The issue of daily calendars affects tens of thousands of Utah public employees, including AG Reyes. The AGO is standing up for their collective rights and interests.
There are many good policy reasons why calendars have long been excluded by statute from disclosure under GRAMA, as re-affirmed in the last legislative session.
The media and general public have access through GRAMA to substantial sources of information from government employees including emails, texts, financials, letters, reports, and many other documents.
Beyond GRAMA, auditors at the state and local level have access to calendars for oversight and accountability of public employees. AG Reyes provided 5 years of his calendars to legislative auditors because they have protocols in place to guard privacy.
This privacy protects public employees such as teachers, counselors, police, prosecutors, healthcare and HR professionals as well as the Attorney General, so they can perform their duties without endangering or violating the rights of those with whom they meet.
Vulnerable individuals and everyday citizens who may appear in a calendar include medical patients, victims of crimes, informants and whistleblowers, concerned parents of students, and employees being disciplined who all have compelling rights and reasons to be protected.
Lastly, calendars are not kept in any uniform manner, are often filled with personal and private information unrelated to official government functions and may not be kept on government computers or servers.
The legislature carefully considered and decided calendars would be protected and not required for disclosure under GRAMA. If a public employee wishes to publish their calendar, they may do so voluntarily, and some do by selectively posting a portion of their schedule.
FAQsQ: What is GRAMA?
A: GRAMA is the Government Records Access and Management Act, the Utah law on government transparency that defines what records should be public and what should be non-public. GRAMA balances the public’s right to transparency with other important public and private interests, including the need for efficient, effective government and government employee’s individual rights. In the case of the Attorney General and members of his office, there are also ethical requirements stemming from being legal advisors to government agencies. The full statute can be found here.
Q: Are the Attorney General and those in his office the only ones subject to government records requests?
A: No. All public employees are subject to GRAMA. Those in the Office of the Attorney General are among tens of thousands of public employees who must respond to government records requests. This includes teachers, counselors, administrators, firefighters, police officers, medical professionals, city, county, state officials and their staff, and many more. All public employees are subject to the same GRAMA requirements.
Q: Is a daily calendar a public record?
A: No. The Utah Legislature carefully considered all the ways people have access to information about public employees and officials and deliberately decided to make calendars private. It is the legal position of the AGO and other governmental entities that the legislature always intended daily calendars to be exempt from disclosure under GRAMA, regardless of how they are used or maintained. This legislative intent was reaffirmed during the 2024 Utah State Legislature General Session.
Q: Is the Attorney General’s office trying to hide the daily calendar of the AG or his Executive Team to protect them?
A: No. The decision not to release daily calendars of the AG or his Executive Team is not personal to them. From the beginning, the Office has made it clear that the Utah Attorney General’s Office is following their understanding of the intent of GRAMA, which was reaffirmed in the 2024 Utah Legislative General Session. AG Reyes and his office are committed to defending the law for all public employees, no matter their title and responsibilities.
In fact, many public workers throughout Utah, from school counselors, law enforcement personnel, government lawyers, and high-ranking state officials, have asked Attorney General Reyes and his office to keep defending their rights to keep their daily calendars exempt from public disclosure, as intended by the legislature.
Q: If daily calendars are not public records, how do we hold our public employees, including elected officials, accountable?
A: GRAMA allows for requests and requires production of many forms of government records including emails, texts, reports, financials, minutes, and many other types of documents and data. The Attorney General has provided thousands of pages of emails, texts, and other records to the press and others over the years. Similar to the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), GRAMA seeks to balance the public’s right to access information about government business, individuals’ privacy rights, and the government’s need to limit access to certain records for the public benefit.
Q: Has Attorney General Sean Reyes released his daily calendar to anyone?
A: Yes. AG Reyes has released his calendar to legislative auditors. In fact, he provided five years of calendars as requested by the auditors during a regular performance audit of the Utah Attorney General’s Office in 2024.
Q: If AG Reyes is willing to provide his daily calendars to the auditors, why hasn’t he released the same information to the media?
A: In the case of AG Reyes, the nature of holding the office of Attorney General brings with it many sensitive meetings with individuals and groups who rely on having their privacy protected. The release of his daily calendar to media outlets could harm these individuals and discourage others from working with the Office of the Attorney General, which is a disservice to all Utahns.
This concern applies to other public employees who meet with people who are vulnerable or simply prefer not to have private information publicized because they have met with a government physician, prosecutor, sheriff or detective, school counselor, victim advocate, child and family services, HR director, etc.
Calendar entries could endanger or violate the rights of individuals such as medical patients, victims and survivors of crimes, informants or whistleblowers, concerned parents of students, and workers dealing with HR matters, among others sensitive situations.
Q: Is a daily calendar representative of a public employee’s schedule?
A: Not necessarily. Each public employee can choose to use their calendar software as they see fit. Because of this, some calendars are very detailed with sensitive and/or private information and others may choose only to use the tool sparingly with very few details.
Original source can be found here.