The Arkansas Freedom Of Information Act

Since its first edition in 1988, The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act has become the standard reference for the bench, the bar, and journalists for guidance in interpreting and applying the state’s open-government law. This sixth edition, published fifty years after the passage of the Act in 1967, builds upon its predecessors, incorporating later legislative enactments, judicial decisions, and Attorney General’s opinions to present a synthesis of the law of access to public records and meetings in Arkansas.

A comprehensive guide to the Arkansas FOIA, including information on access to records, open meetings, enforcement, use of FOI requests in discovery. Cites and discusses all cases and hundreds of attorney general opinions. Where Arkansas law is silent, Professors Watkins and Peltz discuss relevant examples from other jurisdictions and from the federal act. A brand new chapter on access to electronic records. Sample pleadings and forms.

This is the publication you need to enforce the general right of public access to government records and proceedings in Arkansas. Enacted in 1967 and amended many times over the ensuing years, the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) establishes a right of public access to government records and meetings. This publication is intended as a roadmap to the Act for public officials, who administer it; lawyers and judges, who interpret and apply it; and perhaps most importantly members of the public, academia, and the news media, who use it.