Date of Proposal:
October 18, 2004

Proposal Number:
PRN 2004-410

Proposal Summary:
The proposal relates to public access to information under the Open Public Records Act, Chapter 404, P.L. 2001, when that information might substantially interfere with the State’s ability to protect and defend the state and its citizens against acts of sabotage and terrorism. The regulations implement Governor McGreevey’s Executive Order 21, which required the Attorney General, in consultation with the Domestic Security Preparedness Task Force, to promulgate rules striking a balance between the public’s right to gain access to government records and the need to deny that access when it would materially diminish the State’s ability to protect itself and its citizens. The rules permit a records custodian, in some circumstances, to deny access to such records as those relating to building plans or blueprints, mass transit facilities, bridges, tunnels, public utilities and emergency response facilities. Similarly, they permit a records custodian to exclude access to records pertaining to nuclear power plants, inventories of biological agents and the security of computer and telecommunications networks. Notwithstanding these exceptions, the proposed rules provide that any of the records they exempt from disclosure may be disclosed if the head of a cabinet-level agency, with the approval of the Task Force, determines that there is a bona fide need for public access to the record.

The proposal appears in the Oct. 18, 2004 edition of The New Jersey Register.

Text of Proposal:
A complete copy of the rules proposed for adoption is posted on the Office of the Attorney General Web site at: http://www.state.nj.us/lps/rules/oag/rp041018a.htm

Public Comment:
Public comment on these proposed rules will be accepted until December 17, 2004.

Please direct all comments to:
Deputy Attorney General Timothy P. Crowley
P.O. Box 080
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0080

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