2024 Legislative Updates to GRAMA

Lauren Katz GRAMA, Open Government

In the 2024 session, the Utah Legislature made several updates to the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA). Here are the highlights.  Representative Loubet sponsored HB 266 which updates the Government Records Ombudsman statute and the GRAMA appeals process to include the Ombudsman. This bill also removed the State Records Committee from being a necessary party to a petitioner …

Photo of shorthand with a small doodle

New Finding Aids at the Archives: March 2023

Gina Strack Finding Aids

Our archivists write inventories as finding aids to describe records. Here is the newest one created during March 2023: Inventory of Resolutions from Provo (Utah). City Council, 1949- Inventory of Student tracking cards from Salt Lake City School District (Utah), 1954-1990 Inventory of Draft case transcripts from District Court (Fourth District : Uintah County), 1902-1947 Inventory of Information Practices Act …

State Records Committee Year in Review

Rebekkah Shaw Open Government, State Records Committee

Last year was an exceptionally busy year for the State Records Committee! In 2022, the committee received approximately 260 appeals and issued 61 Decisions and Orders. 68 appeals were withdrawn before the hearing because they were resolved in mediation, thanks to the hard work by our State Ombudsman Rosemary Cundiff! 2022 Charts Most of the requesters who appeal to the …

2022 Legislative Updates to GRAMA

Rebekkah Shaw GRAMA, Open Government

In the 2022 session, the Utah Legislature made several updates to the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA). Here are the highlights.  Representative Dan Johnson sponsored House Bill 96 which contains two significant changes. First, it defines a media representative as “a person who requests a record to obtain information for a story or report for publication or broadcast …

Celebrating Sunshine Week with GRAMA

Guest Author GRAMA, News and Events

This blog post was written by Becky Wright who is an Archivist with the Davis County Clerk and Auditor’s Office. This is the first in a series of blog posts she authored in celebration of Sunshine Week. Sunshine Week is a nation-wide initiative promoting open government and access to public information. To read the other blog posts, check out the …

State Records Committee Year in Review

Rebekkah Shaw Open Government, State Records Committee

As 2021 comes to a close, we wanted to share what the State Records Committee (SRC) has been up to this year. The Committee met electronically through May. In June, we started meeting in person again at the Taylorsville State Office Building, but virtual attendance was still an option for anyone attending. Going forward, meetings will always have an option …

Learn About the State Records Committee

Rebekkah Shaw GRAMA, Open Government, Records Access, State Records Committee

If you ask for a record from a government agency and they deny access or deny your reasonable request for a fee waiver, what options do you have? If you have requested a record from an agency and your request was denied, there is an appeals process, which is laid out in Part 4 of the Government Records Access and …

Archives Administration ca. 2009

Our History: The State Archivists of Utah

Jim Kichas History

As noted in the last two blog posts in this series, the Utah State Archives and Records Service has seen its fair share of change from its inception as a program within the Utah State Historical Society to its emergence as a discrete division within Utah’s executive branch. The changes and opportunities that have impacted our agency have been navigated …

Our History: 50 Years Of Service

Jim Kichas History

As noted in the last blog in this series, the Utah State Archives was born as an office in the State Historical Society, before being moved out and on its own as part of the state’s Little Hoover Commission study on government organization. This move became official in 1969 when the “Archives and Records Service Act” was passed and the …