Court has said that coverage of the Open Meetings Act extends to "every step of the deliberative and decision-making process when a governmental unit meets to transact public business." We caution that, despite the omission of a requirement in the PERS act that your appeals hearings be public, we believe that the Alaska public meetings law interpreted in the context of the Anglo-American tradition of open trials (see K. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise 14.13 (2d ed. In order for a gathering of members of a governmental body to constitute a "meeting," more than three members or a majority of the members, whichever is less, must be present. General Communications Inc. v. APUC and Alaska Exchange Carriers Ass'n, Case No. It may be disclosed to public officers and employees for a public purpose and, when doing so will not interfere with an ongoing investigation or prosecution, to a person who is related to the deceased or who has a financial or personal interest in the estate of the deceased person.