Rule R35-1. State Records Committee Appeal Hearing Procedures.

As in effect on August 1, 2009

Table of Contents

• R35-1-1. Scheduling Committee Meetings.
• R35-1-2. Procedures for Appeal Hearings.
• R35-1-3. Issuing the Committee Decision and Order.
• R35-1-4. Committee Minutes.
• KEY
• Date of Enactment or Last Substantive Amendment
• Notice of Continuation
• Authorizing, Implemented, or Interpreted Law

R35-1-1. Scheduling Committee Meetings.

(1) The Executive Secretary shall respond in writing to the notice of appeal within five business days.

(2) Two weeks prior to the Committee meeting or appeal hearing the Executive Secretary shall send a notice of the meeting to at least one newspaper of general circulation within the geographic jurisdiction.

(3) One week prior to the Committee meeting or appeal hearing the Executive Secretary shall post a notice of the meeting indicating the agenda, date, time and place of the meeting at the building where the meeting is to be held and at the Utah State Archives.

R35-1-2. Procedures for Appeal Hearings.

(1) The meeting shall be called to order by the Committee Chair.

(2) Opening statements will be presented by the petitioner and the governmental entity. Each party shall be allowed five minutes to present their opening statements before the Committee.

(3) Testimony shall be presented by the petitioner and the governmental entity. Each party shall be allowed thirty minutes to present testimony and evidence and to call witnesses.

(4) Witnesses providing testimony shall be sworn in by the Committee Chair.

(5) Questioning of the witnesses and parties by Committee members is permitted.

(6) The government entity must bring the disputed records to the hearing to allow the Committee to view records in camera if it deems an in camera inspection necessary. If the records withheld are voluminous or the government entity contends they have not been identified with reasonable specificity, the government entity shall notify the Committee and the adverse party at least two days before the hearing and obtain approval from the Committee Chair to bring a representative sample of the potentially responsive records to the hearing, if it is possible to do so.

(7) Third party presentations shall be permitted. At the conclusion of the testimony presented, the Committee Chair shall ask for statements from any third party. Third party presentations shall be limited to ten minutes.

(8) Closing arguments may be presented by the petitioner and the governmental entity. Each party shall be allowed five minutes to present a closing argument and make rebuttal statements.

(9) After presentation of the evidence, the Committee shall commence deliberations. A Committee Member shall make a motion to grant or to deny the petitioner's request in whole or in part. Following discussion of the motion, the Chair shall call for the question. The motion shall serve as the basis for the Committee Decision and Order. The Committee shall vote and make public the decision of the Committee during the hearing.

(10) The Committee may adjourn, reschedule, continue, or reopen a hearing on the motion of a member.

(11) Except as expressly authorized by law, there shall be no communication between the parties and the members of the Committee concerning the subject matter of the appeal before the hearing or prior to the issuance of a final Decision And Order. Any other oral or written communication from the parties to the members of the Committee, or from the members of the Committee to the parties, shall be directed to the Executive Secretary for transmittal.

(12) The following provisions govern any meeting at which one or more members of the Committee or a party appears telephonically or electronically pursuant to Utah Code Section 52-4-7.8.

(a) The anchor location is the physical location from which the electronic meeting originates or from which the participants are connected. The anchor location, unless otherwise designated in the notice, shall be at the offices of the Division of State Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah.

(b) If one or more members of the Committee or a party may participate electronically or telephonically, public notices of the meeting shall so indicate. In addition, the notice shall specify the anchor location where the members of the Committee not participating electronically or telephonically will be meeting and where interested persons and the public may attend and monitor the open portions of the meeting.

(c) When notice is given of the possibility of a member of the Committee appearing electronically or telephonically, any member of the Committee may do so and shall be counted as present for purposes of a quorum and may fully participate and vote on any matter coming before the Committee. At the commencement of the meeting, or at such time as any member of the Committee initially appears electronically or telephonically, the Chair shall identify for the record all those who are appearing telephonically or electronically. Votes by members of the Committee who are not at the physical location of the meeting shall be confirmed by the Chair.

(13) If the petitioner wishes to postpone the hearing or withdraw the appeal, the petitioner shall notify the Committee and the government entity in writing no later than two days prior to the scheduled hearing date. Failure to comply with this provision may result in a Committee order requiring that the petitioner pay the government entity's reasonable costs and expenses. The Committee will ordinarily deny a government entity's request to postpone the hearing, unless the government entity has obtained the petitioner's prior consent to reschedule the hearing date.

R35-1-3. Issuing the Committee Decision and Order.

(1) The Decision and Order shall be signed by the Committee Chair and distributed by the Executive Secretary within five business days after the hearing. Copies of the Decision and Order will be distributed to the petitioner, the governmental entity and all other interested parties. The original order shall be maintained by the Executive Secretary. A copy of the order shall be made available for public access at the Utah State Archives website.

R35-1-4. Committee Minutes.

(1) All meetings of the Committee shall be recorded. Access to the audio recordings shall be provided by the Executive Secretary at the Utah State Archives, Research Center.

(2) Approved written minutes shall be the official record of the meetings and appeal hearings and shall be maintained by the Executive Secretary. A copy of the approved minutes shall be made available for public access at the Utah State Archives.

KEY

government documents, state records committee, records appeal hearings

Date of Enactment or Last Substantive Amendment

August 9, 2006

Notice of Continuation

July 2, 2004

Authorizing, Implemented, or Interpreted Law

63GG-2-502(2)(a)