In 2022, the Government Records Council (GRC) adopted N.J.A.C. 5:105-1.6(a)(1). The regulation provides that all submissions made to the GRC during its adjudication of a denial-of-access complaint under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 to -13, "shall not be considered government records subject to public access pursuant to" OPRA "during the pendency of [the] adjudication." This direct appeal challenges the regulation's validity.
The court holds the regulation is invalid because it violates OPRA's plainly stated requirements, finds no support in OPRA, and is inconsistent with the legislative mandate embodied in OPRA that the citizens of this state are entitled to prompt and full public access to government records. The court further finds that in its adoption of the regulation, the GRC, which is charged with enforcing OPRA's broad policy of construing its terms "in favor of the public's right of access," N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1, invalidly shields itself from public scrutiny during its performance of one of its core responsibilities—the adjudication of denial-of-access complaints.