Four bills supported by a wide coalition of over 30 watchdogs, press advocates, and transparency advocates could transform FOIL in New York – but only if the Legislature acts to pass the legislation. The bills are:
- Report FOIL Activity (S8671-A (Hoylman-Sigal) / A9621-A (McDonald)) – Supported by Reinvent Albany, Citizens Union, Common Cause NY, League of Women Voters of New York State, New York Coalition for Open Government, NYPIRG, and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. This bill is on third reading in the Assembly.
- Strengthen FOIL Attorneys’ Fees (A5357-A (Steck) / S5801-A (Liu)) – Supported by Reinvent Albany, Common Cause NY, League of Women Voters of New York State, the New York Coalition for Open Government, NYPIRG, and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. This bill passed the Senate.
- Reduce Agency FOIL Response Time (S8128 (Skoufis) / A8586 (Raga)) – Supported by Reinvent Albany, Common Cause NY, League of Women Voters of New York State, the New York Coalition for Open Government, NYPIRG, and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. This bill is on third reading in the Senate.
- Limits Commercial FOIL Exemption (S3257 (Hoylman-Sigal) / A9975 (Rosenthal L)) – Supported by Reinvent Albany, BetaNYC, Citizens Union, Common Cause NY, League of Women Voters of New York State, New York News Publishers Association, and NYPIRG. This bill passed the Senate.
Below are recent editorials from newspapers across NY calling on the Legislature to pass these important bills.
The Editorial Board: Informed consent and access to information laws should proceed
Buffalo News | May 30, 2024
Open government and free access to public information are at risk in New York. State and local agencies routinely take weeks, months or even years to fulfill Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests … Three sensible and important pieces of FOIL-related legislation are pending before the Legislature this session. A FOIL maximum time frame bill (S8128/A8586) would speed up the FOIL process … A FOIL reporting bill (S8671-A/A9621-A) would require agencies to publicly report FOIL data such as who is requesting and whether requests are denied or granted … Another proposed law (A5357-A/S5801-A) would make it easier for requesters to be reimbursed for their attorneys’ fees if they take the government to court and win … Reinforcing FOIL with these bills should help.
We FOILed for public records, and we’re still waiting
Newsday | May 28, 2024
The State Legislature is evaluating several promising FOIL-related bills that could reduce delays, make it easier for the public to know what information is being sought, and more readily reimburse attorney fees when the party FOILing records prevails in court. Such a penalty could make governmental agencies think twice about habitually stalling.
EDITORIAL: Coalition report highlights need for NY info law changes
Niagara Gazette | May 7, 2024
Some state lawmakers have introduced bills aimed at making the system more responsive, including one that would require public agencies in New York to track information requests, denials and appeals in keeping with a tracking program already in place at the federal level … From our viewpoint, only public agencies that don’t want to be bothered abiding by Freedom of Information laws or have documents in their position they don’t want the taxpaying and voting public to know about.
EDITORIAL: Let public know how well boards honor Freedom of Information Law
Daily Gazette | April 17, 2024
A bill pending in the legislature (A9621/S8671) would change that by forcing all state and local agencies subject to the Public Officers Law to report to the state Committee on Open Government basic information about their FOIL request receipts and their responses … Government bodies are required to report all kinds of data to the state. Yet one set of data that would reveal how transparent they’re being is lacking.
Your right to know
Adirondack Daily Enterprise | March 16, 2024
The state Legislature can easily stop these delays from happening. There is already a bill proposed that would address this issue — Assembly bill A8586/Senate bill S8128. If this bill is passed, agencies would have a maximum of 30 days to reject FOIL requests or a maximum of 60 days to release records. The bill would also streamline the FOIL process by effectively deeming requests denied if agencies don’t acknowledge the requests within five business days, meaning that people requesting the records can appeal and, if necessary, file a lawsuit to access those records faster. This is a small tweak the Legislature can make that would make a huge difference.