Arkansas has had its Freedom of Information Act since 1967, and the Attorney General publishes the Arkansas Freedom of Information Handbook, now in its twenty second edition for 2026, which is the state's own plain answer to most questions about it. The right belongs to any citizen of the State of Arkansas, and it is exercised against the custodian of the records rather than any central office. A request need not be in writing, though the handbook advises writing because it creates a record if litigation becomes necessary, and it may be made in person or by telephone, fax, post, email, or through an online form where the custodian has made one.
What the request has to do is identify the material: it must be specific enough for the custodian to locate the records with reasonable effort. Two limits follow from the nature of the right. A custodian is not required to compile information or create a record in response to a request, and the Act reaches records that exist. Against that, a citizen may ask for a copy in any medium in which the record is readily available, or in any format to which it is readily convertible with the custodian's existing software, so a request for a spreadsheet rather than a printout is proper where the software is already there. For Arkansas records held locally, see the Arkansas county pages.
- Immediately, as the default: records must be produced at once unless they are in active use or storage.
- Three working days, certified: where a record is unavailable the custodian must certify that in writing and set a date and hour within three working days.
- Twenty four hours for personnel files: personnel and employee evaluation requests must be acted on within a day, with notice to the requester and the subject.
- No charge for staff time: fees cover reproduction cost only, excluding existing staff time for searching, retrieving, reviewing or copying, and inspection is always free.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Arkansas's own systems: the Arkansas Attorney General on the Freedom of Information Act, the Arkansas Freedom of Information Handbook, 22nd edition, 2026, the 21st edition of the handbook, 2025, the Department of Public Safety records request page, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Three different speeds
The Arkansas timetable is unusual in starting at zero. Records must generally be made available immediately. Only where a public record is in active use or storage, and therefore not available when the citizen asks to examine it, may the custodian delay, and then the Act requires the custodian to certify that fact in writing to the applicant and to set a date and hour within three working days at which the record will be available.
The written certificate is the point: a custodian who simply says the file is busy and will be along shortly has not complied. A third and faster clock covers staff files. Requests for personnel records and employee evaluation records must be acted upon within twenty four hours of the custodian's receipt, and during that same period the custodian must make all practicable efforts to notify both the person making the request and the subject of the records of the decision.
Either side, and the custodian, may then ask the Attorney General for an opinion on whether that decision is consistent with the Act, which is why Arkansas personnel disputes so often turn up as published opinions.
What inspection includes, and what it costs
The Act requires reasonable access and reasonable comforts and facilities for the full exercise of the right to inspect and copy, and it spells out that copying includes image capture, that is still and moving photography and video and digital recording. A citizen may therefore photograph records with a phone, and the custodian may not charge for inspection or for copying done that way. Where the custodian makes the copies and has the duplicating equipment to do so, a fee may be charged, but it may not exceed the actual costs of reproduction, including the medium, supplies, equipment and maintenance, and expressly not including existing agency personnel time associated with searching for, retrieving, reviewing or copying the records.
That exclusion is the heart of Arkansas fee practice: staff hours are not billable. The custodian may add the actual cost of posting the records or transmitting them by fax or other electronic means, may require prepayment where the estimated fee exceeds twenty five dollars, and must provide an itemised breakdown of the charges. Copies may be supplied free or at a reduced charge where the custodian decides the records were requested primarily for noncommercial purposes and that waiver or reduction is in the public interest.
The handbook adds two practical answers: a custodian with scanning capability must scan paper records into an electronic format such as a portable document file, and posting the copies is probably required, citing a 2008 Attorney General opinion.
Exempt material does not close the file
A request to inspect, copy or obtain copies may not be denied on the ground that the record also contains information exempt from disclosure. The record must instead be made available for public inspection with the exempt material deleted or redacted, which means a single sensitive paragraph does not justify withholding a whole document. Where a custodian is unsure whether an exemption applies, the Attorney General's opinion function is available, and for personnel and evaluation records the statute expressly contemplates it.
Appealing, and who pays for the lawyer
Any citizen denied the rights the Act grants may appeal immediately from the denial to an appropriate circuit court, which may issue orders to enforce the Act. The fee rules are asymmetric in the requester's favour but not absolute. A court shall award attorney fees and other litigation expenses to a plaintiff who, after filing suit, has obtained from the defendant a significant or material portion of the public information requested, which means a defendant who hands the records over once sued does not thereby escape the bill.
A public entity that has substantially prevailed may be awarded fees, but only where the court does not find that the defendant's position was substantially justified or that other circumstances make an award unjust. No fees may be awarded against the State itself; a plaintiff who substantially prevails against the State may instead file a claim with the Arkansas State Claims Commission for fees and expenses. And the Act keeps a criminal sanction with a low threshold: a person who negligently violates the Freedom of Information Act is guilty of a Class C misdemeanour under Ark. Code Ann. 25-19-104, negligence rather than wilfulness being the standard.
Writing a request that gets the fast answer
Because the default is immediacy, the practical goal in Arkansas is to leave the custodian no reason to invoke active use or storage. Naming the document, the office and the date range does most of that work. Asking for the record in the medium it is already held in, or one the existing software can convert to, avoids an argument about creating records. Where the request touches a public employee, expecting the twenty four hour clock and the notice to the subject explains the speed and the occasional objection that follows.
And where a fee appears, the two questions are whether it contains any staff time, which it may not, and whether the itemised breakdown the Act requires has been provided.
Reading an Arkansas response
Four things tell you whether a response complies. If records were not produced on the spot, is there a written certificate saying the record is in active use or storage, with a date and hour inside three working days. If the request concerned a personnel or evaluation file, did a decision arrive within twenty four hours, and was the subject told as well. If something was withheld, was the rest released with the exempt material redacted rather than the whole document refused.
And if a bill arrived, does the itemised breakdown show only reproduction, medium, supplies, equipment, maintenance and delivery, with no line for the time staff spent on the request.
Questions about public records requests in Arkansas
Related Arkansas records
Arkansas's other public records guides on this site are the Arkansas background check guide for the State Police criminal history service, the Arkansas court records guide for the judiciary's case search, the Arkansas arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, and the Arkansas county pages for every county office.