June 20, 1995

 

 

Ms. Chris Kane
Steuben County Legislature
Office of the Clerk
County Office Bldg.
3 East Pulteney Square
Bath, NY 14810

The staff of the Committee on Open Government is authorized to issue advisory opinions. The ensuing staff advisory opinion is based solely upon the information presented in your correspondence.

Dear Ms. Kane:

I have received your letter of June 5 and appreciate your kind comments.

You have requested a clarification concerning a comment that I made at the recent conference of the Association of Clerks of County Legislatures to the effect that court records are not covered by the Freedom of Information Law. You indicated that when the County Clerk's Office receives a request for court records, the request is forwarded to you for response because you are designated as the County's Records Access Officer.

In this regard, I offer the following comments.

First, the Freedom of Information is applicable to agency records, and §86(3) of that statute defines the term "agency" to include:

"any state or municipal department, board, bureau, division, commission, committee, public authority, public corporation, council, office or other governmental entity performing a governmental or proprietary function for the state or any one or more municipalities thereof, except the judiciary or the state legislature."

In turn, §86(1) defines the term "judiciary" to mean:

"the courts of the state, including any municipal or district court, whether or not of record."

Based on the provisions quoted above, the courts and court records are not subject to the Freedom of Information Law. This is not to suggest that court records are not generally available to the public, for other provisions of law (see e.g., Judiciary Law, §255) may grant broad public access to those records. Even though other statutes may deal with access to court records, the procedural provisions associated with the Freedom of Information Law (i.e., those involving the designation of a records access officer or the right to appeal a denial) would not ordinarily be applicable. Second, as you are likely aware, county clerks perform a variety of functions, some of which involve county records that are subject to the Freedom of Information Law, others of which may be held in the capacity as clerk of a court. An area in which the distinction between agency records and court records may be significant involves fees. Under the Freedom of Information Law, an agency may charge up to twenty-five cents per photocopy, "except when a different fee is otherwise prescribed by statute". In the case of fees that may be assessed by county clerks, §§8018 through 8021 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules require that county clerks charge certain fees in their capacities as clerks of court and other than as clerks of court. Since those fees are assessed pursuant to statutes other than the Freedom of Information Law, the fees may exceed those permitted by the Freedom of Information Law. Section 8019 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules provides in part that "The fees of a county clerk specified in this article shall supersede the fees allowed by any other statute for the same services...".

I hope that the foregoing serves to clarify your understanding and that I have been of assistance.

Sincerely,

 

Robert J. Freeman
Executive Director

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