Opinion Number: 26-ORD-042
Date Issued: 2/10/2026
Parties: Randy Skaggs/Cabinet for Health and Family Services
Opinion Content:
February 10, 2026
In re: Randy Skaggs/Cabinet for Health and Family Services
Summary: The Cabinet for Health and Family Services (“the Cabinet”)
violated the Open Records Act (“the Act”) when it failed to respond to a
request under the Act.
Open Records Decision
On December 5, 2025, Randy Skaggs (“Appellant”) submitted a request for
records to the Cabinet “to personally review all documents and files related to and
pertaining to [his] SNAP account.”1 Having received no response by January 7, 2026,
the Appellant initiated this appeal.
Under KRS 61.880(1), upon receiving a request for records under the Act, a
public agency “shall determine within five (5) [business] days . . . after the receipt of
any such request whether to comply with the request and shall notify in writing the
person making the request, within the five (5) day period, of its decision.” Here, the
Appellant submitted a request to the Cabinet on December 5, 2025, and the Cabinet
did not respond to that request within five business days. On appeal, the Cabinet
explains it did not respond to the Appellant’s request because “the email containing
the records request was missed.”2 Thus, the Cabinet violated the Act.
1 The Appellant specified the scope of his request was limited to “emails and letters for the last three
years, 2023, 2024 and 2025.”
2 Specifically, the Cabinet admits it failed to respond to the Appellant’s request because it “was
received by the local office in Grayson, Kentucky,” and forwarded to the Cabinet’s “open records email
inbox,” but “[t]he employee who normally oversees the inbox has been on leave” and “the email
containing the records request was missed.” The Cabinet did not disclose when it received the
Appellant’s request, but asserts it “provid[ed] records responsive to his request via USPS.”
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating an action in the
appropriate circuit court under KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882 within 30 days from
the date of this decision. Under KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General shall be notified
of any action in circuit court, but shall not be named as a party in that action or in
any subsequent proceedings. The Attorney General will accept notice of the complaint
emailed to [email protected].
Russell Coleman
Attorney General
/s/ Matthew Ray
Matthew Ray
Assistant Attorney General
Randy Skaggs
Peyton Sands
Natalie Nelson
Evelyn L. Miller