Welcome to MuckRock's Kentucky Open Records Act appeal guide!
Each entry provides background and context about an exemption to the public records laws in all fifty states, as well as federal FOIA. Read more about Kentucky's public records law or explore all our expert FOIA guides. Have a public records appeal or information on an exemption we should include? Consider sharing your knowledge with everyone by donating your FOIA appeal language.
Confidential Records
This guide is for informational purposes only, is general in nature, and is not legal opinion nor legal advice regarding any specific issue or factual circumstance.
Records confidentially disclosed to an agency and compiled and maintained for scientific research. This exemption shall not, however, apply to records the disclosure or publication of which is directed by another statute.
Example Appeals
The records should be disclosed because the agency has presented no proof that the records were confidentially disclosed to it or that they were compiled and maintained for scientific research.
Proper Use
This rarely litigated exemption may only be invoked by an agency upon proof that the requested records satisfy the exemption’s two part test: the records were confidentially disclosed to the agency (and therefore not created by the agency) and were compiled and maintained for scientific research.
Improper Use
The exemption was improperly invoked by a public university to support nondisclosure of “visualizations” presented at a “visioning session” because the visualizations “were generated by the University and therefore not ‘confidentially disclosed’ to it.” KRS 61.878(1)(b) was, on these facts, “facially inapplicable to the visualizations.”
Key Citations
KRS 61.878 (1)(b)