63G-2-102 - Legislative intent. - Utah Statutes

63G-2-102. Legislative intent.
(1) In enacting this act, the Legislature recognizes two constitutional rights:
(a) the public's right of access to information concerning the conduct of the public'sbusiness; and
(b) the right of privacy in relation to personal data gathered by governmental entities.
(2) The Legislature also recognizes a public policy interest in allowing a government torestrict access to certain records, as specified in this chapter, for the public good.
(3) It is the intent of the Legislature to:
(a) promote the public's right of easy and reasonable access to unrestricted publicrecords;
(b) specify those conditions under which the public interest in allowing restrictions onaccess to records may outweigh the public's interest in access;
(c) prevent abuse of confidentiality by governmental entities by permitting confidentialtreatment of records only as provided in this chapter;
(d) provide guidelines for both disclosure and restrictions on access to governmentrecords, which are based on the equitable weighing of the pertinent interests and which areconsistent with nationwide standards of information practices;
(e) favor public access when, in the application of this act, countervailing interests are ofequal weight; and
(f) establish fair and reasonable records management practices.

Renumbered and Amended by Chapter 382, 2008 General Session