What is Excluded From Nevada Public Records?
Public records law is unique. In order to ensure there is government transparency, most states take an "innocent until proven guilty" approach to public records - in other words, everything in every type of media is automatically deemed a public record, unless the legislature decides that the information should not be made public - and when they make that decision, it has to be put into law before the documents are even created. The government cannot simply choose to make something private because they want to.
Nevada public records law has taken this same approach. Everything created by or collected within the state is automatically eligible for Nevada public records, unless the legislature has already ruled that the information would be a breach of privacy. Some examples of what have been excluded include:
Social Security Numbers
Medical Histories
Ongoing Criminal Investigations
All of those can be seen as a public danger if they are released or, at the very least, a breach of public privacy. As a result, while a great deal of information can be found within Nevada public records, you will also find that some information has to be excluded for the greater public good, and that information will not be made available.
