§ 63G-2-401. Appeal to head of governmental entity.

(1)

(a) Any person aggrieved by a governmental entity's access determination under this chapter, including a person not a party to the governmental entity's proceeding, may appeal the determination within 30 days to the chief administrative officer of the governmental entity by filing a notice of appeal.

(b) If a governmental entity claims extraordinary circumstances and specifies the date when the records will be available under Subsection 63G-2-204(3), and, if the requester believes the extraordinary circumstances do not exist or that the time specified is unreasonable, the requester may appeal the governmental entity's claim of extraordinary circumstances or date for compliance within 30 days after notification of a claim of extraordinary circumstances by the governmental entity, despite the lack of a "determination" or its equivalent under Subsection 63G-2-204(7).

(2) The notice of appeal shall contain the following information:

(a) the petitioner's name, mailing address, and daytime telephone number; and

(b) the relief sought.

(3) The petitioner may file a short statement of facts, reasons, and legal authority in support of the appeal.

(4)

(a) If the appeal involves a record that is the subject of a business confidentiality claim under Section 63G-2-309, the chief administrative officer shall:

(i) send notice of the requester's appeal to the business confidentiality claimant within three business days after receiving notice, except that if notice under this section must be given to more than 35 persons, it shall be given as soon as reasonably possible; and

(ii) send notice of the business confidentiality claim and the schedule for the chief administrative officer's determination to the requester within three business days after receiving notice of the requester's appeal.

(b) The claimant shall have seven business days after notice is sent by the administrative officer to submit further support for the claim of business confidentiality.

(5)

(a) The chief administrative officer shall make a determination on the appeal within the following period of time:

(i) within five business days after the chief administrative officer's receipt of the notice of appeal; or

(ii) within 12 business days after the governmental entity sends the requester's notice of appeal to a person who submitted a claim of business confidentiality.

(b) If the chief administrative officer fails to make a determination within the time specified in Subsection (5)(a), the failure shall be considered the equivalent of an order denying the appeal.

(c) The provisions of this section notwithstanding, the parties participating in the proceeding may, by agreement, extend the time periods specified in this section.

(6) Except as provided in Section 63G-2-406, the chief administrative officer may, upon consideration and weighing of the various interests and public policies pertinent to the classification and disclosure or nondisclosure, order the disclosure of information properly classified as private under Subsection 63G-2-302(2) or protected under Section 63G-2-305 if the interests favoring access are greater than or equal to the interests favoring restriction of access.

(7) The governmental entity shall send written notice of the determination of the chief administrative officer to all participants. If the chief administrative officer affirms the denial in whole or in part, the denial shall include a statement that the requester has the right to appeal the denial to either the records committee or district court, the time limits for filing an appeal, and the name and business address of the executive secretary of the records committee.

(8) A person aggrieved by a governmental entity's classification or designation determination under this chapter, but who is not requesting access to the records, may appeal that determination using the procedures provided in this section. If a nonrequester is the only appellant, the procedures provided in this section shall apply, except that the determination on the appeal shall be made within 30 days after receiving the notice of appeal.

(9) The duties of the chief administrative officer under this section may be delegated.

Amended by Chapter 377, 2012 General Session