This is not a situation where close enough is good enough. A redaction applied too broadly means you are withholding information a requestor is entitled to. A redaction applied too narrowly means you may be releasing information that the Act protects. Neither outcome is acceptable, and both create real exposure.

That is the most common reason briefs fail. Not poor writing. Not missed deadlines. Not sloppy formatting. The government body decided what to withhold, picked the exceptions that seemed to fit, and started building arguments without ever asking the harder question first: will these exceptions actually hold?

The 552.301 deadline isn't one deadline, it's two. And missing either one doesn't just cost you time. It costs you arguments.

You got an open records request. Here's what the law requires, what the deadlines actually mean, and where most government bodies get into trouble.

The ORD reads thousands of briefs a year. Most government bodies write a handful. That gap shows up in the rulings.