These days, public records requests can be expected to take weeks, if not months.

So when The New Mexican requested data reflecting the number of child care facilities throughout the state by type, capacity and location from the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department, it did not plan to hear back for some time.

But the agency returned the request the next day, with records custodian Daniel Stine saying that data "is updated on a monthly basis" and stored on its website.

The agency's return of the record came well before its initial statutory deadline of three business days after a request is received. And public agencies often extend the deadline of requests, arguing they are broad or burdensome to retrieve.

According to the data, there were over 1,080 child care f

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