Last week, the Ohio Attorney General (OAG) issued the 2026 update to the Sunshine Law Manual. The manual, also called the Yellow Book because the early paper version had a yellow cover, is a comprehensive resource on the Open Meetings Act (OMA) (RC 121.22), Ohio’s Public Records Act (PRA) (RC 149.43) and related statutes. The OAG updates the Yellow Book each year during Sunshine Week, which falls in the middle of March.
This year’s update includes the usual statutory amendments and new case law from 2025 and early 2026. The OAG also added to the practical pointers for managing public records. The addition cautions public agencies to avoid using platforms and applications that automatically delete records, such as Signal, WhatsApp and Snapchat. The Yellow Book states that such applications “can create problems for public offices and are antithetical to the transparency” required by the PRA.
According to the OAG, deleting records based on the way they are created, rather than their content, is inconsistent with the PRA. Even if the records created using an ephemeral app are transient, automatic destruction impedes a public agency’s ability to:
- Assess whether employees are using the apps only for transient messaging;
- Respond appropriately to public records requests that may include transient messages and are made before the messages are deleted.
Further, the OAG cautions that the automatic deletion of messages sent using ephemeral apps may expose a public agency to liability for improper destruction of the records.
For these reasons, the Yellow Book states “these [ephemeral] apps and platforms should not be permitted or used to conduct public business. A public office should limit the conduct of public business to approved systems that allow [for] proper retention of records.”
If a public agency chooses to allow its employees to use ephemeral apps that automatically delete communications, even though it is not recommended, the OAG has advised that the agency should adopt a policy that:
- Specifies which application(s) may be used for public business;
- Specifies on which devices the application can be used for public business (for example, a public office-issued phone rather than a personal phone);
- Prohibits the automatic deletion of messages;
- Establishes a process for notifying an employee that such messages have been requested and must be preserved;
- Establishes a process for retrieving and preserving messages.
OSBA’s legal division is happy to answer general questions about the OMA, PRA and Yellow Book. The legal division’s phone number is 855-OSBA-LAW. Districts with specific questions about the use of ephemeral applications for district business should reach out to their board’s counsel.