Does a North Dakota agency violate open-records law when it has no records responsive to a request?

Plain-English summary

A requester alleged that the Child Support Section of North Dakota Health and Human Services withheld responsive records. The agency said it possessed no records matching the request and had withheld nothing.

Attorney General Drew Wrigley found no violation. In an open-records opinion, his office had to rely on the facts supplied by the public entity. On those facts, the agency could not provide records it did not have.

What this means for you

Records requesters

The opinion does not find withholding when the agency states that no responsive record exists in its possession.

Agency records custodians

The conclusion rests on the entity's factual representation. Public entities are responsible for providing existing records they possess.

Common questions

Q: Did the AG find that the requested records existed elsewhere? A: No. The opinion addressed only the agency's possession and relied on its statement that it had no responsive records.

Q: What law governed the request?
A: N.D.C.C. § 44-04-18, with the opinion process authorized by N.D.C.C. § 44-04-21.1.

Background and statutory framework

N.D.C.C. § 44-04-21.1 authorized the summary opinion, and N.D.C.C. § 44-04-18 governed the records request. The opinion followed an earlier Attorney General opinion stating that public entities need provide only records that exist and are in their possession.

Citations and references

• N.D.C.C. § 44-04-21.1
• N.D.C.C. § 44-04-18

Source

• Landing page: https://attorneygeneral.nd.gov/the-north-dakota-attorney-general-issued-a-summary-opinion-to-north-dakota-department-of-health-and-human-services/
• Original PDF: https://attorneygeneral.nd.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/2026-O-19.pdf

Original opinion text

STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA

OFFICE OF ATTORN

GENERAL

www.attorneygeneral.nd.gov
(701) 328-2210

Drew H. Wrigley

ATTORNEY GENERAL

OPEN RECORDS AND MEETINGS SUMMARY OPINION
2026-0-19

DATE ISSUED:

August 31, 2026

ISSUED TO:

North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services
SUMMARY OPINION 1

Richard W. Vengels III requested an opinion from this office under N .D.C.C. § 44-04-21.1 asking whether the Child Support Section of the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) violated N.D.C.C. § 44-04-18 by withholding records responsive to his open records request. The requester alleges that DHHS did not provide him with records in its possession responsive to his request. DHHS states that it does not have any records responsive to the request and did not withhold any responsive records. This office is required to base an opinion on an alleged open records law violation on the facts given by the public entity. 2 Based on the facts provided by DHHS, it is my opinion that DHHS did not violate the open records law because it did not have any responsive records in its possession. 3

orney General
srh
cc:

1

Richard W. Vengels III

This Summary Opinion is issued pursuant to the authority granted to this office in N.D.C.C. § 44-04-21.1 (1 ). 2 N.D.C.C. § 44-04-21.1(1). 3 See N.D.A.G. 2024-0-08 ("Public entities are only responsible for providing records that exist and that they have in their possession.").