Walter Luers will moderate a program, "Perspectives on Recent Changes and Updates in the Open Public Records Act, Common Law Right of Access, Caselaw, and GRC Regulations," at the New Jersey State Bar Association Annual Conference in Atlantic City in May 2023.
The panel, co-sponsored by the NJSBA's Media Law Committee, will address important changes in OPRA that have occurred since about January 2022. First, the panel will discuss the law regarding access to student records and how that law changed when the New Jersey Department of Education issued clarifying regulations that granted the public access to redacted student records. Second, in 2022, the Supreme Court opened the door to accessing internal affairs reports; the panel will discuss the impact that decision has had on transparency and access to internal affairs records. Third, the panel will discuss significant amendments to the regulations of the Government Records Council that changed both GRC procedures and requestors’ substantive rights. Fourth, the panel will discuss other updates to OPRA not covered by the first three topics.