Custodians may lawfully extend the time to answer an OPRA request beyond the statutory period of 7 business days. However, as shown in a recent decision, the GRC may determine that too long an extension period constitutes a violation of OPRA.

In Rodriguez v. Kean Univ., the request sought correspondence among a large group of people concerning certain topics. The custodian needed 11 extensions, totaling around 100 business days, to answer this request. The request was made on November 4, 2014 and was answered on April 23, 2015.

The GRC noted that the custodian had to work with several people to determine if there were any responsive records. However, it did not consider this a sufficient reason to justify what it deemed “an extensive delay” in responding to the request. The GRC concluded that the custodian violated OPRA by “unnecessarily” extending the response time. The agency did not penalize the custodian, finding that the violation was not knowing and willful.

Public bodies need to be aware of the risk that the GRC will find a violation, and perhaps impose a fine, where multiple extensions are taken before responding to an OPRA request.