HB 3033, passed during the regular legislative session, amends the Public Information Act (PIA) by limiting the number of “nonbusiness” days for school districts. This legislation will greatly reduce response times for PIA requests when Districts are closed for business. It will require Board action to designate nonbusiness PIA days and to update district calendars for purposes of responding to PIA requests. The new law takes effect September 1, 2023. While there was no change to the 10 business-day deadline for a governmental body to respond to a PIA request or to request an Attorney General opinion, there was a significant change as to what constitutes a nonbusiness day for PIA requests. Prior to HB 3033, days when districts were closed (such as holiday breaks) were not counted in the deadline calculations. Now, the statute expressly limits nonbusiness day exclusions to weekend days, national and state holidays, and the Friday or Monday after a holiday which falls on a weekend and is earlier/later observed. SIGNIFICANT CHANGE - The PIA now specifically states that in addition to the weekends and holidays listed above, nonbusiness PIA days may be designated when District administrative offices are closed or operating with minimal staffing. However, school districts may designate no more than TEN nonbusiness days within each calendar year for purposes of the PIA. Authority to designate districts’ nonbusiness days is provided solely to the board of trustees. *It is important to note that this change in the calculation of business and nonbusiness days only applies to requests under the Public Information Act and does not apply to any other timeline that includes only District business days.
For PIA requests, however, this means you will not be able to delay responses to requests for public information for all the days of your holiday and Spring/Summer breaks when your administrative offices are closed. Your Board will be able to designate no more than 10 nonbusiness PIA days for inclusion in deadlines for responding to PIAs or to request an Attorney General opinion. | 
