Kansas Open Records Act

Chapter 3060

Revised April 17, 2013, June 15, 2026

Table of Contents

.010 Introduction

The Open Records Act, K.S.A. 45-215 et seq., as amended, declares that it is the public policy of Kansas that "public records shall be open for inspection by any person." Public records are defined as "any recorded information, regardless of form or characteristics, which is made, maintained or kept by or is in the possession of any public agency." The University is classified as a public agency for the purposes of this Act.

.020 General Information

Regular Office Hours

Regular office hours on all business days, excluding Saturday, Sunday, and official holidays, are from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Records may be inspected during those hours.

Designated Records Custodians

Requests for inspection or copying of public records must be made in writing. Written requests may be made through NextRequest, mail, or by email addressed to the Designated Records Custodian.

  • For all University departments, and for K-State Athletics, Leah Sauceda-Jeppe, Open Records Custodian, 1301 Lovers Lane, Manhattan, KS 66506, 4017 College of Business, openrecords@k-state.edu.

Freedom of Information Officer

Patrick Burt, Vice President, Communications and Marketing, 1525 Mid-Campus Drive North, 128 Dole Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, is the University's Freedom of Information Officer. The Freedom of Information Officer assists in resolving disputes under the act and responds to inquiries regarding the act.

Charges and Fees

Fees shall be charged for the retrieval, review, and production of public records based on the actual costs associated with the employee time and resources utilized to fulfill a request. In accordance with the Kansas Open Records Act, K.S.A. 45-215 et seq., fees must be paid by the requestor before the request is fulfilled.

In accordance with this policy and the Kansas Open Records Act, K.S.A. 45-215 et seq., the following fee rates may be charged:

Paper Copy $ .25 per page
Certified Copy $ 1.25 per page
Staff rate for retrieval and/or assembly to produce $33.00 per hour
Specialized computer retrieval $50.00 per hour
Redaction Review (Staff) $30.00 per hour
Redaction Review (Attorney) $80.00 per hour
Postage Actual Cost
Inspection $25.00 per hour

Additional Fees: Any other costs incurred by the University as a result of complying with a record request may be charged to the requestor.

.030 Procedures

  1. No original public records shall be removed from the custody of the University without the written permission of a Designated Records Custodian.

  2. Each request for access to public records shall be acted upon as soon as possible, but not later than the end of the third business day following the date the request is received. The three-day time period for the initial response begins the first business day after the date the request is received.

    1. If access to the public record is not granted immediately, the Designated Records Custodian or her designee shall give a detailed explanation of the cause for further delay and an estimate of how much time will be necessary to comply with the request including when the record may be available for inspection.

    2. If a request is denied, the Designated Records Custodian or her designee shall, upon request, provide a written statement of the grounds for the denial and shall cite the specific provision of law under which access is denied. Said written statement shall be furnished to the individual or firm making the request no later than the end of the third business day following the date that the request for the statement was received, unless further clarification from the requester, prepayment, and/or a prohibition against solicitation certification are required.

  3. The request for inspection or copying of public records must be in writing and the requestor must also include the name and contact information of the person making the request, proof of identity, if necessary, and the information needed to ascertain the records desired. In accordance with the Kansas Open Records Act, K.S.A. 45-215 et seq., fees must be paid by the requestor before the request is fulfilled.

  4. Copies of public records shall be made while the records are in the possession, custody and control of the Designated Records Custodian and shall be made under the supervision of the Designated Records Custodian.

  5. A records request sent to someone on the Kansas State University campus other than the Office of General Counsel should be forwarded to the Office of the General Counsel for processing.

  6. Records requests must be for existing records, not information.

  7. The Kansas Open Records Act does not require that a record be created in order to respond to a request.

  8. The Kansas Open Records Act does not require records that are already publicly available to be provided.

  9. A written records request is considered to be received when it arrives at the Office of the General Counsel. A request sent to another office is not "received" until it is forwarded to the Office of the General Counsel.

  10. The Designated Records Custodian will generate an invoice for requested records with an estimate of the University time and resources utilized for the purpose of responding to the request. Payment of open records fees shall be made online via payment portal, or by check or money order payable to "Kansas State University."

  11. Designated Records Custodian may consult with the Office of General Counsel when in doubt as to whether a specific record falls under the provisions of the Open Records Act.

.040 Reasons For Denying Access To Public Records

Permission to inspect or copy public records may be denied if (1) the request "places an unreasonable burden in producing public records" or (2) the Designated Records Custodian "has reason to believe that repeated requests are intended to disrupt other essential functions of the public agency." As mentioned above, denial of a person's inspection or copying request must be explained in writing.

The Open Records Act provides that, unless otherwise required by law, certain records need not be disclosed. Note in particular, however, that nothing in the Open Records Act supersedes federal law, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

The University reserves the right to assert any and all such exemptions that may be applicable. A list of exemptions can be found in K.S.A. 45-221. Records exempted by the Act from mandatory disclosure include:

  • Records protected from disclosure by state or federal law;
  • Records which are privileged under the rules of evidence;
  • Medical, psychiatric, psychological, or alcoholism or drug dependency treatment records which pertain to identifiable patients.
  • Personnel records, performance ratings or individually identifiable records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment (this exemption does not apply to the names, positions, salaries and length of service of University employees);
  • Information revealing the identity of a donor, if the gift was given anonymously;
  • Testing and examination materials, before the test is to be given or if it is to be given again;
  • Records of individual test scores;
  • Records of emergency or security information or procedures of the University, or plans, drawings, specifications or related information for any building or facility, if disclosure would jeopardize security of the public agency, building or facility;
  • Most correspondence between a public agency and a private individual;
  • Notes, preliminary drafts, research data not yet fully analyzed, unfunded grant proposals, memos, recommendations, or other records in which opinions are expressed or policies or actions are proposed (this exception does not apply if those opinions or policies were publicly cited or identified in an open meeting);
  • Records which represent and constitute the work product of an attorney;
  • Public records containing information of a personal nature where disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;

If a record is only partially exempted from disclosure, the Designated Records Custodian shall delete the exempted materials and make available the material that is subject to disclosure. Records that are exempt because they pertain to an identifiable individual are subject to disclosure if deletion of the identifying portions of the records is possible.

Public records more than 70 years old, to the extent they exist, are open for inspection without regard to the above-listed exemptions. Disclosure of such records is prohibited only if federal or state law so provides.

.050 Questions

Questions relating to the information in this chapter should be directed to the Office of General Counsel, telephone 785-532-5730, or Patrick Burt, Communications and Marketing, telephone 785-532-2535.