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2025-2026 Annual Report Op. Ind. Att'y Gen. 1 (2025-2026)

handle is hein.sag/sagin0150 and id is 1 raw text is: STATE OF INDIANA PUBLIC ACCESS COUNSELOR ....... . ~ II.*IJ~I JENNIFER RUBY Mike Braun, Governor Indiana Government Center South 402 West Washington Street, Room W470 Indianapolis, Indiana 46204-2745 Email: pac@opac.in.gov Website: www.IN.gov/pac ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INDIANA PUBLIC ACCESS COUNSELOR To the Indiana General Assembly July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026 Pursuant to Indiana Code (IC) 5-14-4-12, the Indiana Public Access Counselor (PAC) submits this annual report of activities for the time period covering July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026 (FY26).1 Part I is a narrative summary of the activities of the PAC. Part II includes the information required to be submitted pursuant to IC 5-14-4-12. PART I Narrative Summary On March 31, 2025, Governor Mike Braun appointed Jennifer Ruby as Indiana's eighth Public Access Counselor. In addition to the Counselor, OPAC has two full-time employees: a Deputy Public Access Counselor and a Paralegal on loan from the Office of Administrative Law Proceedings. Advisory Opinions OPAC received 679 formal complaints in FY26. For FY26, OPAC issued 134 advisory opinions in response to formal complaints.2 Wherever possible OPAC takes a proactive position in resolving complaints during the adversarial complaint process to reduce the number of opinions issued. Telephone and Email Inquiries Under IC 5-14-4-10(5), OPAC is charged with responding to informal inquiries. OPAC has regular interaction with the public, state offices, as well as county, city, town and township governments and elected officials in all 92 counties of Indiana. OPAC collectively received and responded to over 6,000 emails during the reporting period. In addition, OPAC handled approximately 3,700 1 Data for this report was collected through June 25, 2026, to allow time for the report's preparation. 2 Several opinions are pending at the time of the submission of the report.