| September 30,
1991
Barry Skokowski,
Sr.
Deputy Commissioner
Department of Community Affairs
CN 800
Trenton, New Jersey O8625-0800
Re: 91-0114:
Whether Financial Disclosure
Statements Filed Pursuant to the Local
Government Ethics Law Are Subject to
Public Disclosure.
Dear Deputy Commissioner
Skokowski:
A question has
arisen concerning whether financial
disclosure statements required to be filed by "local government
officers," pursuant to the Local Government Ethics Law, L.
1991, c.
29 (C. N.J.S.A. 40A:9-22.1 et seq.), are subject to public
disclosure. You are advised that all filed financial disclosure
statements are expressly mandated as "public records"
by the Ethics
Law and must therefore be made available to the public. N.J.S.A.
40A:9-22.6(c).
The Local Government
Ethics Law requires "local
government officers" to file annually a financial disclosure
statement, initially by August 19, 1991, and thereafter by April
30. N.J.S.A. 40A:9-22.6. The disclosure statement contains
information about the officer's sources of income, certain business
interests, and his or her real estate holdings in New Jersey.
Ibid.
Since financial
disclosure statements have been
legislatively ordained "public records," and because they
are
records which are "required by law to be made, maintained or
kept
on file" by a government entity, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-2 (see N.J.S.A
40A:9-22.6(a), "[l]ocal government officers are required annually
to file a financial disclosure statement"), the statements
are
subject to public inspection in accordance with the statutory Right
to Know Law, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. and must be made available
to
the public for inspection and copying in the same manner that other
public records are made available to the public. This means, in
practice, in contrast to the requirements under the common law
principles governing access to public documents, that a citizen
requesting access to a financial disclosure statement does not have
to demonstrate any reason or any personal or particular interest
as
to why the information is sought. Twiss v. State, 124 N.J. 461,
471-472 (1991); Techniscan Corp. v. Passaic Valley Water
Commission, 218 N.J. Super. 226 (App. Div. 1987), aff'd. as mod.
113 N.J. 233 (1988). The citizen's right to access is "absolute."
Techniscan Corp. v. Passaic Valley Water Commission, 218 N.J.
Super. at 230. Unreasonable administrative barriers erected to
impede access to these statements (e.g. requiring citizens to give
a statement of reasons for requesting access, or to demonstrate
a
personnel need or interest in the document or to give their home
telephone number or address before obtaining the document) should
not be countenanced.
In summary, the
financial disclosure statements which are
required to be filed by "local government officers" under
the
Ethics Law are expressly deemed public records under the law, and
are also public records under the Right to Know Law. As such, they
should be disseminated to citizens without the need for the citizen
requesting disclosure to assert why he or she wants to have access
to the document.
Very truly yours,
ROBERT J. DEL
TUFO
Attorney General
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