FOIA News: State agency fires public records official for releasing a public document

DHHS fired a public records coordinator — for releasing a public record

By Erin Rhoda, BDN Maine, May 17, 2017

Maine’s top disease control office fired the person responsible for coordinating the release of public information after she permitted a public report to be sent to the Bangor Daily News in August.

The move by Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention to terminate Judy Gopaul, a six-year employee, highlights how Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew’s office has asserted increased control over the release of public information within the past year.

In addition, a BDN review of documents and emails related to Gopaul’s termination reveals an excessively complicated process, occasionally verging on farcical, for making decisions about how to respond to even the most minor questions from the public.

Read more here.

FOIA News: HUD bitten by fee waiver lawsuit

ASPCA Files Lawsuit Against U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development Following Denial of Fee-Waived FOIA Request

ASPCA seeks documents related to HUD policies that hinder pet ownership in public housing

The ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), with the assistance of Holland & Knight LLP, today filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) claiming that the agency's denial of its request for a fee waiver in connection with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request concerning pet ownership restrictions in select public housing units is unlawful. 

In its original request, the ASPCA noted that the organization is entitled to receive these documents free of charge under FOIA's public interest provision because the documents would be used to educate the public about HUD policies that potentially prohibit pet ownership by thousands of tenants nationwide. The ASPCA's suit argues that nonprofit groups will be prevented from using FOIA effectively if government agencies demand thousands of dollars of fees to fulfill each request.

Read more here.  

Court opinion issued May 11, 2017

Brozzo v. U.S. Dep't of Educ. (N.D.N.Y.) -- concluding that agency met its burden of demonstrating that requested loan documents were not "agency records," because records were not created or obtained by agency and were not under its control.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

Court opinion issued May 9, 2017

Aqualliance v. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (D.C. Cir.) -- affirming district court's decision that agency properly withheld information relating to water-well construction, completion, depth, and location" pursuant to Exemption 9.  

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

FOIA News: More on congressional records; former OIP director weighs in

Effort to shield documents sparks transparency debate

By Geof Koss, E&E News  May 10, 2017

Are House Republicans conspiring with the Trump administration to evade a key federal open-records law? Or is Congress simply reasserting a long-standing legal prerogative it says is essential to conducting oversight of the executive branch?

It depends on whom you ask.

Since January, congressional staffers say they've begun to notice distinct signatures on emails sent to federal agencies from House addresses, which in effect state that the contents of the messages are not considered "agency records" for purposes of compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Read more here.

FOIA News: Exemption 9 upheld in D.C. Circuit case

Oh, well. California water info can remain secret, court rules

BY Michael Doyle, Miami Herald, May 9, 2017

Crucial details about the location and depth of certain California water wells can be kept secret, and out of the hands of an environmental group, a top federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

Although targeting a specific request for California information, the ruling by what’s sometimes called the nation’s second-highest court could shape at least a few of the other Freedom of Information Act requests nationwide. More than 700,000 FOIA requests were filed in Fiscal 2014, and the question of what can be denied recurs often.

Tuesday’s unanimous decision lumped water wells with those drilled for oil and gas production. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that the water well information fits under a long-standing exemption to FOIA. The decision thwarted AquAlliance, the Chico, Calif.-based group that sought the information.

Read more here.

FOIA News: FTC revises FOIA regulations

The Federal Trade Commission published a final rule implementing new FOIA regulations in today's issue of the Federal Register.  The changes are meant to implement the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016.  Specifically, the FTC is modifying its definition of a "representative of the news media" and its schedule of direct costs.  The agency is also making some other minor technical changes.  The FTC received two comments in response to its December 22, 2016 proposed rule.  Today's final rule is effective immediately.

FOIA News: HUD Corrects FOIA Regulations

The Department of Housing and Urban Development published a correction to its January 12, 2017 final rule implementing new FOIA regulations in today's issue of the Federal Register.  Specifically, the agency is correcting its inadvertent exclusion of three of the nine statutory FOIA exemptions, and its inclusion of a duplication exemption.  HUD is also making other minor technical changes.  The correction is effective immediately.

Court opinions issued May 8, 2017

Widi v. McNeil (D. Me.) -- reluctantly ordering EOUSA to perform segregability analysis on four pages of attorney work product documents and to clarify the nature of certain documents withheld under Exemption 7(C), but otherwise denying plaintiff's request for reconsideration.

Cameranesi v. U.S. Dep't of Def. (9th Cir.) -- in a two-to-one decision, affirming the district court's ruling that names of foreign students and instructors at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) are exempt from disclosure under Exemption 6.

Summaries of all opinions issued since April 2015 available here.

FOIA News: Government Watchdog Groups Say Congressman's FOIA Letters Set "A Troubling Precedent"

Government Watchdog Groups Say Congressman's FOIA Letters Set "A Troubling Precedent"

By Mary Ann Georgantopoulos, Buzzfeed News, May 9, 2017

A group of government watchdogs sent a letter to Congressman Jeb Hensarling Tuesday afternoon urging him to rescind the letters he sent government agencies informing them about Freedom of Information guidelines.

Hensarling, a Republican from Texas, sent letters in April to the heads of several federal agencies the House Financial Services Committee oversees, declaring that communications and documents produced between the two offices will remain in the committee's control and will not be considered "agency records" — therefore exempt from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Twenty organizations — including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Project on Government Oversight, and the Campaign Legal Center — signed on to a letter calling Hensarling's actions "a troubling precedent."

Read more here.