- Utah's Government Records Office faces delays, doubling appeal resolution times.
- The office replaced the State Records Committee but struggles with leadership delays.
- The office has denied 60% of appeals; the former State Records Committee had a 50% denial rate.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's newly formed Government Records Office was designed to streamline the state's public records appeals process. But a KSL Investigators review shows that while the office is actively holding hearings and issuing decisions, the time it takes to resolve appeals has more than doubled — likely due to months without a functioning committee and delays in leadership appointments by the state Legislature and the governor.
For roughly three months, Government Records Office Director Lonny Pehrson has held weekly hearings. Of the cases that resulted in a written decision after a hearing, 60% were fully denied, while 20% were granted and another 20% received partial relief.
By comparison, the State Records Committee, which the new office replaced, denied 50% of appeals during the same timeframe in early 2024, granted 28.1% and provided partial relief in 21.9% of cases.
Former State Records Committee member Marie Cornwall cautioned against drawing conclusions too early.
"A larger dataset is needed to have a more accurate understanding of how the (Government Records Office) is operating," Cornwall said.
The State Records Committee data was limited to appeals received prior to when it lost quorum and could no longer meet. To ensure a fair comparison, the KSL Investigators excluded dismissed cases and those continued to future meetings, focusing only on appeals that received a written decision after a hearing.
While the Legislature cited delays as the reason for dissolving the State Records Committee, its own actions contributed to a significant backlog. Lawmakers declined to reappoint several State Records Committee members, leaving the committee without a quorum and unable to meet for months. The governor's office then took additional time to appoint a Government Records Office director, further stalling the appeals process.
The result: longer delays. The average time from appeal receipt to written decision under the State Records Committee was about 100 days. Under the Government Records Office, that number has more than doubled to 265 days, according to the latest available data.
"I think it was a case of them not understanding how difficult it was and feeling like the nature of our body made us take longer and that's just not true," said Linda Petersen, a former State Records Committee member. "I think it's just the process itself. There just aren't any shortcuts."
Gov. Spencer Cox declined an interview about the increased wait times. But Jeff Hymas, executive communications director for the Department of Government Operations, defended the Government Records Office's performance:
"In less than five months since the appointment of Director Lonny Pehrson, the state's Government Records Office is making tremendous progress in fulfilling its legislative mandate, working through a backlog of 102 cases (14 in abeyance) inherited from the State Records Committee and 76 new appeals received."
"Utah's new Government Records Office is clearly delivering on the intent for which it was created by the state Legislature, to provide a more efficient process for resolving GRAMA appeals in a timely and impartial manner."
The Government Records Office director did not respond to the KSL Investigators' request for comment. Sen. Mike McKell, who sponsored the legislation to remove the State Records Committee, said he may speak in the future but believes it's too early for a full analysis.
