Alabama · Public Records Law

Alabama's brand-new response clock, with a fifty-year-old test still deciding what's exempt

AccessPoint manages Public Records Law requests under Ala. Code § 36-12-40 et seq. (Act 2024-278) — the 15-business-day response clock, the Stone v. Consolidated Publishing balancing test, and circuit-court enforcement — pre-configured for Alabama and running inside your own Microsoft 365 tenant.

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Alabama at a glance

Response standard
Acknowledge, then respond within 15 business days of acknowledgment; extendable in 15-business-day increments, or up to 45 business days for time-intensive requests (Act 2024-278)
Enforcement
No administrative appeal — a request unanswered at 30 business days or 60 calendar days is presumed denied, clearing the way to circuit court
Exemptions
§ 36-12-40(a) statutory grounds plus the Stone v. Consolidated Publishing (1981) common-law balancing test
Charges
Reasonable fee at Executive Order 734 rates — $0.50 per page, $20 per hour of preparation time
Oversight
No oversight body — enforcement is by circuit-court action, with no statutory filing window
Languages
English

Built for Alabama

One platform for the whole access-and-privacy mandate, pre-configured for this regime and running in your own Microsoft 365 tenant.

Public Records Law request lifecycle

Intake to release under Act 2024-278 (Ala. Code § 36-12-40 et seq.) — acknowledgment, the 15-business-day response, and release — all on Microsoft 365.

The Stone balancing test, applied consistently

§ 36-12-40(a)'s statutory grounds plus the 1981 Stone v. Consolidated Publishing balancing test still decide every close call. AccessPoint documents the rationale record by record.

The new response clock

Acknowledgment, a 15-business-day response, 15-business-day extension increments, and the 45-business-day time-intensive track — computed and reminded automatically.

Redaction under the Stone test

Apply § 36-12-40(a) grounds and the Stone balancing rationale line by line on a colour-coded, audit-trailed redaction record.

Executive Order 734 fee rates

Charge $0.50 per page and $20 per hour of preparation time — the rates Act 2024-278 carried over from Executive Order 734 — itemized on request.

In your own tenant

Every request and record stays inside your own Microsoft 365 and Azure tenant — no third-party cloud, no cross-border transfers, and no per-user fees.

A brand-new clock, an old balancing test

Alabama just wrote its first deadlines in fifty years — but Stone v. Consolidated Publishing still decides what's exempt.

For over fifty years, Alabama's Public Records Law had no response deadline at all. Act 2024-278 changed that: agencies must now acknowledge a request and respond substantively within 15 business days, extendable in 15-business-day increments, or up to 45 business days for time-intensive requests. What the Act didn't change is how exemptions are decided. § 36-12-40(a) sets the statutory grounds, but the real test — weighing disclosure against privacy and the public interest — still comes from Stone v. Consolidated Publishing Co., a 1981 Alabama Supreme Court case. AccessPoint runs both: the new clock and the old test.

Act 2024-278 Alabama's first response deadlines in fifty years: 15 business days, extendable to 45 for time-intensive requests.
The Stone balancing test § 36-12-40(a) grounds plus the 1981 case-law test weighing disclosure against privacy and the public interest.
Circuit court, no deadline No oversight body and no statutory filing window — a denied requester goes straight to circuit court.

Configured out of the box

Installing the us-al-prl jurisdiction pack seeds your tenant with everything this regime needs — a starting point you can adjust, not a lock-in.

Pack content last reviewed: 2026-09-03

Related guide: FOI Workflow Quick Check
  • The Alabama Public Records Law (Ala. Code § 36-12-40 et seq., as amended by Act 2024-278) as the legal-authority and citation spine
  • The Alabama state-holiday calendar and the 15-business-day acknowledgment-to-response clock, with 15-business-day extension increments
  • The 45-business-day time-intensive-request track, flagged and tracked separately from standard requests
  • The § 36-12-40(a) exemption grounds and the Stone v. Consolidated Publishing (1981) balancing-test rationale, recorded per record
  • The 30-business-day / 60-calendar-day presumed-denial trigger, tracked automatically
  • Executive Order 734 fee rates — $0.50 per page and $20 per hour — computed and itemized
  • The circuit-court enforcement workflow for denied requests
  • Public-records correspondence templates with Act 2024-278 wording
A jurisdiction pack's detail panel in AccessPoint settings, showing the pack description, version, what's new, and the checklist of items it imports: legal authorities, calendars, request statuses, request types, extension reasons, requestor categories and consultation types Click to enlarge
What a pack looks like in Settings (the Ontario municipal pack shown): the description, the version and what changed in it, and every item it imports with its statutory basis. Anything you have customized is never overwritten on update.

Alabama Questions

Who can request records under Alabama's Public Records Law, and how quickly must an agency respond?
Alabama's Public Records Law is open to Alabama citizens. Under Act 2024-278, an agency must acknowledge a request and respond substantively within 15 business days of acknowledgment, extendable in 15-business-day increments; time-intensive requests get up to 45 business days. AccessPoint tracks both dates and flags time-intensive requests automatically.

What happens if an Alabama agency stays silent, and how is a denial challenged?
A request left unanswered at 30 business days or 60 calendar days — whichever comes first — is presumed denied. Alabama has no administrative appeal body, so a requester enforces the Public Records Law by action in circuit court, and the Act sets no statutory filing window for doing so.

What decides whether a record is exempt, and what can an agency charge?
Alabama exempts records on the statutory grounds in § 36-12-40(a) plus the balancing test from Stone v. Consolidated Publishing Co. (1981), weighing disclosure against privacy and the public interest. Fees follow the rates carried over from Executive Order 734: $0.50 per page and $20 per hour of preparation time.

Where does data reside?
Entirely within your own Microsoft 365 and Azure tenant. Requests, documents, and audit history never leave your control — no third-party cloud, no vendor access, and no cross-border data transfers.

Go deeper

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Flat annual pricing, published in full. Every feature in every size — access requests, privacy impact assessments, breach response, complaints, video & audio redaction, and AI Assist. No per-user or per-module fees.

  • Under 500 employees$2,990/yr
  • 500–2,000 employees$7,990/yr
  • Over 2,000 employees$14,990/yr

See full pricing Build the business case

Run the Alabama Public Records Law in One Platform

Try AccessPoint free for 30 days, pre-configured for Alabama. No credit card required.

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