A recent unpublished Appellate Division opinion is a reminder of a fundamental OPRA rule: OPRA applies only to records made, maintained, kept or received in the course of official business. As a result, emails sent over a government computer, that don’t involve government business, are not subject to OPRA.

The Appellate Division case dealt with an OPRA request for emails exchanged between certain government officials concerning PAC money. Carter v. Franklin Fire Dist. No. 1. Although the topic of the emails had nothing to do with the official business of the public body, the requestor argued that OPRA applied to these emails because they were maintained in the public body’s computer system. The court rejected this argument; it agreed with the GRC that the OPRA request was not for government records, because the emails did not involve official government business.