NEW JERSEY'S NEW OPEN PUBLIC RECORDS ACT

AND

YOUR RIGHT TO PUBLIC RECORDS

On July 7th, 2002 a new law took effect. Known as the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) this new statute sets forth a wide array of "public records" to which must be made available to citizens who file a proper request.

Jackson Township fully supports this new law and intends to cooperate with the public in every way possible to make easy public access to appropriate records a reality in Jackson Township.

While the new law affords a broad array of what is available for public inspection and duplication (for a fee) it also places certain restrictions on some records to protect the privacy of individuals from having purely confidential information revealed.

So that the public can better understand this new law we provide the following links to both the State of New Jersey web site as well as to the New Jersey League of Municipalities web site.

Note: Most of these documents are in Adobe Acrobat format. If the files do not open please go here to download the necessary free Acrobat reader.

Citizen's Guide To The Open Public Records Act

Poster Explaining Rights Under The New OPRA

Handbook For Records Custodians

The Exceptions: A Summary of Items That Are Not Considered "Government Records"
Prepared for N. J. League of Municipalities

JACKSON TOWNSHIP OFFICIAL REQUEST FOR PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST FORM