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2019-2020 Annual Report Op. Ind. Att'y Gen. [i] (2019-2020)

handle is hein.sag/sagin0141 and id is 1 raw text is: ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INDIANA PUBLIC ACCESS COUNSELOR
July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020
In accordance with Indiana Code Section 5-14-4-12, the Public Access Counselor hereby submits
this annual report of activities for the time period covering July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020.1
This report is presented in two parts: in Part 1 a narrative summary of the activities of the PAC;
and in Part 2 the information required to be submitted in accordance with Indiana Code Section
5-14-4-12.
PART 1: Annual report narrative
1.1 Mission
The Public Access Counselor provides advice and assistance concerning Indiana's public access
laws to members of the public and government officials and their employees.
Vision
The Office of the Public Access Counselor is dedicated to carrying out its mission by employing
the following philosophy:
A fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of representative government is
that government is the servant of the people and not their master. Accordingly, it is the public
policy of the state that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the
affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them as public officials and
employees. Providing persons with the information is an essential function of a representative
government and an integral part of the routine duties of public officials and employees, whose
duty it is to provide the information. This chapter shall be liberally construed to implement this
policy and place the burden ofproof for the nondisclosure of a public record on the public agency
that would deny access to the record and not on the person seeking to inspect and copy the
record. Ind. Code § 5-14-3-1-10.
...It is the intent of this chapter that the official action of public agencies be conducted
and taken openly, unless otherwise expressly provided by statute, in order that the people may
be fully informed... Ind. Code § 5-14-1.5-1.

1 All data current as of 5:00 p.m. on Monday, June 29, 2020.