FOIA News : Deadline extended for FOIA Advisory Committee nominations

The Office of Government Information Services announced today that the FOIA Advisory Committee has extended its deadline for membership nominations from July 2, 2020 to July 10, 2020. No explanation for the extension was provided.

FOIA News: OGIS Announces Date for Annual Open Meeting

Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) annual open meeting.

SUMMARY: We are announcing OGIS’s annual meeting, open to the public. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss OGIS’s reviews and reports and allow interested people to appear and present oral or written statements, in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

DATES: The meeting will be on Monday, July 20, 2020, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EDT. Please register no later than 11:59 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 16, 2020.

Read more here.

FOIA News: ICYMI, five-year monthly litigation trends updated

May 2020 FOIA Litigation with Five-Year Monthly Trends

By FOIA Project Staff, June 17, 2020

During the month of May 2020 federal district courts saw a total of 70 new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits filed under 5 U.S.C. 552. To place this number in perspective, 70 new filings compares with a monthly average of 68 filings during the last 12 months. This month’s total brought overall FOIA filings on an annual basis for these last 12 months to 816.

Read more here.

FOIA News: ASAP announces annual training conference program

Today the American Society for Access Professionals released a preliminary program for its national training conference, which will take place virtually on July 28-29, 2020. Registration information is available here.

FOIA News: OIP Announces July Dates for Virtual FOIA Training

VIRTUAL FOIA TRAINING FOR AGENCY FOIA PROFESSIONALS – JULY COURSES NOW AVAILABLE

Office of Info. Policy FOIA Post, June 24, 2020

Today, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) announced dates for our new virtual FOIA training during the month of July. OIP offers a number of training opportunities throughout the year for agency FOIA professionals and individuals with FOIA responsibilities.  Due to COVID-19 and maximum telework, OIP is pleased to offer virtual training sessions that are taught in real-time by OIP instructors. 

Read more here.

FOIA News: Interior under fire for withholding public comments

When Public Comments Aren’t Public: Land Agency Holding Records

• BLM declines to publish many public ‘scoping’ comments

• Land agency FOIA backlog up to three years long

By Bobby Magill, Bloomberg News, June 24, 2020

Usually when public comments are filed with a federal agency, they are made, well, public. Not so for the Bureau of Land Management, which is demanding that in some cases, such comments only be obtained through the cumbersome Freedom of Information Act.

Critics say the BLM’s action is part of a pattern shaping up in the Interior Department over the past year or more of delaying or denying requests for basic information from journalists and the public.

Read more here.

FOIA News: CPPBSD finalizes changes to FOIA regs

The Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled is finalizing amendments to its FOIA regulations effective July 31, 2020, according to a final rule scheduled to be published in in the Federal Register on June 24, 2020. The Committee initially proposed the changes on May 21, 2019, and no public comments were submitted.

FOIA News: Gov't FOIA jobs available

• Dep’t of State, Lead Gov’t Info. Specialist (GS 13), D.C., closes June 23, 2020

• Dep’t of Agriculture, Gov’t Info. Specialist (GS 12-13), D.C., closes June 25, 2020

• Dev. Finance Corp., Gov’t Info. Specialist (GS 11), D.C., closes June 25, 2020

• Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, Gov’t Info. Specialist (GS 12), New Mexico, June 26, 2020

• Dep’t of the Army, Gov’t Info. Specialist (GS 12-12-13), Virginia, closes June 29, 2020

• Dep’t of the Interior, Gov’t Info Specialist (GS 13) Virginia, closes July 1, 2020

• Fed. Emergency Mgmt. Agency, Gov’t Info. Specialist (GS 9-11), D.C., closes July 1, 2020

• Food & Drug Admin, Lead Gov’t Info. Specialist (GS 14), Maryland, closes July 2, 2020

• U.S Customs & Border Prot., Supervisory Attorney-Advisor (GS 15), D.C., closes July 6, 2020

FOIA News: SBA will now release certain information about PPP borrowers

In Turnabout, Small Business Administration Says It Will Disclose Names of Big PPP Borrowers

Disclosures will be made for loans above $150,000 under pressure from Congress

By Ryan Tracy, Wall St. J., June 19, 2020

Bowing to bipartisan pressure in Congress, the Trump administration said it would release the names of borrowers who received Paycheck Protection Program loans of $150,000 or more, accounting for about 75% of funds lent through the program.

The Treasury Department and Small Business Administration said Friday they would disclose business names, addresses, demographic data, number of jobs supported and other details. Specific loan amounts won’t be disclosed, but the government will place each loan in one of five size categories ranging from $150,000 to the maximum loan amount of $10 million, the agencies said.

Read more here.

FOIA News: DOJ releases additional material from Mueller report

Mueller Report Redactions on Roger Stone Are Revealed

The Justice Department had kept them secret while it was investigating Mr. Stone. He was later convicted of seven felonies and sentenced to prison.

By Sharon LaFraniere, NY Times, June 19, 2020

The Justice Department released information on Friday about President Trump’s friend and former campaign adviser Roger J. Stone Jr. that it had previously redacted from the report by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The newly disclosed material dealt largely with efforts by the Trump campaign to discover what material WikiLeaks had obtained that could be damaging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Mr. Stone was at the forefront of the campaign’s effort to contact WikiLeaks, the chosen repository of Russian government for a trove of Clinton campaign emails and other documents that its operatives stole in an attempt to boost Mr. Trump’s election chances.

Read more here.