3.2 Information Access & Public Disclosure

Handling Public Information Requests

Local building departments serve as key repositories of community construction data. A Permit Technician (PT) operates at the front line, managing records requests from contractors, design professionals, journalists, and homeowners. This role requires understanding statutory rules governing public access and confidentiality. The legal baseline for transparency is established by the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and mirrored by state Open Records Acts (often called Sunshine Laws). Under the Legal Aspects of Code Administration (LACA) guidelines, government records are presumed open to the public unless a statutory exemption applies. The technician must balance transparency with the legal obligation to protect sensitive, proprietary, and private data.

Balancing Transparency and Confidentiality

While sunshine laws mandate that public records are open for inspection, this right is not absolute. Building departments collect sensitive data during plan review and permitting. Permit technicians must distinguish between disclosable public records and restricted materials requiring redaction (the process of obscuring or removing confidential information before release) or withholding. Standardized policies protect the jurisdiction from liability. Releasing confidential information can lead to civil lawsuits for privacy violations or copyright infringement, while unlawfully withholding records can result in litigation, fines, or court orders. Understanding these boundaries is a core competency for code administration professionals.

Proprietary Information and Copyright Protections

One of the most complex issues in building department records management involves architectural plans, structural engineering calculations, and design documents. These materials are protected under federal copyright law as the intellectual property (IP) of the licensed design professional who created them. Although these plans are submitted to the building department to obtain a permit, submission does not transfer ownership to the municipality or strip the designer of copyright protections.

To navigate this issue, departments apply a strict distinction between viewing and duplicating documents:

• Public Viewing: Members of the public generally have a right to inspect and view approved building plans at the department's offices. This allows neighbors or buyers to verify code compliance or layout details.
• Plan Duplication: The public is strictly prohibited from copying, photocopying, or photographing detailed architectural and engineering plans without the express written consent of the architect or engineer of record, or a court order.
• Exceptions: Standard site plans, plot plans showing setbacks, and zoning permits issued under the International Zoning Code (IZC) are typically considered general public records and may be duplicated.

Security Plans and Critical Infrastructure

Since the passage of modern homeland security legislation, building departments must be highly vigilant when handling records associated with critical infrastructure and public safety. Detailed floor plans, mechanical drawings, electrical grids, and security layouts for sensitive facilities are exempt from public disclosure under most state open records laws.

These facilities include:

• Government offices, courthouses, and correctional facilities.
• Banks, financial institutions, and utility hubs.
• Schools, universities, and healthcare facilities.

Releasing the structural details or security blueprints of these facilities to the public could provide a roadmap for individuals seeking to cause harm. Consequently, these records must be stored securely, and access is limited strictly to authorized department personnel, law enforcement, or the facility owners.

Personally Identifiable Information Redaction

During the permitting process, applicants submit records containing sensitive personal data. A permit technician must protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII), which is any detail that can distinguish or trace an individual's identity.

The technician must permanently obscure:

• Social Security Numbers (SSNs) and tax identification numbers.
• Private credit card numbers, bank routing details, and financial ledgers.
• Unlisted personal telephone numbers and private residential email addresses.
• Medical information submitted for special accommodations.

Redaction must be permanent. Simply drawing a black line over digital text with a basic PDF editor is insufficient; the metadata must be purged, or the paper physically blacked out and photocopied to ensure the information cannot be recovered.

Standardizing and Collecting Duplication Fees

Fulfilling records requests requires municipal staff labor, paper, ink, and digital transfer bandwidth. To prevent these costs from placing an unfair burden on local taxpayers, open records laws permit jurisdictions to charge reasonable duplication fees. However, these fees are highly regulated to ensure they are not used to block access.

Key principles for fee collection include:

• Actual Cost Limitation: Fees for copying must reflect only the actual cost of duplication (e.g., a standardized rate like 10 cents per page for letter-sized paper). Charges cannot be punitive or designed to generate general revenue.
• Labor Fees: The department may charge for the actual labor time spent searching, retrieving, and redacting records. However, the first hour of search is often statutory and must be provided free of charge, and the labor rate must match the salary of the lowest-paid employee capable of doing the work.
• Estimates and Deposits: For large requests that require extensive search time, the technician must provide a written fee estimate. The department can require a deposit (often 50% of the estimate) before starting the search.

Information Access Quick Reference