Q&A: From New York to Maryland to Texas

Q.  A friend of mine obtained some information through FOIA and has no problem sharing it with me and letting me use it.  May I use it for my benefit?  Or do I need to obtain the same FOIA information myself?  I am a resident of New York.

A.  A recipient of records through FOIA -- or the Freedom of Information Law in New York -- may disseminate those records as he or she pleases; the government does not impose any restrictions.  Therefore, unless you and your friend have a contractual agreement to the contrary, you need not make a duplicate FOIA request; you may lawfully use the information as you choose.   

Q.   Where should abuse of responding to FOIA be reported?

A.    If you have a complaint about a state or local agency in your state of residence (Maryland), you might consider contacting the Maryland Attorney General.  If you are concerned about a federal agency, the Office of Government Information Services helps requesters and agencies to resolve FOIA disputes.  

Q.  Are city governments in Texas subject to FOIA?

A.  State and local governments in Texas are subject to the Texas Public Information Act, not the federal Freedom of Information Act.  

FOIA News: Liberal super PAC seeks Trump records from government agencies

Liberal super PAC seeks Trump records from government agencies

By Nolan D. McCaskill, Politico, Nov. 14, 2016

A Democratic super PAC is filing public records requests with government agencies for documents involving President-elect Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and transition team, according to copies of the requests provided exclusively to POLITICO on Monday.

American Bridge 21st Century is asking the General Services Administration, Office of Government Ethics and Office of Personnel Management for a trove of documents involving dozens of people, including Trump’s key aides, advisers, surrogates and even his adult children.

Read more here.

Court opinions issued Nov. 10, 2016

Hoeller v. SSA (7th Cir.) -- affirming district court's decision to dismiss case because plaintiff failed to exhaust his administrative remedies at the time he filed suit. 

Earle v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- dismissing suit because the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys demonstrated that the records requested -- specifically, a grand jury's "tax number" for a particular criminal case in the District of Columbia -- have never existed.

McCash v. CIA (N.D. Cal.) -- ruling that: (1) the NSA, CIA, and FBI performed reasonable searches for records concerning plaintiff; (2) the CIA and NSA properly refused to confirm or deny existence of classified records pursuant to Exemption 1; and (3) the FBI properly redacted third-party information pursuant to Exemptions 6 and 7(C), but failed to explain why any non-exempt, segregable portions of the withheld pages could not have been released.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

FOIA News: Trump reminds job applicants about FOIA

Transparency Will Need a Reboot in the Trump Era

Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News, Nov. 10, 2016

The future of transparency in the Trump Administration is uncertain. It will ultimately be determined in practice as the new Administration embarks on its programs, determines its priorities, appoints its personnel, engages with Congress and confronts the public.

On his first full day in office, President Obama famously pledged to conduct the most transparent Administration in history. Though it was imperfectly executed and suffered some reversals, I think that pledge was fulfilled to an impressive extent. More government information was made more easily available to more people than ever before. The reported volume of new national security secrets created in the past two years dropped to historically low levels. Whole categories of information that had previously been off-limits — the size of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, the President’s Daily Brief, the size of the annual intelligence budget request, among others — were newly subject to declassification and disclosure during Obama’s tenure. If this was not the most transparent Administration in history, then which Administration was?

Read more here.

[Note: In 1988, DOJ issued this guidance on transition team records]

Court opinion issued Nov. 8, 2016

Brown v. Perez (10th Cir.) -- on petition for panel rehearing, reversing district court's decision that the names and business addresses of workers compensation physicians were properly withheld under Exemptions 4 or 6; affirming district court's decision that agency was not required to input information into computer program in order to recreate requested screen images.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Q&A: Florida, Florida, Florida

Q.  Concerning the election of 2016, how do I submit a FOIA request to Lee County, Florida for the ballot images of the election? Actually I would like a copy of the ballot images for the whole state of Florida, but Lee County is where I reside.

A.  You might consider submitting your request to Lee County's public records request center. Alternatively, you might consider contacting the Lee County Supervisor of Elections and asking for a sample ballot.  

Court opinion issued Nov. 4, 2016

Buckovetz v. U.S. Dep't of the Navy (S.D. Cal.) -- holding that the agency properly relied on Exemptions 6 and 7(C) to withhold identities of third parties from records associated with a sexual harassment complaint, but that agency's declaration failed to adequately explain its search methodology.  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

FOIA News: U.S. Offshore Industry Steps Up Transparency Call

U.S. Offshore Industry Steps Up Transparency Call

Maritime Executive, Nov. 7, 2016

Four U.S. industry trade groups have submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to both the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Department of the Interior (DOI) seeking information related to the recent “drastic” changes to the financial assurances and bonding required of offshore oil and gas producers.

BOEM enacted a modified user pay scheme in July to ensure that U.S. taxpayers never have to pay for offshore oil and gas platform decommissioning. All outer continental shelf leases require that decommissioning companies must remove all facilities and restore the site to its pre-lease state. However, due in part to the industry’s move into deepwater areas in the Gulf of Mexico, decommissioning costs have risen significantly, says BOEM. Moreover, as existing infrastructure ages, larger companies are transferring older facilities to smaller or less experienced companies. 

Current estimated routine decommissioning liabilities in the outer continental shelf are approximately $40 billion.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Judge balks at five-year timeline for release of Clinton emails

Judge balks at five-year timeline for release of Clinton emails

By Josh Gerstein, Politico, Nov. 7, 2016

A federal judge signaled Monday that he's not inclined to agree to a timetable for the release of FBI-recovered Hillary Clinton emails that could have the records dribbling out over the next five years.

U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg made the comment during a hearing on a Freedom of Information Act case brought by the conservative group Judicial Watch where the State Department is currently processing 500 pages per month.

With as many as 31,000 emails contained on disks the FBI turned over but State has not yet processed for release, the current pace in the case Boasberg addressed Monday could stretch out for several years.

"I'm not satisfied with saying, 'Fine, go ahead and take five years to do this,'" Boasberg said during a half-hour hearing in federal court in Washington.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Treasury sued to release ‘sensitive review’ policy holding back sensitive review FOIA

Treasury sued to release ‘sensitive review’ policy holding back sensitive review FOIA

By Tony Ware, Federal Times, Nov. 7, 2016

The Cause of Action Institute has sued the Department of Treasury in order to procure records detailing the agency’s “sensitive review” policy.   

The CoA Institute, a nonprofit corporation concerned with government accountability, filed the lawsuit on Nov. 1 in order to compel public disclosure of policies that can delay Freedom of Information Act record requests. The CoA has been pursuing this information since June 2013, when it submitted a FOIA request to learn more about how politically sensitive or potentially embarrassing information can slow open records being fulfilled. 

Read more here.