YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

An estimated 1,649 of 3,459 (47.6%) political subdivisions would not respond properly to requests for information under the provisions of the Sunshine Law.

The State Auditor's Office has a role to determine compliance with Missouri's laws. Because of recent citizen concerns and lawsuits over access to public records, we conducted a review of compliance with the Sunshine Law to determine if political subdivisions understood their responsibilities under the law.

We did not want to place an undue burden on the political subdivisions by causing them to engage in lengthy and costly record searches. We mailed a letter on plain paper making a simple request for the minutes to the last board meeting held in calendar year 1998. We also asked the political subdivisions not to incur expenses for searching or copying in excess of $10 without prior notification. We reimbursed the political subdivisions for their costs. By asking for the minutes, we were also able to determine compliance with the closed session provisions of the Sunshine Law.

The review disclosed that a significant number of political subdivisions did not respond to our request, denied our request, or responded late. Our review of the causes for not complying with the law disclosed that political subdivisions placed unnecessary requirements on the citizens before the response would be provided. For example, a school district superintendent stated:

"Your request was not made on your business letterhead stationary. As a matter of fact, we do not know what firm you represent. No rationale was given for the request. Therefore, your request has been denied until more information is submitted."

A clerk of a township stated:

"First, we don't know who you are, or anything about why you should want these minutes. We can't just send this information to anyone without knowing what they want with them."

We followed up with non-respondents and determined that they were not aware of their responsibilities under the Sunshine Law or they ignored the request because they believed they needed to get further approval or information before they responded.

A township treasurer stated she would comply with the request if given a good reason to do so. She said she was not familiar with the Sunshine Law, but realizes the public has a right to public records.

A director of a state funded public library stated that she thought the request was so unusual that she was waiting for the next board meeting to decide how to, or if, they would respond.

The audit disclosed that most late responses were not significantly late, usually only a day or two. Our office did not follow-up on the causes for delays because most delays were not material.

Our review of the board meeting minutes that were sent in response to our requests disclosed that, generally, the respondents cited one of the reasons identified in the statute for entering into a closed session and documented it in the minutes.

Political subdivisions risk lawsuits, fines, and loss of credibility by not properly following the provisions of the Sunshine Law.

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