Kentucky Public Records

How the Kentucky Open Records Act works

The Kentucky Open Records Act is KRS 61.870 to 61.884. All public records are open for inspection by any resident of the Commonwealth, except as the Act provides (KRS 61.872). Residents include people who live or work in Kentucky, businesses located or registered in Kentucky, owners of Kentucky real property, people acting for them, and news-gathering organizations (KRS 61.870).

How to ask: the custodian may require a signed written request describing the records, sent by hand, mail, fax or e-mail, and must accept the state standardized form.

Deadline: the agency must decide within five days, not counting weekends and legal holidays, and say so in writing. A denial must name the exception and explain how it applies (KRS 61.880).

Fees: copies for noncommercial use may cost no more than the actual cost of reproduction, not including staff time (KRS 61.874).

Appeals: send the request and the denial to the Attorney General, who must issue a written decision within 20 days, not counting weekends and holidays. Either side has 30 days to appeal that decision to circuit court (KRS 61.880). A requester may also sue in circuit court without going to the Attorney General first (KRS 61.882).

What you cannot get in Kentucky

• Centralized criminal history: the state's central criminal history records are not open to public inspection (KRS 17.150). Kentucky State Police releases name-based checks only with the person's permission.
• Open investigations: law enforcement records whose release could harm an investigation are exempt until enforcement action ends, and county and Commonwealth's attorney files on criminal cases stay exempt (KRS 61.878, subsection (1)(h)).
• Juvenile court records: confidential, and released only to the child, parents, victims and others allowed at the hearing, or by court order for good cause (KRS 610.340).
• Personal privacy: records whose release would be a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy (KRS 61.878, subsection (1)(a)).
• Court reports: the AOC criminal record report leaves out juvenile, mental health and domestic violence cases and expunged cases (AOC background checks).

Expungement in Kentucky

Kentucky clears records by expungement. After an order, the proceedings are deemed never to have occurred and the case does not appear on official state background checks (KRS 431.078 and 431.079).

• Acquittals and dismissals with prejudice entered on or after July 15, 2020 are expunged automatically after 30 days unless the person objects. Other cases can be petitioned 60 days after the order; charges dismissed without prejudice after 3 years for felonies or 1 year for misdemeanors (KRS 431.076).
• Misdemeanors, violations and traffic infractions: petition the court of conviction 5 years after the sentence or probation ends. It is granted if the offense was not a sex offense or against a child and there is no conviction in the last 5 years and no pending case (KRS 431.078).
• Class D felonies: listed Class D felonies, and most others except DUI, sex offenses, offenses against a child, abuse of public office and offenses causing serious injury or death, after 5 years from the end of the sentence, probation or parole. The filing fee is $50 and the expungement fee $250, payable in installments (KRS 431.073).

Every petition to expunge a conviction must include a certification of eligibility from the Kentucky State Police and the Administrative Office of the Courts (KRS 431.079). The AOC issues it for $40 online, by mail or at the Frankfort drive-thru, and the petition is filed with the Circuit Court Clerk in the county of the original charge (expungement certification).

How to get your own Kentucky criminal record

Kentucky keeps two official records: the state police central criminal history and the court record held by the Administrative Office of the Courts.

1. For the state police record, fill in the KSP 309 Criminal History Information Review Request.
2. Enclose a $20.00 check or money order to the Kentucky State Treasurer and a self-addressed stamped envelope. Cash is not accepted.
3. Mail it to the Criminal Identifications and Records Branch. The background checks page says mail requests take an average of 10 business days, and that the Records Division is working from 1050 US 127, Frankfort, during renovations of 1266 Louisville Road; phone 502-227-8700.
4. For the court record, order an AOC criminal record report online through FastCheck, or mail form AOC-RU-004 with a $25.00 check or money order to the AOC Records Unit, 1001 Vandalay Drive, Frankfort, KY 40601.

The KSP form notes your right to ask for correction of inaccurate information. Questions on court results go to the AOC Records Unit at 800-928-6381.

Kentucky record laws to know

• KRS 61.870 to 61.884: the Open Records Act, its residency rule, five day deadline, fees and Attorney General review.
• KRS 17.150: investigative reports open after prosecution ends, and centralized criminal history records closed to public inspection.
• KRS 431.073 to 431.079: expungement of felonies, misdemeanors, dismissed charges and acquittals, and the eligibility certification.
• KRS 17.580: the Kentucky State Police public sex offender registry website.