Found at:

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050313/NEWS/503130395

====================

Getting at public records tests intent of new law

Published in the Asbury Park Press 03/13/05
By LILO H. STAINTON
GANNETT STATE BUREAU

[snip]

Time-consuming requests

Most departments have full-time records custodians now, he said, and the time it takes to compile documents can add up. The DEP assigned nine employees to its OPRA office, plus 10 records custodians and roughly 150 filing clerks, according to a July 2004 report.

The department said this cost $2.77 million between July 2002 and July 2004 in the DEP alone. The effort absorbed more than 100,000 work hours during those two years, the report said.

More than three out of four requests to the DEP came from consultants or attorneys, prompting Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell to suggest companies seeking to do business in New Jersey were shifting their research burden to state employees.

Similar concerns were voiced last week at the monthly meeting of the Government Records Council, which is charged with reviewing citizens' complaints about OPRA and training records custodians statewide. The GRC has received 530 complaints to date, the majority alleging that requests were not granted in the seven business days required by law.

The question involved a Salt Lake City woman named Barbara Schwarz-- notorious for her nationwide quest for documents relating to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Church of Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard--who requested all records on these subjects from the state library and Rutgers University. GRC chairman Vincent Maltese suggested lawmakers should consider amending the law to keep libraries from being forced to undertake private research projects, like Schwarz's.

[snip]

====================

http://members.cox.net/batchild1
http://members.cox.net/scorseseinfo

Go Back