Arkansas does not have an official FOIA request form. Under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, codified at A.C.A. §§ 25-19-101 through 25-19-110, any Arkansas citizen can request public records by sending a written or verbal request directly to the agency that holds them. A plain letter or email that identifies the records you want is enough. Some agencies, including the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office, offer optional online portals, but you are never required to use one. The custodian must make records available immediately, or, if they are in storage or active use, within three working days.
Who Can File a Request
FOIA access in Arkansas is limited to state residents. You do not have to explain why you want the records or what you intend to do with them. The one group barred from making requests is people currently incarcerated in a correctional facility after a felony conviction. An attorney for an incarcerated person can still request records on the client’s behalf, as long as those records would otherwise be open.
What to Put in Your Request
Because no form is required, the content of your written request does the work. Put it in writing even if the statute allows a phone call. A letter or email creates a paper trail and triggers the custodian’s duty to respond in writing.
The most important element is the description of the records. The statute requires enough specificity that the custodian can locate the records with reasonable effort. “All documents about a topic” is the kind of phrasing that invites delay or rejection. Narrow by date range, department, document type, and subject. Something like “all emails sent by the City Engineer’s office between March 1 and March 31, 2025, regarding the Main Street bridge project” gives the custodian a clear target.
Your request should also:
- State that you are making the request under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, so the statutory deadlines apply.
- Say whether you want to inspect the records in person or receive copies.
- Specify your preferred format if you want copies — paper or electronic.
- Include your name, mailing address, phone number, and email so the custodian can respond and send a fee estimate if one is needed.
How to Submit It
You can send a FOIA request in person, by telephone, by mail, by fax, by email, or through any other electronic method the custodian provides. Email is usually fastest and creates an automatic delivery record. Certified mail gives you formal proof of the date the custodian received the request. If you hand-deliver, bring a second copy and ask the clerk to date-stamp it for your records.
Send the request to the correct custodian — the person with administrative control over the specific records you want. A request sent to the wrong office does not start the response clock. Most agencies list a FOIA contact or records custodian on their website. If you cannot find one, call the agency’s main office and ask who handles records requests.
Fees You May Be Charged
In-person inspection is free. For copies, the custodian can charge only the actual cost of reproduction, meaning paper, toner, a USB drive, or whatever medium the records are produced on. The agency cannot bill you for the time employees spend searching for, retrieving, reviewing, or copying the records. Actual mailing or electronic transmission costs can be passed along.
If the estimated fee exceeds twenty-five dollars, the custodian can require prepayment and must give you an itemized breakdown. Custodians have discretion to waive or reduce fees when the request is noncommercial and disclosure serves the public interest.
One narrow exception to the no-personnel-time rule applies to electronic data. If you ask the custodian to compile, summarize, or convert electronic data into a format it does not already exist in, and the custodian agrees, the agency can charge for staff time beyond the first two hours. That rate is capped at the salary of the lowest-paid employee qualified to do the work, and the charge must be itemized.
When You Should Hear Back
If the records are available and not in active use, the custodian must let you inspect or copy them immediately. If the records are in active use or storage, the custodian must certify that in writing and set a specific date and time, within three working days, when the records will be available.
A written response to a written request must do one of three things: provide the records, identify any exemptions that apply to records being withheld, or state that no responsive records exist. If the custodian does not control the records, the response should identify who does so you can redirect the request. A custodian who knowingly fails to respond as required faces penalties under A.C.A. § 25-19-104.
Records the Custodian Can Withhold
Not every government record is open. Common exemptions include personnel records where disclosure would be a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy; employee evaluation and job performance records (open only after final resolution of a suspension or termination where the records were part of the decision, and only if there is a compelling public interest in disclosure); home addresses, personal emails, and personal phone numbers of nonelected public employees; medical, adoption, and education records; records of undisclosed criminal investigations; state income tax records; grand jury minutes; unpublished working papers of the Governor, legislators, Supreme Court Justices, Court of Appeals Judges, and the Attorney General; records that would give competitors or bidders an advantage; computer security records; licensing examination materials; military discharge records (DD Form 214) for veterans discharged fewer than seventy years ago; and water system vulnerability and security records.
When a custodian withholds records, the written response must identify the specific exemption that applies. A blanket denial without explanation does not comply with the statute.
If Your Request Is Denied
You can go directly to circuit court. Arkansas FOIA does not require an administrative appeal first. For a dispute involving a state agency, you can file in the Pulaski County Circuit Court or in the circuit court where you live. For records held by a county, city, township, school district, or a private organization that receives public funds, you file in the circuit court for that jurisdiction.
The court must schedule a hearing within seven days of your written application and decide the case promptly. If a custodian refuses to comply with a court order to release the records, the court can hold them in contempt.
Attorney fees depend on the type of agency. If you sue a local government entity or a private organization spending public funds and you obtain a significant portion of what you requested, the court must award reasonable attorney fees and litigation expenses unless the agency shows its position was substantially justified. When the defendant is a state-level agency, the court cannot assess attorney fees directly against the state; a prevailing plaintiff files a claim with the Arkansas State Claims Commission within sixty days of the case’s final resolution to recover those costs.