What’s a Request for Review? If anyone feels that the Open Meetings Act, or Freedom of Information Act has been violated, they can file a Request for Review with the PAC to have an Attorney review the facts and decide if the situation in question is a violation, and if any action should be taken to correct the violation, without the requester needing to pay a lawyer.

To file a request for review the violation must have occurred within the past 60 days. We can’t go back and file Requests for Review on every violation we think happened since the dawn of time. This helps protect our government from needing to deal with burdensome requests that have no bearing on how it’s operating today.

Depending on the situation, the PAC may informally work to resolve a disagreement. They may issue a non-binding determination, which although it carries weight, it’s just a letter and nothing more. They may issue a binding opinion which with if the losing party disagrees, they can file a lawsuit and the States Attorney will be joint defendants with the party they sided with.

In looking through records of past Request for Reviews that have resulted in binding and non-binding outcomes, it typically takes anywhere from 2 to 6 months to resolve. There are a lot of different factors that play into the timeline, and there is no hard and fast rule that can be guaranteed.

If you want more info, the PAC publishes a couple FAQ’s on OMA and FOIA
OMA FAQ’s
FOIA FAQ’s