New Mexico AG says agencies can decide whether to accept requests via e-mail
The New Mexico attorney general's office issued an opinion this week that said a public agency can decide whether to accept a public records request via e-mail because the state law doesn't specifically say that e-mail is a valid "written" form for a public records request. Well, the law doesn't say that a Word file printed out and mailed is a "written" form either, but they accept those letters. Do they really mean to say that a public records request is only valid if it is hand-written? That's just silly. E-mail is an everyday form of written communication today, and to say otherwise is living in 1989. See story by Rene Romo in the
Albuquerque Journal today.