47th Judicial District Court, Letcher County

The Kentucky Open Records Act is a series of laws designed to guarantee that the public has access to public records of government bodies at all levels. A public record is defined as including, “all books, papers, maps, photographs, cards, tapes, discs, diskettes, recordings, software, or other documentation regardless of physical form or characteristics, which are prepared, owned, used, in the possession of or retained by a public agency.”

Anyone can request public records and while the law does not require an explicit statement of purpose, departments are allowed to reject records claims if it places “an unreasonable burden” on the department or if the department feels it is designed to disrupt the flow of the workings of government. The use of records which were declared for a commercial purpose are strictly forbidden. The Kentucky Open Records Act sets a three day limit on records requests but extensions are allowed in some cases.