GRAMA has been updated and posted on the Archives website.
Typically, the State Legislature makes minor changes to GRAMA (Government Records Access and Management Act) during each annual session. This year a major overhaul of the law, which was passed and then repealed, put GRAMA in the news. A working group is currently reevaluating the law and will propose changes. More extensive changes may come in the future, but in the meantime, the Legislature has made the usual additions and changes that were part of the work of the session.
These changes are primarily new classification designations:
1. Several records are added to the list of records that must be disclosed. These include: a) a telephone number and email address, if available, where an elected official can be reached; b) a telephone number and email address, if available, where a school community council member can be reached; and c) the annual audited financial statements of the Utah Educational Savings Plan.
2. Several records are added to the list of private records. These include: a) electronic toll collection information, including contact and payment information and travel data; b) an email address provided by a military or overseas voter; and c) a completed military-overseas ballot that is electronically transferred.
3. Several new records were added to the list of protected records. These include: a) any record of the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission concerning an individual commissioner’s vote on whether or not to recommend that voters retain a judge; b) various specifically identified records belonging to the Office of Inspector General of Medicaid Service; c) records that reveal methods used to discover Medicaid fraud, waste, or abuse; d) information provided to the Department of Health or the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing about the licensing of abortion clinics; and e) records created as part of the “Guest Worker Program,” which is described in the newly enacted Immigration Accountability and Enforcement Act (UCA 63G-12-210).
4. Records created as part of the “Guest Worker Program” may not be shared.
5. The definition of a “governmental entity” is expanded to specify that the Utah Educational Savings Plan is not a governmental entity.
6. The Division of Homeland Security is now the Division of Emergency Management.
The Public Records Management Act is also updated and posted. A major change to this act is authorization and specifications for the creation of the Friends of Utah State Archives. The Friend’s group will sponsor projects for making records available that are beyond the scope of the regular work of the Archives.