PUBLIC RECORDS
A democracy cannot function if its citizens are unaware of its actions.
Public records tell you what a government is up to.
An agenda for a city council meeting shows what your elected officials are doing. A police report informs you how crime is being handled. A map of a subdivision reveals what streets will be paved.
If the government wasn't required to give citizens records of its actions, it would essentially be operating in secret.
The words “secret” plus “government” never equal “democracy.”
What is IPRA?
The Inspection of Public Records Act, often called IPRA — pronounced "ip-rah" — is a state law that gives the public the right to access public records unless they are specifically exempt.
The law also serves as an instruction guide. It explains how people can get public records and how records custodians should give them out.​
In New Mexico, every public entity – from the smallest municipality to the largest state agency — must comply with IPRA.​​
When we file a lawsuit, it's most often against a government agency that is breaking IPRA.
What are public records?
You need documents from the government to live your life.
After a car accident, you need a police report to give to your insurance company so they will pay to have your car fixed.
You need property maps and permits so you can remodel your house.
You need a birth certificate so you can get a passport.
These are public records, along with a large list of others.
Access to these records and all others should be simple, especially since you already “own” them through paying your taxes.
The record custodians who work for the government hold these records in trust for you.
You just need to ask a records custodian when you want to view these records.
When writing an IPRA request ...
Be specific - give dates, names, locations,
Give the name of the record you need
Keep it simple and direct
Ask for a record, not for information
Know what records you can and can't get
Ask for information
Ask a question ​​
Ask for records you can't get - aka exempt records
Ask for records that don't exist
​Be rude to records custodians (Be polite!)​
​
DON'T
DO
Is that record exempt?
Click here to find out
Most common government
For almost 40 years, FOG has been filing lawsuits across New Mexico to enforce the public’s right to access government records.
These are the biggest ways government agencies break IPRA law.
VIOLATIONS
Delays and non-responses
Requests are ignored. Deadlines are missed. Records sit for months.
The law requires a response within three business days. When agencies delay or fail to respond at all, they are denying access just as effectively as a refusal. FOG has challenged these delays in cases like NMFOG et al. v. Department of Public Safety, where officials repeatedly failed to respond on time — or at all.
Improper denials
Agencies say “no” when the law says “yes.”
We often see records denied using incorrect or overly broad exemptions, or entire records withheld when only small portions could legally be redacted. FOG has taken legal action in cases such as NMFOG v. City of Albuquerque and NMFOG v. City of Rio Rancho, where agencies improperly refused to release public records.
Improper redactions
Redactions must be limited and legally justified. When agencies remove too much information or fail to explain why, the public is left without meaningful access. In NMFOG v. Russell & Pool, FOG challenged the withholding of the vast majority of a public report through excessive and unsupported redactions.
The record is released — but most of it is blacked out.
Failure to produce records that exist
They say, “We don’t have it” — even when they do.
Agencies sometimes claim records don’t exist, fail to conduct a proper search, or shift responsibility to someone else. FOG addressed this in NMFOG v. Corizon Health, where records were withheld despite being subject to public disclosure under the law.
Failure to follow basic part of law
No records custodian. No process. No clear way to request records.
Some agencies fail to meet even the most basic requirements of IPRA, making it difficult — or impossible — for the public to access records. One part of the law requires every public body to designate a single person as the record custodian. This is so the public can specifically address letters — and lawsuits — to them. Despite this requirement, we've had a few government agencies refuse to tell us their custodian's name, claiming they've "split the job" between several employees and no one person is responsible. Another part of IPRA tells record custodians to post on the procedure for requesting records on the goverment website. Because how can the public ask for records if they don't know the process for getting them. We've seen several instances lately of school districts breaking this part of the law. That's what led us to file NMFOG v. Jemez Mountain Public Schools at the beginning of 2026.
102 Years of New Mexico Public Records Law
Since 1924, New Mexico has recognized the public’s right to access government records. At the time, it was a common-law right — meaning it wasn’t written in a statute and instead depended on court rulings. As a result, it wasn’t always clearly defined or consistently applied. That changed in the aftermath of World War II. During the war, governments at both the state and federal levels expanded dramatically, taking on new roles in production, logistics, regulation, and coordination. That centralized power also relied heavily on secrecy. People accepted that during wartime. But in peacetime, there was growing pressure for accountability and transparency. The public wanted to know: now that the emergency is over, what are the rules? Across the country, states began turning informal rights into formal laws. A larger, more complex government required clearer procedures — and the public needed a reliable way to hold it accountable. That was the backdrop to New Mexico’s first public records law, passed in 1947. It was straightforward. It established a basic rule: government records are open to the public. It also listed a small number of exceptions, including patient records and reference letters. Over the next 80 years, lawmakers and courts expanded on that foundation, turning a simple principle —that the public has a right to see its records — into the detailed system we now know as IPRA.
HOW TO SUBMIT a public records complaint
The AG's office receives complaints from all over the state, so the review process is not quick and often takes up to 3 months.
PLEASE BE PATIENT
The New Mexico Attorney General's Office is tasked with the enforcement of the Inspection of Public Records Act.
If you believe a state or local government office has violated the Act, gather the evidence you have — such as your records request and any responses from the agency — and go to their website here.
