OPRAmachine Blog

OPRAmachine adminstrator & indepdendent journalist Jeff Epstein recently interviewed CJ Griffin, Esq. of the firm Pashman Stein Walder Hayden. Griffin has developed a reputation as one of the leading OPRA advocates in the state. They discussed numerous issues, some of which touched on the OPRAmachine platform and challenges that we have encountered.

In partnership with the Montclair University Center for Cooperative Media, OPRAmachine Founder Gavin Rozzi will be hosting a free in-person and online webinar to talk about how journalists can harness the power of OPRAmachine to simplify public records research. Rozzi will give a step-by-step demonstration along with taking audience questions at the conclusion of the presentation. Here is Montclair’s official announcement of the event, copied below: “Opening up New Jersey government, one request at a time. [Read More]

On June 29th we recorded a webcast highlighting how developers can make use of the OPRAmachine API in order to integrate our extensive data about New Jersey public records into their next web project. Our JSON REST and RSS API endpoints make getting data about public bodies & OPRA requests from around the state, and we can’t wait to see what the data journalism and developer communites are able to create with our data. [Read More]

The thousand-dollar email metadata. Pushback from problematic government agencies. Technical challenges of running a statewide freedom of information portal and cutting-edge case law. These are just a few of the topics we address in the latest OPRAmachine podcast interview. On June 21st, I had the pleasure of joining Jeff Epstein of Citizens’ Media TV for a brief interview addressing some recent developments with OPRAmachine and interesting requests and responses generated in the course of its operation. [Read More]

The New Jersey State Senate Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Commmittee is expected to take action on the OPRA and OPMA reform bills this Thursday, June 14th, 2018. The OPRA reform measure under consideration will, among other things, expand attorney fee awards for prevailing OPRA litigants as well as ensuring that subcommitees of governing bodies are subject to more stringent transparency & disclosure requirements under the law. The OPRAmachine team supports expanding the scope of OPRA as well as attorney fee awards, as we believe both measures hold value in ensuring that OPRA can be an effective oversight tool for state and local government. [Read More]

Thanks to the diligent efforts of OPRAmachine administrator Jeff Epstein, we’ve added numerous additional county governments to our database of government agencies today. The additional county governments added today that are now ready to receive requests via OPRAmachine include: Bergen County Essex County Cumberland County Morris County Warren County Sussex County Salem County Hudson County Click on any of the above links to start a new OPRA request or follow requests and responses from these counties. [Read More]

OPRAmachine is proud to announce that our service is now available as a desktop application starting immediately. Our new desktop application provides the same great functionality our users have come to expect on the main OPRAmachine website, but in a new convenient form factor. Depending on the feedback we receive from the community, we may add additional functionality to this app at a later date, so if you’re serious about managing all of your public records requests with OPRAmachine, our app will be something you won’t want to miss. [Read More]

A problem with OPRA requests directed to Lakewood Township (Ocean County) has been resolved by officials from the township clerk’s office, according to an email received by an OPRAmachine user when they reported the problem to Lakewood.

Requests delivered via OPRAmachine sent to Lakewood inadvertently got caught up in the township’s spam filter, preventing any of the requests from getting a response from the clerk’s office.

Individuals who are not residents of New Jersey can file legally valid OPRA requests, a state appellate court ruled. The court ruling was issued by the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court in an OPRA lawsuit brought by open government activist Harry Scheeler, who formerly lived in Atlantic County before moving out of state. This is good news for our international and out-of-state users of OPRAmachine, who have made use of our platform to obtain public information from New Jersey state and local government agencies. [Read More]

Patrick Duff, an OPRAmachine user recently spoke with us to highlight how he is using our platform to conduct public records research regarding the historical significance of South Jersey properties tied to the late civil rights activist Martin Luther King. He also informed us about how one of his public records requests led to a lawsuit against a city government in state Superior Court. Our conversation centered on the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), transparency & open government issues centered on my work with public records and how the three of us have made use of my OPRAmachine platform. [Read More]