What Montanans requested in 2025, and what they didn’t

As the year comes to a close, we’ve taken a look back at the questions Montanans brought to us in 2025. Each request offers a window into the kinds of information people know they can ask their government for, and the gaps show what you might not think to request but still have a right to access. Taken together, the requests we received and those we didn’t show how public records can help resolve problems and that many avenues for understanding our state and local governments remain untapped.

The most common requests were those related to local governments. This year, we helped requestors inquire into local police training, policies and complaints. We helped a Montanan seeking information on the wages of city employees. Another sought information on county zoning and demarcation to resolve a potential dispute about his own property boundary. And yet another filed a request to see how the county was responding to complaints residents had submitted. These are all fantastic uses of the right to know that get at our constitutional right to understand the inner workings of the government that serves us. 

These requests were all reactive to already existing problems, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But we think Montanans are underusing the right to know as a tool for learning and understanding how local governments function before a conflict arises. For example, if you are curious about how your county handles environmental issues, or budgets for an event, or permits for the farmer’s market, you can request that information. We can help you submit that request. We know that interest in public information tends to be higher when government wrongdoing is suspected, but you have a right to ask your government questions before there is any reason to suspect improper action.

As for requests to the state government, we helped Montanans with requests into state-level police training and regulations, how state agencies process and dispose of complaints, and how the state contracts for services, including whether there are any improper preferences in doing so. These requests reminded us how powerful even a single record request can be in helping Montanans check whether the state is living up to its obligations.

But like the requests to counties and cities, these state-level requests were also submitted as a reaction to a perceived problem in the state government. They were ways to understand why the state had done something, not to understand how the state would act in the future. 

We didn’t receive any requests for assistance this year for Montanans looking for environmental monitoring data, or why school districts made changes to their budget, or draft versions of policies pre-implementation, or data on the rollout of some new policy, or internal memos explaining why an agency made a decision, or bid evaluations for government contracts, or inspection reports, or any number of other topics. These are all topic areas where you have a right to request information from your state or local government, even if you are just curious.

As this year comes to an end, we hope you think about how you can make the most out of your right to know. These examples capture just a fraction of what the law makes public. If you’ve ever wondered how a decision was made, how a program works, or what your government is doing with your dollars, chances are that record already exists. We encourage every Montanan to use the tools available to them and to treat public information not as a last resort, but as a shared civic resource. We’re ready to help whenever you have a question, no matter how simple or complicated — just get in touch.

Jacob Linfesty is president of the Montana Transparency Project.