Your Right to Know

Your Right to Know is a constitutional right. (Art. II, Sec. 9)

Right to Know: No person shall be deprived of the right to examine documents or to observe the deliberation of all public bodies or agencies of state government and its subdivisions, except in cases in which the demand of individual privacy clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure.

You have a right to review almost any government document. 

The right extends to your state and local governments. If you have a question about why a decision was made, about how your money is being spent, or about nearly anything else, you can submit an information request. You have a right to an answer—unless individual privacy clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure. 

You can exercise this right by submitting a public information request. 

An information request can be as simple as an email to the public agency that holds the record, document, or information for which you’re searching. You can find information request templates on our website, and we would be happy to work one-on-one with you to help craft your request. 

You can submit an information request online.

There is no central place to submit an information request. You can often find the right person to contact by searching online for the agency public information officer, and we would be happy to help you find the right person, too.

We want to make submitting an information request easy. 

We are five young Montanans who love our state and want to work towards protecting the promise of Montana’s constitution—including the right to know, for our generation and future generations.

We want to help you submit your information requests.

We can help you submit an information request or provide advice regarding information requests.

The Right to Know should be a part of a civically engaged citizen’s toolkit.

So, what do you want to know?