The Daily Gazette Editorial: FOIL Request Sends Message to State About Transparency

Editorial originally posted in The Daily Gazette

Have you ever sent someone a text message to find out if they’re getting your text messages?

Sometimes you send the “test” to find out if there’s something wrong with their text messaging. Other times, you do it to send that person a message that they’re not returning your texts.

If you understand that scenario, then you’ll understand the method and message being sent by two open government advocates, who announced Tuesday that they are filing Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests with Gov. Kathy Hochul and the heads of 72 state agencies.

The advocates — Rachael Fauss, senior policy adviser to the government watchdog group Reinvent Albany, and Heather Murray, associate director of the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic and managing attorney of the Clinic’s Local Journalism Project — are seeking access to certain records maintained by agencies regarding FOIL requests submitted to them and/or responded to through a software program called GovQA.

These records are designed to let the public know how responsive state agencies are being to the hundreds of requests for information they receive each year from citizens.

The FOIL requests also will serve to illustrate that many agencies are not taking full advantage the software program, which is costing taxpayers $650,000 a year to assist these agencies in responding to the public.

These 72 agencies cover virtually all state government functions. They maintain vital public information on government spending programs, policies, statistics, regulations and compliance with laws. In addition to your information they’re holding, that’s your tax money they’re spending and your life and your money and your communities that their decisions are affecting.

Filing a FOIL request for FOIL responsiveness records isn’t just a clever stunt. The advocates want to reiterate a point Reinvent Albany reported in May that many state agencies are not using, or are failing to make full use of, GovQA.

GovQA — already used by California, Oregon and the city of Dallas to manage their public records access — enables New York’s state agencies to easily create searchable logs, accessible to the public, documenting FOIL requests and each agency’s response to them. It also can help reduce duplicative requests – if the agencies use it.

The logs are essentially report cards on how well or how poorly the agencies are sharing information with public.

What all this means for the citizens of New York is that the state is not living up to its responsibility to be as transparent as it should be.

If Gov. Hochul is as serious about transparency as she has said she is, she’ll make sure that not only is this FOIL request honored quickly and completely, but that state agencies start being more responsive to the people’s right to know what their government is doing on their behalf.