§51-24A.3. Definitions.
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As used in the Oklahoma Open Records Act:
1. “Record” means all documents including, but not limited to, any book, paper, photograph, microfilm, data files created by or used with computer software, computer tape, disk, record, sound recording, film recording, video record or other material regardless of physical form or characteristic, created by, received by, under the authority of, or coming into the custody, control or possession of public officials, public bodies or their representatives in connection with the transaction of public business, the expenditure of public funds or the administering of public property.
Record shall also mean applications and other documents related to licensure matters that are filed of record in a district court, including, but not limited to, marriage licenses, process server licenses, closing out sale licenses, transient merchant licenses, pool hall licenses, and bail bondsmen registration. Record does not mean:
a. computer software, or
b. nongovernment personal effects;
2. “Public body” shall include, but not be limited to, any office, department, board, bureau, commission, agency, trusteeship, authority, council, committee, trust or any entity created by a trust, county, city, village, town, township, district, school district, fair board, court, executive office, advisory group, task force, study group or any subdivision thereof, supported in whole or in part by public funds or entrusted with the expenditure of public funds or administering or operating public property, and all committees, or subcommittees thereof.
Except for the records required by Section 24A.4 of this title, public body does not mean judges, justices, the Council on Judicial Complaints, the Legislature or legislators. Public body shall not include an organization that is exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and whose sole beneficiary is a college or university, or an affiliated entity of the college or university, that is a member of The Oklahoma State System of Higher Education.
Such organization shall not receive direct appropriations from the Legislature. The following persons shall not be eligible to serve as a voting member of the governing board of the organization:
a. a member, officer, or employee of the Oklahoma State
Regents for Higher Education,
b. a member of the board of regents or other governing
board of the college or university that is the sole
beneficiary of the organization, or
c. an officer or employee of the college or university
that is the sole beneficiary of the organization;
3. “Public office” means the physical location where public bodies conduct business or keep records;
4. “Public official” means any official or employee of any public body as defined herein; and
5. “Law enforcement agency” means any public body charged with enforcing state or local criminal laws and initiating criminal prosecutions including, but not limited to: police departments; state and local fire marshals when investigating potential violations of federal, state, or local criminal laws or when acting on behalf of a law enforcement agency; county sheriffs; the Department of Public Safety; the Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control; the Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement Commission; and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
Added by Laws 1985, c. 355, § 3, eff. Nov. 1, 1985. Amended by Laws 1987, c. 222, § 117, operative July 1, 1987; Laws 1988, c. 187, § 3, emerg. eff. June 6, 1988; Laws 1993, c. 39, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993; Laws 1996, c. 209, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 1996; Laws 1998, c. 315, § 4, emerg. eff. May 28, 1998; Laws 1998, c. 368, § 11, eff. July 1,
1998; Laws 2001, c. 355, § 1, emerg. eff. June 1, 2001; Laws 2002, c. 478, § 2, eff. July 1, 2002; Laws 2003, c. 3, § 42, emerg. eff. March 19, 2003; Laws 2004, c. 328, § 1, eff. July 1, 2004; Laws 2005, c. 199, § 4, eff. Nov. 1, 2005; Laws 2014, c. 266, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2014; Laws 2022, c. 307, § 1; Laws 2022, c. 402, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2022; Laws 2023, c. 271, § 11, eff. Nov. 1, 2023; Laws 2024, c. 116, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2024; Laws 2024, c. 358, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2024; Laws 2025, c. 404, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2025. NOTE: Laws 2002, c. 293, § 3 repealed by Laws 2003, c. 3, § 43, emerg. eff. March 19, 2003.