Public State Records was created with a simple purpose: to make publicly available information easier to find, understand, and access. Across the United States, government agencies and other public entities maintain records that are available to the public under federal, state, and local open-records laws. Our goal is to help bring greater accessibility and transparency to information that is already part of the public record.
Many public records are created, collected, and maintained by government agencies using taxpayer-funded resources. While these records may be legally available to everyone, finding them can sometimes require navigating numerous government websites, databases, archives, and other public sources. Public State Records helps organize and present publicly available information in a more accessible format.
Our Commitment to Public Access
Public State Records only publishes information obtained from open, publicly accessible sources. We do not pay for access to records, purchase private databases, or publish records obtained from restricted or non-public sources. The information presented on our site originates from sources that are freely available for members of the public to access.
Depending on availability, these sources may include government websites, public databases, court systems, regulatory agencies, public notices, government reports, public filings, and other openly accessible sources.
Our role is not to create public records or determine what information should be public. Those decisions are governed by applicable laws and the agencies responsible for maintaining the original records. Instead, our purpose is to improve access to information that has already been made available to the public.
Transparency Through Information
We believe meaningful public access is an important part of transparency. A record may technically be public, but that does not always mean it is easy to locate or understand.
Public State Records works to make publicly available information more accessible by identifying, organizing, and presenting information from open sources in a useful and understandable way. By making existing public information easier to discover, we hope to provide individuals, researchers, businesses, journalists, and other members of the public with another resource for accessing information they are legally entitled to view.
Our Sources
Public State Records is an independent information resource and is not a government agency. We do not claim ownership of government records or represent ourselves as the original source or official custodian of those records.
Whenever appropriate, users should consult the originating government agency or public entity for the most current, complete, or official version of a particular record. Public information can change, records can be amended or removed, and government databases may be updated after information has been collected or published elsewhere.