Q&A: requesting expedited processing and waiver of fees

Q.  I recently submitted a FOIA request to the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services.  In its acknowledgment letter, the agency informed me that:  (a) I must follow 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(E)(vi) if I want expedited processing; and (b) I must provide a detailed explanation of how disclosure would benefit the public interest if I want a fee waiver.  How should I handle these two issues?

A.  For tips about writing requests for expedited processing and a waiver of fees, you might wish to read the following articles:  (1) Nate Jones, FOIA Tip 15: Writing a Good Request Part 5, or Expedited Processing and other Timing Issues, Nat'l Sec. Archive (Apr. 8, 2010), and (2) FOIAdvocates, FOIA Fee Waivers.

FOIA News: NRC found not guilty of FOIA political interference

Agency watchdog finds NRC political appointees didn't interfere with FOIA requests

By Ryan McDermott, FierceGovernment, Aug. 26, 2015

A new audit found that political appointees at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission didn't meddle with or delay responses to Freedom of Information Act requests.

Congress requested that the NRC inspector general make sure that political appointees, also known as non-career officials, had not interfered with the FOIA process and inhibited transparency.

In its Aug. 18 report (pdf), the IG looked into the involvement of political appointees in the commission's FOIA response process from Jan. 1, 2007, to the present. From 2007 through 2014, NRC received a total of 2,995 FOIA requests – an average of 333 per year.

Read more here.

FOIA News: As legacy media cuts back on FOIA, digital-only news outlets step in

As legacy media cuts back on FOIA, digital-only news outlets step in

By Trevor Timm, Columbia Journalism Review, Aug. 25, 2015

Ask any journalist and they’ll tell you the Freedom of Information Act process is broken. Denials are at record highs, navigating the bureaucracy can be a nightmare, and the federal agencies recently killed a modest reform bill. But a series of FOIA lawsuits also have just shown how the 50-year-old transparency law can still be indispensable. And absent any change in the law, the best way for news organizations to make sure it stays relevant is to use it innovatively and aggressively.

A study by Syracuse’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse showed that, with the exception of The New York Times, no legacy news organization sued the government under FOIA in 2014. But where print newspapers have largely faded away, digital-only news organizations—including some that are foolishly caricatured as mere meme generators and gossip mags—are thankfully starting to spend the time and money to fill the gap.

Read more here.

DC Circuit ruling clarifies standards for news media status

Cause of Action v. Federal Trade Commission

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia

(No: 1:12-cv-00850) 

Read the decision here.

FOIA News: Court upholds broad FOIA fee exemption for media & groups

Court upholds broad FOIA fee exemption for media & groups

By Josh Gerstein, Politico, Aug. 25, 2015

Advocacy groups and non-traditional news outlets should have an easier time avoiding fees under the Freedom of Information Act under a decision issued Tuesday by a federal appeals court in Washington.

The ruling from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said the Federal Trade Commission and a district court had been too dismissive of fee waivers sought by a fledgling conservative group, Cause of Action, when it filed FOIA requests with the FTC.

D.C. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland emphasized that web-based publishers are as entitled to waivers as newspapers, that outlets without a following by a broad swath of the general public can qualify for waivers and that organizations that pass analyzed government documents to media outlets can be classified as members of the news media under the federal public records law.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Why it's OK for taxpayers to 'snoop' on scientists

Why it's OK for taxpayers to 'snoop' on scientists

By Charles Seife and Paul Thacker, Los Angeles Times, Aug. 21, 2015

If the public pays your salary, citizens have the right — within limits — to see what you're doing. That's the principle at the core of the federal Freedom of Information Act and of the many similar state freedom of information laws.

Although politicians like Hillary Rodham Clinton get the most attention when congressional inquiries and FOIA requests turn up something unsavory, it's not just civil servants or elected officials who run the risk of embarrassment. A great deal of scientific research is done on the public dime — directly funded through government grants or indirectly via academics working at public institutions — which means some scientists also are subject to transparency laws.

Generally speaking, in the last decade or so, the research community has been moving toward increased transparency, particularly when it comes to any financial entanglements that might cast doubt upon a scientist's objectivity. The backlash, however, has begun, and calls to reverse the trend are coming from some surprising places.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Sixth Circuit Panel Allows FOIA Request, Urges En Banc Consideration

Sixth Circuit Panel Allows FOIA Request, Urges En Banc Consideration

By Ryan Goellner, The National Law Review, Aug. 21, 2015

Last week, in a per curiam opinion in Detroit Free Press v. U.S. Department of Justice, the Sixth Circuit affirmed a decision granting the Free Press’s request for the mug shots of Detroit police officers facing federal charges. Although the case did not touch on the underlying charges against the officers, the panel took the unusual step of recommending to the full court that it reconsider the precedent that disposed of the case.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued August 21, 2015

Harvey v. Lynch (D.D.C.) -- finding that plaintiff's FOIA and Administrative Procedure Act (APA) claims were moot because plaintiff agreed that agency had released all non-exempt records; noting that APA claim also was moot because "a FOIA requester may not seek relief under the APA for a violation of FOIA or the governing FOIA regulations."

Patel v. Bureau of Prisons (D.D.C.) -- holding that BOP failed to adequately explain:  (1) how it searched for records in response to one of plaintiff's requests; (2) why it was unable to segregate non-exempt information from information that it withheld under Exemptions 6 and 7(C); and (3) that records it withheld under Exemption 5 were privileged.    

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.

Court opinions issued August 19-20, 2015

Aug. 20, 2015

Evans v. U.S. Dep't of the Interior (N.D. Ind.) -- denying plaintiff's motion for discovery because plaintiff failed to explain why it was needed in order to respond to agency's motion for summary judgment.

Aug. 19, 2015

Inst. for Policy Studies v. CIA (D.D.C) -- ordering the CIA to search for responsive records after finding that agency failed to establish that its operational files were exempt under 50 U.S.C. § 3141(f)(4)(A).  

Summaries of all cases since April 2015 are available here.

Q&A: Heat, fire, and water

Q.  To which component of the U.S. Dep't of Health and Human Services should I send a request concerning the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program?

A.  You might wish to submit your request to HHS's Administration for Children & Families (ACF), which administers the program.  Here is information about submitting a request to ACF:  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/submit-a-foia-request.

Q.  How do I file a request to DC Fire and Emergency Management Services in Washington, D.C.?

A.  You may submit a FOIA request to D.C. Fire & EMS via this web portal:  https://foia-dc.gov/palMain.aspx.

Q.  How do I make FOIA request to the Coast Guard about an injury that occurred on a vessel in 2013.   

A.  To  submit a FOIA request to the U.S. Coast Guard, just follow the instructions here:  https://www.uscg.mil/foia/.