§5. Records of the office of the governor

A. The legislature recognizes that it is essential to the maintenance of a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner, and that the citizens be advised of and be aware of the performance of public officials and the deliberations and decisions that go into making public policy. Toward this end, the provisions of this Section, as well as the rest of this Chapter, shall be construed liberally so as to facilitate, rather than hinder, access to public records.

B.(1) Records of the office of the governor shall be public records and shall be subject to the provisions of this Chapter.

(2) Records of the office of the governor relative to fiscal or budgetary matters, including but not limited to records of communications between the legislative auditor's office and the office of the governor relative to fiscal or budgetary matters, shall be public records.

(3) Notwithstanding Paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Subsection, a record of the office of the governor relating to intraoffice communications of the governor and his internal staff may be privileged from disclosure.

(4) Notwithstanding Paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Subsection, any record of the office of the governor pertaining to the schedule of the governor, his spouse, or his child that contains security details that if made public may impair the safety of the governor, his spouse, or his child may be held confidential for a period not to exceed seven days following the scheduled event. However, nothing in this Paragraph shall be interpreted or construed in a manner to make confidential all records concerning a meeting or event that the governor attends and transportation related thereto. The governor may keep a record concerning a meeting or event that the governor attends and transportation thereto privileged for a period not to exceed seven days after the occurrence of the meeting or event.

(5) For purposes of this Section, "office of the governor" means the governor, his chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, and his executive counsel.

C. The provisions of Subsection B of this Section shall not prevent any person from inspecting, examining, copying, or obtaining an electronic or physical reproduction of any record pertaining to any money or monies, any assets or items of economic value to the state, or any financial transactions in the control of or handled by or through the governor or the office of the governor.

D. The governor and his internal staff shall preserve all records to which this Section is applicable and at the conclusion of his term of office, the governor shall transfer all such records to the custody of the archives division of the secretary of state. Any exemption granted by this Section for such records shall continue in accordance with Subsection E of this Section. For purposes of this Section, "internal staff" of the governor includes the governor's chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, executive counsel, and director of policy, but shall not include any employee of any other agency, department, or office.

E. Any exemption granted by this Section shall lapse eight years after the creation of the record to which the exemption is applicable. After the lapse of eight years, the records of the office of the governor, as maintained by the state archivist and deposited with the state archives program pursuant to R.S. 44:417, shall be public record.

Acts 2001, No. 8, §13, eff. July 1, 2001; Acts 2001, No. 9, §6, eff. July 1, 2001; Acts 2003, No. 850, §2; Acts 2008, No. 765, §3, eff. Jan. 1, 2009; Acts 2009, No. 495, §1; Acts 2015, No. 145, §1, eff. noon on Jan. 11, 2016.

NOTE: See Acts 2015, No. 145, §2, regarding prospective application of provisions.