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The underlying premise of the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act isn’t complicated. But it is important. It is the public policy of this state, and the law declares that “all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of public employees.”
That underpinning is central to two court cases wending their way through the judicial system that have significant implications on just how much you get to know about your government and public officials’ conduct.
The issues headed for the New Mexico Court of Appeals fall into two basic categories. One involves financial penalties that put teeth into IPRA’s requirements that public agencies respond to requests within certain time limits. It may sound like a technicality, but intransigence and/or incompetence in failing to turn over public information in a timely manner can shroud it in secrecy just as much as outright refusal. Non-compliance needs to sting if it is to set an example for records custodians around the state.