COVID Mask Mandate Complaints and Related Internal Documents from New Jersey State Department of Health

Jordan Lassiter filed this request with the Department of Health of New Jersey.
Tracking #

W198062
Submitted March 3, 2023
Status
Rejected

Communications

From: Jordan Lassiter

Subject: New Jersey Open Public Records Act Request: COVID Mask Mandate Complaints and Related Internal Documents from New Jersey State Department of Health

Portal

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the New Jersey Open Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

I am writing to request copies of all COVID mask mandate complaints received by the New Jersey State Department of Health (NJDOH) from March 1, 2020, to the present.

The purpose of this request is to obtain information on the NJDOH's handling of COVID mask mandate complaints, including the types of violations reported, the locations where these violations occurred, and the actions taken by NJDOH in response. I am also seeking any internal documents or communications related to the NJDOH's handling of COVID mask mandate complaints to better understand the agency's enforcement policies and procedures.

Please provide the following information for each complaint:

Date and time the complaint was received
Full name and contact information (e.g., phone number, email address) of the complainant
County, city or town where the alleged violation occurred
Type of establishment (e.g., restaurant, grocery store, gym)
Description of the alleged violation(s)
Actions taken by NJDOH in response to the complaint, including any investigations, inspections, or penalties imposed
In addition to the complaint records, I request any internal documents or communications related to the NJDOH's handling of COVID mask mandate complaints, including but not limited to:

Emails, memos, and other communications between NJDOH staff regarding COVID mask mandate complaints and enforcement
Policies, procedures, and guidelines for handling COVID mask mandate complaints
Reports or data on the number of complaints received, investigated, and resolved by NJDOH

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 7 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Jordan

From: Department of Health

Subject: Re: Government Records Request Health/Division of Family Health Services W198062

Portal

Dear Jordan Jordan:

We are in receipt of your request seeking: “copies of all COVID mask mandate complaints received by the New Jersey State Department of Health (NJDOH) from March 1, 2020, to the present,” as well as “emails, memos, and other communications between NJDOH staff regarding COVID mask mandate complaints and enforcement, policies, procedures, and guidelines for handling COVID mask mandate complaints and reports or data on the number of complaints received, investigated, and resolved by NJDOH.”

Please be advised that your request is overbroad and improper. Under OPRA, a “requestor must identify the records sought with specificity. The request may not be a broad, generic description of documents that requires the custodian to search the agency's files and 'analyze, compile, and collate' the requested information." Bart v. Passaic Cnty. Pub. Housing Agency, 406 N.J. Super. 445, 451 (App. Div. 2009) (citations omitted); see also Bent v. Twp. of Stafford Police Dep't, 381 N.J. Super. 30 (App. Div. 2005). OPRA also does not “authorize a party to make a blanket request for every document a public agency has on file,” and "a proper request under OPRA must identify with reasonable clarity those documents that are desired, and a party cannot satisfy this requirement by simply requesting all of an agency's documents." Id. at 37.

Your request, as written, seeks any and all complaints or investigations received by the Department of Health related to mask mandates over a period of three years. Please be advised that the Department of Health intakes hundreds of complaints per year through its many Divisions. To respond to your request, each Division would have to individually review each case by inspection number to determine if they are related to COVID-19, and then further determine whether they relate to masking. Once these cases are identified, each Division would need to review and redact OPRA-exempt materials, including personally identifying information of private individuals and individuals’ information relating to medical diagnoses. For these reasons, processing this request would not only require significant research, it would also substantially disrupt agency operations.

Moreover, requests for correspondence must identify the individuals or accounts to be searched and be confined to a discrete and limited subject matter. Burke v. Brandes, 429 N.J. Super. 169, 176-78 (App. Div. 2012); see also Elcavage v. West Milford Twp. (Passaic), GRC Complaint No. 2009-08 (Apr. 8, 2010) (stating that a proper request for email correspondence must contain "(1) the content and/or subject of the e-mail, (2) the specific date or range of dates during which the e-mail was transmitted or the emails were transmitted, and (3) a valid e-mail request must identify the sender and/or the recipient thereof"). Your request, as written, fails to identify senders or recipients or a specified timeframe. Therefore, it is invalid.

For these reasons, this request is denied and closed.

Sincerely,

Dina Antinoro, Regulatory Officer
Custodian of Records
New Jersey Department of Health

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