Mississippi's law is the Public Records Act of 1983, and the body that enforces it is the Mississippi Ethics Commission, which has authority to take complaints, issue subpoenas, hold hearings and issue orders about alleged violations. Its records pages also publish Model Public Records Rules with commentary, written to be adopted by every public body in state and local government, which matters more here than in most states because the response time depends on whether the body has adopted written procedures at all.
The policy in sections 25-61-1 and 25-61-2 is that public records must be available for inspection by any person unless the Act provides otherwise, that providing access is a duty of each public body, and that automation of public records must not erode the right of access, so a body increasing its use of electronic record keeping must ensure reasonable access to what it holds electronically. Public records are defined broadly, taking in books, records, papers, accounts, letters, maps, photographs, films, cards, tapes, recordings and any other documentary material regardless of form, used, in use, or prepared, possessed or retained for use in the conduct of any business, transaction, work, duty or function of a public body, or required to be maintained by one. For Mississippi records held locally, see the Mississippi county pages.
- Seven working days, maximum: no body may adopt a procedure that lets it produce or refuse later than the seventh working day after receipt.
- One working day with no rules: a body that has adopted no written procedures must produce the record within one working day of a written request.
- Fourteen working days, absolute: where the seventh day is missed, a written explanation is due and production cannot run past fourteen working days without agreement.
- Refusals are filed and public: every denial must be written with the specific exemption, and each body keeps its denials on file for three years, open to inspection.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Mississippi's own systems: the Mississippi Ethics Commission on the Public Records Act, the text of the Public Records Act published by the Commission, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
A deadline that depends on the body's own rules
Section 25-61-5(1)(a) makes all public records public property and gives any person the right to inspect, copy or mechanically reproduce them in accordance with reasonable written procedures the public body has adopted about the cost, time, place and method of access, of which it must give public notice. Where a body has not adopted written procedures, the right must be provided within one working day after a written request, which is the strongest incentive in the Act for a body to publish rules.
Whatever rules it writes, no public body may adopt procedures authorising it to produce or deny production later than seven working days from receipt of the request. Where a body cannot produce by the seventh working day, subsection (1)(b) requires it to give the requester a written explanation stating that the record will be produced and specifying with particularity why it cannot be produced within the seven day period, and unless the parties agree otherwise, or the material is part of ongoing negotiations on competitive sealed proposals, production may in no event fall later than fourteen working days from receipt of the original request.
Competitive sealed proposals have their own timetable, with production due no later than seven working days after the notice of intent to award, and a protest window of at least seven working days after that production.
Refusals, redaction and the denial file
A denial must be in writing and must contain a statement of the specific exemption the body relies on. Mississippi then adds a requirement found almost nowhere else: each public body must maintain a file of all denials of requests for public records, must keep those denials on file for not less than three years, and must make that file available for inspection or copying during regular office hours to any person on written request.
For anyone examining how an agency behaves over time, the denial file is itself a public record worth asking for. Where a record contains both exempt and non exempt material, the body must redact the exempt part and make the rest available, and it may charge a reasonable fee for the redaction, not exceeding its actual cost.
What a Mississippi request costs
Section 25-61-7 lets each public body establish and collect fees reasonably calculated to reimburse it, and in no case exceeding the actual cost, of searching, reviewing and duplicating records and, where applicable, posting the copies. Any staff time or contractual services included in that actual cost must be charged at the pay scale of the lowest level employee or contractor competent to respond to the request, and the fees are collected in advance of compliance.
Unlike several neighbouring states, Mississippi therefore allows search and review time to be billed, which makes the precision of a request the main lever on its cost. A separate regime applies to geographic information systems, multipurpose cadastres and other electronically accessible data, where a body may set a standard fee scale reasonably related to the cost of creating, acquiring and maintaining the system, and in fixing those charges it may consider the type of information requested, the purpose it is wanted for and its commercial value.
Format is a right rather than a favour: under section 25-61-10 a body must provide a copy in the format requested where it maintains the record in that format, charging under the ordinary fee section.
Third party material, software and procurement
Records a third party gave the body which contain trade secrets or confidential commercial or financial information are held back until the third party has been notified, but they must then be released no later than twenty one days after that notice unless the third party has filed a petition in chancery court seeking a protective order within the period. One carve out protects public spending from the trade secret argument: for procurement contracts awarded by state agencies, the provisions naming the commodities purchased or the services provided, the price to be paid and the term of the contract are not trade secrets or confidential commercial information and must be available for examination and copying.
The Act also refuses to let technology shrink access. A body using sensitive or proprietary software does not thereby diminish the public's right, and satisfies the Act by making a legally obtainable copy of the software available or by ensuring the software can export each record in a common format. Before acquiring or significantly modifying any system used to store, retrieve or manipulate public records, a body must plan for public access and for redaction of exempt material, and it may not enter a database contract that impairs the public's ability to inspect or copy, including records held online.
The Ethics Commission route
Enforcement under section 25-61-13 runs through the Mississippi Ethics Commission, on a complaint by any person denied the right to inspect or copy. The complainant must attach a copy of the written denial if one was given. The Commission forwards the complaint to the head of the public body, which has fourteen days from receipt to file a response, and after the response or the expiry of those fourteen days the Commission may dismiss the complaint, issue a preliminary finding or set the case for hearing.
Its powers are real: it may order the public body, and individual employees or officials, to produce records or take other reasonable measures necessary to comply, may impose the penalties the chapter authorises, and may require records to be produced for private review by the Commission, its staff or designee, completing that review within thirty days and keeping the records exempt from disclosure while it holds them. It may also mediate, decide on the papers where no facts are in dispute, or enter orders the parties have agreed.
Chancery court, and personal liability
Any party may petition the chancery court of the county where the public body is located to enforce or appeal an order of the Ethics Commission, and the chancery court conducts a de novo review. Nobody is obliged to go through the Commission first: a complaint may be filed in any chancery court with jurisdiction without exhausting administrative remedies, although a party doing so must serve written notice on the Commission at the time of filing, for information only.
The sanction in section 25-61-15 is personal rather than institutional. Any person who denies access to a public record that is not exempt, or who charges an unreasonable fee for providing a public record, may be liable civilly in his personal capacity in a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars per violation, plus all reasonable expenses incurred by the person bringing the proceeding. The figure is small, but it attaches to the individual official and it brings the requester's expenses with it.
Questions about public records requests in Mississippi
Related Mississippi records
Mississippi's other public records guides on this site are the Mississippi background check guide for the Department of Public Safety criminal history service, the Mississippi court records guide for the circuit and chancery clerks, the Mississippi arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, and the Mississippi county pages for every county office.