Groups Urge Legislature to Pass Key FOIL Bills in Final Weeks of Session
Legislature Must Pass Key FOIL Bills In Final Weeks of Session
Despite five bills moving through committee, not a single bill has passed both houses
With less than two weeks to go in session, the Legislature has yet to jointly pass a single FOIL bill. While the Assembly has passed or moved four bills, and the Senate has moved three, none of the bills have passed both houses. We urge the Senate and Assembly to work together to get these bills through.
The Legislature has made great strides to pass transparency bills during the past two years, but rarely does a bill make it through both houses. Now is the time to act.
Here are the five bills:
- Limit Commercial FOIL Exemption (S9777 (Sepúlveda) / A1410 (Rosenthal)) – Passed the Assembly
- Require electronic FOIL appeals (S9607 (May) / A11143 (Kassay)) – Passed the Governmental Operations Committee in the Assembly, now in Ways and Means.
- Report FOIL Activity (S9739 (Kavanagh) / A2321 (McDonald)) – Passed the Assembly.
- Strengthen FOIL Attorneys’ Fees (S1418-A (Liu) / A950-A (Steck)) – On Senate Floor Calendar (the Assembly passed a weaker bill related to attorneys fees).
- Reduce Agency FOIL Response Time (S10098 (Skoufis) / A10759 (Raga)) – On Senate Floor Calendar.
List of groups supporting FOIL reforms:
Reinvent Albany
Freedom of the Press Foundation
The Legal Aid Society
The Media and Democracy Project
New York Civil Liberties Union
New York Coalition for Open Government
New York Public Interest Research Group
Reclaim the Records
Surveillance Technology Oversight Project