Hochul Vetoes Transparency Bill Backed by Press Freedom and Watchdog Groups

Governor Fixes Nothing, Offers Nothing in Response to Persistent Public Concerns About Deeply Dysfunctional Freedom of Information Process 

New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) process is plagued by endless delays, deliberate agency foolery, and unlawfulness that have combined to severely undermine the transparency of our state and local governments and deprive New Yorkers of our right to know what our government is doing in our name. 

Governor Hochul has done nothing to fix this mess, and instead she vetoed the most promising FOIL legislation in years, providing legalistic and budget quibbles that show far more sympathy with recalcitrant bureaucrats than with the simple principle that government is the people’s business. The Governor says in her veto message that one of her reasons for rejecting the FOIL timing bill is that agencies can’t implement it because they haven’t gotten the needed funding. Yet, the Governor controls that agency funding. 

We would be thrilled if the Governor proposed a better solution to fixing FOIL than what our groups can devise. Our taxes pay for her enormous staff and they have access to tremendous expertise. Plus, anything she includes in her budget as an Article VII policy proposal has a good chance of approval. 

For government transparency to work in New York, we need a yes governor who wants to fix problems. Saying no to every solution our groups propose is not being a leader, it’s lackadaisical.

One more commonsense but much narrower FOIL bill was passed by the Legislature and has not yet been sent to the Governor. This bill, S67 (Skoufis) / A6613 (McDonald) would ensure the courts are properly interpreting FOIL. Bad decisions have meant that one redaction on a public record has kept the entire record out of the hands of the public. The Governor must sign it if she wants to show the public she cares at all about transparency.