The New Mexico Supreme Court building in Santa Fe, where three of the 10 New Mexico Appeals Court judges preside. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)
Foster parents’ names, email addresses and physical addresses are confidential under New Mexico’s sunshine law, the majority of a three-judge panel ruled last week.
The Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) is a state law that allows anyone to view public records, with some exceptions.
The New Mexico Court of Appeals was asked to decide whether a state regulation making information in neglect or abuse cases confidential is legal under the public records law. The court concluded on Sept. 25 that it is.
Since IPRA was enacted in 1947, it has contained specific exceptions which allow the government to withhold some information.
It also includes a catchall exception prohibiting the release of public records made confidential by state laws, agency regulations, constitutionally based privileges and court rules.
More recently in 2011, the New Mexico Legislature added an exemption to IPRA prohibiting the government from turning over “‘protected personal identifier information,” like home addresses, phone numbers and all but the last four digits of Social Security numbers.