SerpApi.Org
(The Center Square) - The Arizona Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the city of Phoenix must provide records related to its public-sector labor negotiations.
The recent ruling overturns decisions by lower courts.
The Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute sued the city in 2023 after the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association did not provide a draft contract proposal for public input before negotiations with the city, as required by city law. The association represents police officers in matters involving pay and benefits.
According to the state Supreme Court ruling, Phoenix did not release the contract because it could potentially affect negotiations, encourage political pressure, harm the city’s negotiating position and increase the likelihood of a deadlock.
The Goldwater Institute sued Phoenix, but the trial court ruled in favor of the city, citing its interest in keeping contract negotiations private outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information, the state Supreme Court ruling said.
After the lower court’s ruling, the Goldwater Institute appealed, but the Arizona Court of Appeals in 2025 sided with the trial court. However, the appeals court remanded the case back to the trial court to determine which records could remain private.
The Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday vacated the court of appeals’ opinion, reversed the trial court’s decision and ordered the case back to the trial court.
In its opinion, the state Supreme Court said the trial court needs to determine what information can be released to the public using the Carlson balancing test, Arizona’s legal standard for weighing disclosure against confidentiality interests.
“The balancing test assesses the strength of all relevant factors to properly weigh the public interest in open access against the ‘best interests of the state,'" Justice Kathryn King wrote in the majority opinion. "In cases where the harm is more specific and material, the harm is more likely to occur, and the causal connection is stronger, the balancing test will favor non-disclosure of records,”
“Conversely, where the harm is less specific and material, the harm is less likely to occur, and the causal connection is more attenuated, the balancing test will favor disclosure of records,” the justice said.
King added that “when a document qualifies as a public record, Arizona’s public records law creates a strong presumption in favor of disclosure. There is no dispute that the records Goldwater seeks in this case are public records.”
Parker Jackson, a Goldwater Institute attorney who worked on the case, told The Center Square on Monday that the Arizona Supreme Court said the city needs to disclose the records the Goldwater Institute has requested before the end of the case.
“The legal nonprofit has been attempting to get the records for over three years,” he noted.
Jackson said the court’s opinion “clarifies that the government can’t withhold public records based on vague or purely speculative reasons.”
He added that the Arizona Supreme Court said state courts “have to meaningfully scrutinize withholding decisions when they review public records cases."
Jackson said the decision is a “clear win for government transparency and will help citizens know what public officials are up to when they request records.”
The attorney said the government “won’t be able to hide behind thin excuses or vague assertions of harm” in public records requests.
The government will need to “provide specific material reasons why disclosure would be harmful,” he added.
The Center Square reached out to Phoenix, but the city declined to comment because of the ongoing lawsuit.
