Search Options
- One State's Access Ratings
- See ratings for access law categories in one state.
- State Law Summaries
- Examine summaries, known as capsules, of individual provisions of access laws for each state.
- Compare Two States
- Compare ratings and summaries, or capsules, of individual provisions of access laws of two states.
- One Law Across 50 States
- See comparative ratings for one access law category across the 50 states.
- Explore Our Categories
- Find complete legal capsules and ratings for completed categories. More data is loaded regularly.
New to CAP
Data current as of January 2009
Key Issues on CAP
- Requesting Records: What is your state's law governing what you have to do to access records?
- Election Records, Overall
- Internet, Sex Offenders, Overall
- Civil Penalties on Government
- Attorneys' Fees for Requestors
- Court Costs for Requestors
- Terrorism Ratings Update: What states are doing to limit access to terrorism-related information.
- Definitions, Public Record
- Constitutional Provisions for Public Records
The MBCAP state ratings system is based on whether a law facilitates or restricts access, and not on any other particular quality of the law. This Web site does not offer legal advice. For assistance with a particular problem, contact an attorney or see our resources library for additional help.
Under the Citizen Access Project's FOI911 -- Rapid Response Team, a graduate student will field requests for 50-state law-status updates from legislators, journalists, activists and attorneys. This will allow for the ratings database to progress while servicing immediate requests from timely inquiries.
External Resources
WikiFoia is building a How To Guide to provide very practical information about open records requests at the state and local level.
FOI News from the Associated Press provides up-to-date links to news stories related to media access and freedom of information.
The North Carolina Open Government Coalition has found a new academic home at Elon University's School of Communications, where it will continue its mission of educating the public on open government.