Alaska

Alaska appellate courts have not had occasion to squarely address the existence or scope of a reporter's privilege. In those trial court proceedings where the qualified constitutional reporter's privilege has been asserted, it has been assumed that to overcome the privilege the subpoenaing party must make a showing that it has exhausted other means of obtaining the information sought, and that this information is unavailable from other sources not protected by this First Amendment privilege. The shield law does not expressly address this issue.

While the Open Meetings Act itself does not address discussions concerning individual students, to the extent that these discussions would tend to prejudice the reputation or character of the student, they would be a permissible topic for an executive session, subject to the rights of the part of the person being discussed to notification and opportunity to require a public session. There are many student records that are legally required to be maintained confidential, in particular those covered by the federal "Buckley Amendment," or Family Educational Privacy Act of 1972.

"Public records" are defined in the statute to include "books, papers, files, accounts, writings, including drafts and memorializations of conversations, and other items, regardless of format or physical characteristics. Records are further defined in 2 AAC 96.900(4) to include:

Certain executive branch meetings are exempt from the act altogether, e.g., meetings of the parole or pardon boards, AS 44.62.310(d)(3), and staff meetings or other gatherings of the employees of a public entity. AS 44.62.310(d)(6).

Overview

Alaska

This is not addressed.

Absent express provisions making certain kinds of appraisals done by or for, or submitted to, public agencies, can be presumed to be public pursuant to the Public Records Act.  Some statutes and regulations allow for appraisals, as well as other similar documents, to be withheld.  For example, in order to promote the purposes of the Alaska Industrial Development Authority, unless the records or information were a matter of public record before submittal to the authority, a variety of records and information, including appraisals (except the name of the appraiser, the date of the appraisal,

Alaska appellate courts have not had occasion to squarely address the existence or scope of a reporter's privilege. Various trial courts have recognized and applied the qualified constitutional privilege, and in doing so have not articulated circumstances constituting waiver of the privilege or standards for determining that the privilege has been deemed waived. In some instances, by agreement of the parties and counsel for the subpoenaed reporter, a reporter has confirmed that the story as published is accurate.

There is no specific time limit in the OMA for an agency to respond to a complaint that is not part of a lawsuit. Once a lawsuit is filed, if neither party requests expedited treatment, or if the court does not grant it, a complaint about open meetings violations would be treated like any other. The defendant will have 20 days to respond (unless it is a state agency, in which case it has 40 days), then there is discovery and pretrial motion work, and a trial would be set whenever the court's calendar permits.

(This section is blank. See the subpoints below.)

Overview

Alaska

This is not addressed.