Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 11, August 30, 2024
(1) All
public records of the State Board of Health are available for public inspection
during business hours. Requests for such records may be made by Alabama
citizens either electronically, by mail, or in person, pursuant to the
provisions of the Alabama Open Records Act, Code of Ala.
1975, §
36-12-40.
(a) Copies of meeting minutes, department
forms, bureau records, and county health department records maintained in hard
copy may be obtained at a cost of $20 per hour, including a standard, minimum
fee of $20, for time spent locating, retrieving, and preparing records for
production. Unless otherwise provided by law or rule, requestors will also be
charged a per-page fee of $.50 for copies produced on standard 8.5 x 11 paper.
This charge may be waived in the case of requests by governmental agencies or
indigent persons.
(b) Copies of
records maintained electronically, including messages and attachments exchanged
via electronic mail, or for record searches related to extraordinary events,
such as public health emergencies of any kind, may be obtained at a cost of $20
per hour, including a standard, minimun fee of $20, for time spent locating,
retrieving, and preparing records for production, unless otherwise provided by
law or rule. There is no per-page charge for records obtained and provided
electronically. Copies of records pertaining to extraordinary events may be
provided to members of the press who are not citizens of the state, subject to
the requested charge.
(c) The
department will send a written acknowledgment of receipt of a request for
public records within 2 business days. Responses to standard requests that seek
one or more specifically and discretely identified public records that the
department determines would take less than 8 hours of staff time to process and
require no or minimal clarification from the requestor will be provided within
15 business days of the acknowledgement of receipt. If additional time is
required, the department may extend this period in 15-business day increments
upon written notice to the requestor.
(d) Requestors will be notified within 15
business days of the acknowledgment of receipt if the department determines
that a request is time-intensive, requiring more than 8 hours of staff time to
process, including vague or overly broad requests and any time needed to redact
or take other measures to withhold legally protected information. At that time,
the department will provide notice of any likely fees and allow the requestor
to withdraw the time-intensive request and submit a new request that is not
time-intensive. If the requestor elects to proceed with the time-intensive
request, the department will provide a substantive response fulfilling or
denying the request within 45 business days after the election to proceed. If
additional time is required, the department may extend this period in
45-business day increments upon written notice to the requestor.
(2) Medical or clinic records,
notifiable disease records, records of epidemiological investigations,
investigative records of the Bureau of Health Provider Standards or records
that are proprietary by statute, case law, rule or custom are not "public
records" per se and are not open to the public inspection. Release of records
by subpoena in civil or criminal actions are governed by individual statutes or
court rules.
(3) Charge for
response to subpoenas - In accordance with Rule 45(a)(3)(c) Alabama Rules of
Civil Procedure, a reasonable charge may be requested for response to
subpoenas. Such records shall be obtained at a cost of a $5 retrieval fee plus
$1 per page for the first 25 pages and $.50 for every page thereafter unless
otherwise provided by law or rule.
(4) Nothing in the rule is intended to
require that information defined by
45 CFR, Parts
160 and
164 as "protected health
information" or that information otherwise protected as confidential by rule or
statute, be made available to the public. All questions as to whether a
particular document or class of information is public or confidential should be
referred to the Office of General Counsel.
