Arizona Public Records Law: Requests, Fees, and Special Actions

Arizona's Public Records Law opens government records to any person, with no residency test and no requirement to explain your purpose. A.R.S. section 39-121.01(D)(1) requires a custodian to act "promptly," and section 39-121.01(E) treats a failure to respond promptly as a denial you can take to superior court.

Information last verified on 2026-08-04. This article presents general legal information and has not been reviewed by a licensed Arizona attorney.

This page covers Arizona state and local records. The federal Freedom of Information Act is a different statute that applies only to federal agencies, and it is covered in how to file a FOIA request. To compare Arizona against other states, see the public records laws by state hub.

What Arizona's Public Records Law covers

Arizona's access right is stated in a single sentence at A.R.S. section 39-121:

"Public records and other matters in the custody of any officer shall be open to inspection by any person at all times during office hours."

Section 39-121.01 supplies the machinery: what a public body must maintain, how copies are furnished, and what happens when a custodian does not respond. Section 39-121.02 supplies the remedy. Section 39-121.03 handles commercial-purpose requests. Around them sits the broader public records chapter, A.R.S. sections 39-101 to 39-171, which includes records management, retention, a set of specific free-copy provisions, a fee ceiling for law enforcement video at section 39-129, and a point-of-contact and acknowledgment requirement at section 39-171.

Arizona courts have long treated the law as carrying a strong presumption of openness, with the burden on the custodian to justify withholding. The Arizona Attorney General's Agency Handbook devotes Chapter 6 to public records and is the standard reference agencies themselves use.

Who can request Arizona public records

Any person. Section 39-121 says so directly, and there is no residency requirement, no citizenship requirement, and no requirement that you be a journalist or have a special interest.

You also do not have to explain why you want an ordinary record. The one significant exception is commercial purpose, covered below, where the statute does require a statement.

How fast Arizona has to respond

Arizona sets no number of days for producing records. Section 39-121.01(D)(1) provides that "[t]he custodian of such records shall promptly furnish such copies, printouts or photographs."

There is, however, a counted deadline for acknowledging the request. A.R.S. section 39-171(B) provides that, except where the entity "maintains a centralized online portal for submission of public records requests that provides receipt on submission of a request," the authorized employee or department "shall reply within five business days acknowledging receipt of the request." That is an acknowledgment duty only. It does not say when the records themselves must arrive, and it carries no separate penalty, but it gives you a concrete date by which you should have heard something.

What makes Arizona's version of a promptness standard more useful than most is section 39-121.01(E): "Access to a public record is deemed denied if a custodian fails to promptly respond to a request."

That deeming provision does real work. In a state with only a reasonableness standard and no deemed-denial rule, a requester facing indefinite silence has nothing concrete to challenge. In Arizona, silence itself becomes a denial, and a denial is what section 39-121.02 lets you take to court.

Practical guidance that follows from this structure:

• Date your request and keep proof of delivery. Everything downstream depends on when the clock started.
• Follow up in writing after a reasonable interval, note the elapsed time, and cite section 39-121.01(E).
• Ask the custodian to state in writing whether the request is denied and on what grounds. A written denial narrows the issues; continued silence strengthens a deemed-denial argument.
• Do not read the five business days in section 39-171(B) as a production deadline. It is the deadline for an acknowledgment. Whether the records themselves arrive on time is still measured by the promptness standard in section 39-121.01(D)(1), and a day count you see quoted as Arizona's turnaround time for producing records does not come from the statute.

Fees, and the commercial-purpose rule

Section 39-121.01 allows a custodian to charge a fee for copies, printouts, or photographs where facilities are available. The statute sets no per-page cap for ordinary requests, so the schedule is set at the agency level and varies. Arizona's one statutory fee ceiling is for law enforcement video, at section 39-129, covered in the police section below. The Arizona Attorney General's Office, for example, publishes its own schedule providing the first 20 pages free and 25 cents per page after that. That figure is that office's policy, not a statewide rule, so ask each agency for its schedule.

Arizona has no general public-interest fee waiver. Readers who have used the federal FOIA often expect to request reduced fees as a journalist or researcher. Sections 39-121 through 39-121.03 contain no such mechanism. What Arizona has instead is a set of specific no-charge carve-outs elsewhere in the title, including section 39-122 and section 39-127.

Commercial purpose is a separate track. Section 39-121.03(A) provides:

"When a person requests copies, printouts or photographs of public records for a commercial purpose, the person shall provide a statement setting forth the commercial purpose for which the copies, printouts or photographs will be used."

Once that statement is filed, the custodian may charge more than cost. The permitted charge includes a portion of the cost of obtaining the original records, a reasonable fee for time, materials, and personnel, and the commercial value of the reproduction as determined by the public body. The custodian may also apply to the Governor (section 39-121.03(B)) if the custodian believes the stated commercial purpose amounts to a misuse of public records or an abuse of the right to receive public records.

Two things follow. Commercial requesters should expect a materially higher bill than a private individual asking for the same records. And a non-commercial requester should say so plainly, because being routed onto the commercial track by default is expensive.

Police reports, body camera video, and crime victims

Arizona has no statute setting separate disclosure rules for body camera footage. Whether police records are released is assessed under the general framework, where courts weigh the presumption of disclosure against privacy, confidentiality, and the best interests of the state, and where ongoing investigations are the most common ground for withholding.

What the chapter does contain is a price ceiling. A.R.S. section 39-129 provides that, "[e]xcept as provided in section 39-127, a county, a city, a town or any political subdivision of this state may establish a onetime fee per copy, not to exceed $46 per video-hour reviewed, that is charged to a person who submits a public records request to a local law enforcement agency for a copy of a video recording." The statute lets the agency weigh the reasonable cost of reviewing, transmitting, copying, and redacting the footage when it sets that fee. Three things follow. The cap is per video-hour reviewed, not per hour released, so a long recording that has to be watched in full is expensive even if you receive a short clip. It binds counties, cities, towns, and other political subdivisions, not state agencies. And its opening clause is what makes the crime-victim free-copy right below override it.

The provision that actually gives many readers what they need is A.R.S. section 39-127, and it is one of the strongest victim-access provisions in the country. Section 39-127(A) gives a victim of a criminal offense that is a Part I crime under the statewide uniform crime reporting program the right to receive one copy of the police report and the audio and video recordings from the investigating law enforcement agency or the charging prosecutorial agency at no charge. Section 39-127(C) extends the same right to a victim of a domestic violence offense or a sexual offense, or the victim's attorney acting on the victim's behalf. Section 39-127(D) requires the agency to prioritize the processing of those requests.

Three points worth being precise about:

• The statute names audio and video recordings, so body-worn camera footage of the incident falls within it where the crime is a covered one.
• The right is to one copy at no charge. It is not an unlimited entitlement.
• Section 39-122 separately bars any state, county, or city officer from charging for certified copies, or for searching for them, when the records are to be used in connection with a claim for a pension, allotment, allowance, compensation, insurance, or other benefits "which is to be presented to the United States or a bureau or department thereof." That covers veterans' claims. It does not reach a claim for a state benefit.

If you are a victim of a covered offense, cite section 39-127 by number when you request, identify yourself as the victim, and name the report number and the recordings you want. That is a far shorter path than a general public records request.

For the separate question of emergency call recordings, see our explainer on whether 911 calls are public records.

How to file an Arizona public records request

Arizona has no statewide portal. Each agency runs its own process, and larger agencies increasingly use online records-request systems. What every covered entity must do is publish a point of contact: A.R.S. section 39-171(A) requires it to post on its website the name, telephone number, and email address of an employee or department authorized and able to provide the records requested, or to forward the request to someone who is. Start there rather than with a general switchboard.

1. Send the request to the custodian of the record. For state agencies, that is the agency's records officer or public records unit. For cities, counties, and school districts, it is the clerk or a designated records custodian. The section 39-171(A) contact listing on the entity's website is the fastest way to identify the right person.
2. Put it in writing and keep a copy. Section 39-121.01(E)'s deemed-denial rule is only useful if you can show when you asked.
3. Describe records, not topics. Name the record type, custodian, and date range.
4. Say whether the purpose is commercial. If it is not, say so, to avoid being placed on the section 39-121.03 fee track. If it is, provide the statement the statute requires.
5. Ask for the fee schedule and an estimate before production begins.
6. Ask for electronic delivery where the record exists electronically, which usually avoids per-page charges.

Our public records request generator will assemble an Arizona request with the correct statutory citations. It runs in your browser and saves nothing.

What happens when Arizona denies a request

Arizona has no records commission, no ombudsman, and no binding administrative appeal. The Attorney General publishes guidance for agencies and answers legal questions from state officers, but the Attorney General does not adjudicate a denial the way Connecticut's Freedom of Information Commission does.

The statutory remedy is judicial. Section 39-121.02(A) provides that a person denied access, including by a deemed denial under section 39-121.01(E), may bring a special action in superior court under the rules of procedure for special actions. A special action is a streamlined proceeding, which is part of why Arizona's court-only model is less burdensome than it sounds.

Two provisions give the remedy teeth:

• Fee shifting. Section 39-121.02(B) permits the court to award attorney fees and other legal costs reasonably incurred to a person who has substantially prevailed.
• Damages. Section 39-121.02(C) creates a cause of action for damages against a public body that wrongfully denies access.

Before going to court, exhaust the cheaper options. Ask the custodian to identify the specific legal basis for withholding and the specific records withheld. Ask whether a redacted version can be released. Ask a supervisor or the agency's general counsel to review. Many Arizona denials are resolved at that stage, and a written exchange strengthens a special action if one becomes necessary. Consult an Arizona attorney before filing.

Birth, death, and marriage records are separate

Arizona vital records are not obtained through a section 39-121 request. The Arizona Department of Health Services Bureau of Vital Records applies its own eligibility rules, which limit certified copies to people with a defined relationship or interest.

If a death certificate or an autopsy report is what you actually need, start with our guide to Arizona death records rather than filing a public records request with the wrong office.

A note on scope

This page describes Arizona's Public Records Law as of August 2026. It is general legal information, not legal advice, and it does not catalogue every exemption or every confidentiality statute elsewhere in Arizona law. Agency fee schedules and request procedures change. For a specific denial, consult an attorney licensed in Arizona.