Posts tagged Arizona Public Records Act
Arizona Supreme Court Backs Goldwater in Phoenix Police Union Records Case
July 22, 2026 // The case began in 2022, when the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association refused to comply with Phoenix’s city code requiring it to submit draft contract proposals for public comment before beginning negotiations with the city. That proposal and subsequent records exchanged during the closed-door negotiation process concern the expenditure of tens of millions of taxpayer dollars as well as the terms and conditions of employment for first responders. City residents and taxpayers deserve to know what the union was demanding and what city leaders were offering during that process. But all of that was kept hidden from the public. That’s why the Goldwater Institute requested the negotiation records from the city.
Phoenix to Face AZ Supreme Court Scrutiny over Public Records Refusal
September 14, 2025 // Coming just days before Goldwater lawyers argue another important case before justices—one involving the rights to free speech and privacy—this new case, called Goldwater Institute v. Phoenix, involves the Arizona Public Records Act (the state’s version of the Freedom of Information Act). The Institute sought documents from the city concerning its labor negotiations with public sector unions—negotiations that produce contracts that often include illegal subsidies such as “release time” (which was the subject of still another case we won before the Supreme Court). But the city refused to turn over the documents, claiming the records could be kept from the public under the so-called “best interests of the state” exception—a judge-made rule that enables government entities to withhold information if they think turning over certain information would be bad for the “public interest.” There’s a lot wrong with that. For one thing, the city failed to show that disclosing the documents would actually harm the public. Instead, the city’s witnesses simply claimed that disclosing the documents “may result in” the “politicization” of negotiations between the city and the union.