State of New Jersey
Executive Order #79

Governor Brendan Byrne

WHEREAS, Chapter 73, P. L. 1963, finds and declares it to be the public policy of this State that public records shall be readily, accessible for examination by the citizens of this State for the protection of the public interests, except as otherwise provided in said law; and

WHEREAS, Said law provides that all records which are required by law to be made, maintained or kept on file by State and local governmental agencies are to be deemed to be public records, subject to inspection and examination and available for copying, pursuant to said law; and

WHEREAS, Said law provides that records which would otherwise be deemed to be public records, subject to inspection and exam ination and available for copying, pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 73, P. L. 1963, may be excluded therefrom by Executive Order of the Governor or by any regulation promulgated under the authority of any Executive Order of the Governor;

Now, Therefore, I, Brendan Byrne, Governor of the State of New Jersey, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Chapter 73, P. L. 1963, do hereby ORDER and DIRECT that the following specific categories of records, due to their confidential nature, shall not be deemed to be public records under the provisions of Chapter 73, P. L. 1963; and thus shall not be subject to examina tion, nor available to the public for copies or review

  1. Procurement documents of any State department or agency, concerning surveillance equipment and investigatory services, when disclosure of the equipment type and the subject matter of the services could make known to the target of an investigation the fact that an investigation is in progress.

  2. Procurement documents of any State department or agency; concerning installation of intrusion and detection alarm systems, when disclosure could facilitate illegal entry.

  3. Procurement documents of any State department or agency, concerning studies of computer system security, including final reports, when disclosure could facilitate fraudulent use of the information.

I further ORDER that the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Law and Public Safety annually review the list of records which have been excluded from public examination pursuant to this Executive Order and, when both agree, make available for public examination any records which no longer will impair law enforcement or security operations.

This Order shall take effect immediately.

Given, under my hand and seal this 1st day of October, in the year of Our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and seventy nine, and of the Independence of the United States, the two hundredth and fourth.

/s/ Brendan Byrne,
Governor.

Attest:
Harold L. Hodes,
Chief of Staff, Secretary