Deadlines and Extensions: The Response Clock

Idaho gives its own residents a short response clock. Three working days is not much time for a busy county clerk's office, and the Legislature knew that when it built in a 10-day extension. Since 2022 it has also changed who gets which clock, what a request has to contain before the clock starts, and what happens when the clock runs out. This lesson walks through the current text, the history behind it, and the arithmetic of counting days. How to write the request itself is in lesson 3; what to do with a denial is in lesson 9.

What the statute says now

The core rule sits in 74-103(2). An agency or custodian "shall either grant or deny a resident's request" within three working days of receiving it. For a person "who is not a resident and not employed by a resident," the deadline is 21 days. Then comes the extension: if agency employees determine that "a longer period of time is needed to locate or retrieve the public records," the agency must notify the requester in writing and provide the records no later than 10 working days after the request for a resident, and no later than 35 days after the request for a nonresident.

Notice the words. The resident deadlines say "working days." The nonresident deadlines say only "days." Read plainly, the nonresident clock runs on calendar days. Bonneville County's public records policy, revised in September 2025, reads it that way: 21 calendar days, extendable to 35 calendar days. The Attorney General's Public Records Law Manual (July 2026 edition) calls the first period "twenty-one (21) calendar days" but then describes the extension as "thirty-five (35) working days." The statute's text controls, and the statute does not say working days for nonresidents. If you are a nonresident, plan on calendar days and do not be surprised if an agency that relies on the manual claims a longer period.

Two more parts of 74-103 shape the clock:

• The conversion clause. If an existing electronic record must first be converted to another electronic format, by the agency or by a third party, and that cannot be done within the time allowed, the agency must notify the requester in writing. The converted record is then due "at a time mutually agreed upon," with "due consideration" for limits of the conversion process or the third party.
• Deemed denial. Subsection (3): "If the public agency or custodian fails to respond within the time allotted for the response, the request shall be deemed to be denied."

The deadline is a ceiling. The AG manual says agencies "should not delay three (or twenty-one) days to provide information that is readily available." A copy of last month's adopted minutes or a signed contract sitting in a shared drive can and often should go out the same day.

What starts the clock

The response period runs from "the date of the receipt of the request." Subsection 74-103(1) adds two conditions that decide whether a request counts at all. Requests "shall be made to the designated custodian," and "A public records request must clearly indicate that it is a public records request." An agency and its employees have "no obligation" to respond to a request that does not comply. The AG manual (Question 24) puts the risk bluntly: failure to address the request to the custodian may result in no response "and without penalty to the public agency."

So a question tossed to a commissioner after a meeting, or an email to a general inbox that never mentions the Public Records Act, may never start a clock. 74-119 helps you find the right person: every public agency must designate at least one custodian and an alternate, and an agency with a website must post the custodian's name and contact information. The AG manual adds that if an agency has not designated a custodian, a request may be made to any employee.

The Legislature has its own routing rule. Under 74-126, a request for the Legislature goes to the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate; a request for one chamber goes to that chamber's presiding officer; a request for an individual legislator goes to the legislator. In every case a copy must go to the Legislative Services Office "on the same business day." A request that skips the LSO copy need not be answered.

The request also has to carry what 74-102(4) lists. An agency may require a written request that specifically describes the subject and records, with a specific date range, and every request "shall" describe the records in enough detail to locate them with reasonable effort and give the requester's name, mailing address, email address and telephone number. Since the 2025 amendment it also lists "a written declaration by the requesting party attesting or affirming under oath whether such requester is a resident." That declaration decides which clock applies. The AG manual includes a sample declaration of residency in its back pages. A resident who leaves it out risks being treated on the nonresident timeline, or getting a letter asking for it, which costs days.

Who is a resident

74-101(15) defines a resident as a person whose domicile has been in Idaho continuously for at least 30 days, excluding a full-time student who is a resident of another state, and it includes a domestic entity as provided in 30-21-102. A spouse and dependent children living in the same domicile count too. A workplace, vacation home or part-time residence is not a domicile. Someone who lives across the state line and commutes to an Idaho job is a nonresident under the definition. The 21-day rule, though, covers only a person who is "not a resident and not employed by a resident," so a nonresident who makes a request as an employee of an Idaho business or Idaho newspaper falls outside it. The statute does not spell out which clock then applies; the fee rules in 74-102(10)(g) group employees of residents with residents, and that is the safer reading to ask an agency to follow.

How the clock changed, 2022 to 2025

Session	Bill and chapter	What changed in the response clock
2022	Chapter 306 (amended 74-101, 74-102, 74-103 and other sections; added 74-126)	A broad rewrite of the chapter; added the routing rule for requests to the Legislature
2024	House Bill 588, chapter 107, effective July 1, 2024	Split the extended deadline: 10 working days for Idaho residents, 21 working days for nonresidents. The statement of purpose said this would give agencies more time "while still prioritizing Idaho residents' requests." Deemed denial was tied to 10 working days after the request.
2025	House Bill 253, chapter 298, effective July 1, 2025	Current text: residents 3 and 10 working days; nonresidents 21 and 35 days. Deemed denial now runs from "the time allotted for the response." Added the resident definition, the sworn residency declaration and separate nonresident fee schedules (lesson 5).

House Bill 253's statement of purpose said nonresident requests "would need to be fulfilled within 30 days, subject to extension." The Senate amended the bill, and the law that took effect uses 21 and 35 days. When an older guide, a stale agency policy page or even a footnote in a manual gives a different number, check the date it was written against this table. The AG manual's Question 29 still says a request is "deemed denied after 10 days," which matches the 2024 wording, while its Question 27 quotes the current "time allotted" language. For a resident the two give the same answer in most cases. For a nonresident they do not, and the current statute governs.

Counting the days

Chapter 1 of Title 74 does not define "working day," and it does not say whether the day of receipt counts. Two older general statutes fill most of the gap. Idaho Code 73-109 says time for "any act provided by law" is computed "by excluding the first day, and including the last unless the last is a holiday and then it is also excluded." 73-108 lists the holidays: every Sunday, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr.-Idaho Human Rights Day, Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and any day the President or the governor appoints. A holiday on Saturday moves to Friday; one on Sunday moves to Monday.

Read together: do not count the day the custodian received the request; count only weekdays that are not listed holidays for the resident clock; and for a calendar-day nonresident deadline, if the last day is a Sunday or holiday, it moves to the next day. Saturday is not on the 73-108 list, so a 21-day deadline that lands on a Saturday does not obviously move under 73-109. Many offices are closed that day, which is a good reason to expect the answer on Friday and not argue about Monday. The day after Thanksgiving is not a statutory holiday either, although many counties close. None of this has been tested in an Idaho appellate decision on records deadlines that we found, so treat the counting rules as the plain reading of the statutes; no court has ruled on them.

Grant, deny or extend: what a response looks like

The statute's verbs are "grant or deny." A grant does not always mean the records arrive in the same email. Agencies often grant a request and then send the records, or a fee estimate, a few days later. When a grant arrives with no records and no date, the clock question becomes murky, because the agency did respond. The practical answer is to reply and ask for a delivery date, and to note in your file that the extended deadline still caps production at 10 working days (resident) or 35 days (nonresident), since the statute says the agency "shall provide the public records no later than" those dates once it uses the extension.

An extension notice should be in writing, dated, and say that more time is needed to locate or retrieve the records. The AG manual's back pages include sample 10-day (resident) and 35-day (nonresident) extension letters for agencies to use. A notice that says only "we are working on it" with no date is weaker, but it is still a response; your best move is a short written reply that names the date the extended period ends.

A partial response is common: some records now, some later, some withheld. Under 74-103(4) and (5), any denial or partial denial must come in writing from the person legally responsible for the agency or a designee, must cite the statutory authority, must state the requester's right to appeal and the time to do so, and must say whether the agency's attorney reviewed the request or that the agency had the opportunity and chose not to. A partial release without that written explanation of what was held back is incomplete. Lesson 6 covers what may be withheld and how redactions work.

The fee and narrowing detour

Two other provisions interact with the clock. 74-102(9) lets an agency give the requester information to help narrow the request when the response is likely to be voluminous or require payment, and 74-102(12) lets the custodian require advance payment of fees. The statute does not say the clock stops while a fee estimate is pending or a narrowing conversation happens. In practice, agencies often treat an unpaid deposit as a pause, and requesters who want records quickly pay or narrow fast. If you narrow, put the narrowed request in writing; a reasonable custodian may treat it as a new request with a new receipt date, so ask in the same message whether the original date still stands. Lesson 5 covers fee estimates and waivers.

Deemed denial and the 180 days

Silence has a legal meaning. When the time allotted passes without a response, the request is deemed denied under 74-103(3), and the AG manual (Question 27) says "The 180-day period to seek court relief begins at that point." 74-115(1) sets the 180 calendar days from "the date of mailing of the notice of denial or partial denial," and once a petition is filed, the court must set responsive pleadings and hearings at the earliest possible time and no later than 28 calendar days after filing. The agency must keep the disputed records until the appeal period ends or the court decides (74-115(2)).

A deemed denial gives you a date and a stronger hand, with no duty to sue. A polite letter on day 4 that says "the three working days ran on November 10 and I have not received a response; under 74-103(3) the request is deemed denied; I would prefer to resolve this without a petition, and ask that you send the records or a written response by November 13" is often enough to restart a stalled request. Keep that letter; it shows the court, if it ever comes to that, that you gave the agency a fair chance.

The court route itself, and the attorney fee and penalty provisions in 74-116 and 74-117, are in lesson 9.

How agencies manage the clock

On the agency side, three working days is tight, and most of the pressure lands on a handful of people. A small city may have a clerk who is also the treasurer, the election officer and the person who answers the phone. A sheriff's office may route requests through a records unit that also handles background checks and court paperwork. The law's answer is the extension notice, and good agencies send it early, on day 2 or 3, with a realistic date. Some use online portals that send automatic receipt confirmations and track deadlines; others keep a spreadsheet log. Either way, the agency has a legitimate interest in not releasing records before checking them for exempt information such as Social Security numbers or medical details, and that review takes time.

Requesters can make the clock work for both sides. A request that names the records, the people and the date range can be answered in three days. A request for "all documents about the budget" cannot, and it invites a narrowing letter, a fee estimate or an extension. Agencies also see large and repeated requests. Idaho's statute has no separate rule for vexatious or frequent requesters. The closest provision is 74-102(11): a requester may not split one request into several to avoid fees, and an agency that reasonably believes that is happening may aggregate the requests and charge fees, but it "shall not aggregate multiple requests on unrelated subjects from one (1) requester." The 2024 and 2025 changes answered the workload problem mainly by slowing the clock and raising fees for nonresidents.

Situation	Resident	Nonresident (not employed by a resident)	Where it is
Grant or deny	3 working days	21 days	74-103(2)
Outer limit with written notice (locate or retrieve)	10 working days after the request	35 days after the request	74-103(2)
Electronic record needs conversion	Written notice; delivery at a mutually agreed time		74-103(2)
No response in time	Deemed denied		74-103(3)
Petition to district court	Within 180 calendar days of mailing of the denial notice		74-115(1)
Court sets hearing	Earliest possible time, within 28 calendar days of filing		74-115(1)
Request to amend a record about yourself	Agency corrects or refuses in writing within 10 days		74-113(2)