We FOILed 72 NYS Agency FOIL Logs. Here’s What We Got (So Far)

In June 2026, Reinvent Albany and the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic sent a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to all 72 NYS Executive Agencies that sent Governor Hochul a Transparency Plan in 2021-22. We asked agencies to provide a spreadsheet of all the FOIL requests they got or closed in 2025. Any agency that is competently managed or cares about complying with the Freedom of Information Law should have a log of the public records requests they get under FOIL. Otherwise, they have no idea which requests have been responded to or are overdue or denied. We also sent a letter to Governor Hochul asking her to remind agencies to send complete, consistent information – and take full advantage of the new GovQA software that she has touted. 

Nearly three months later, we are still waiting for many agencies to send a FOIL log. We created a new 2025 FOIL Logs Tracker of all the agencies’ responses, including the FOIL logs we have received. Broadly, we think the response has been very poor given how basic our request was, and how quick and easy it should be to provide a complete response with the FOIL software agencies are supposed to be using. So far, only two of the 72 agencies, the Long Island Power Authority and the Authorities Budget Office, have met basic expectations and provided reasonably detailed logs. Here’s how the 72 agencies have responded as of September 28, 2026:

• 72 agencies acknowledged they received our requests.
• 34 agencies have not provided any records, though more than 1oo days have passed since our request. 
• 37 agencies provided a FOIL log, and one agency, the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (UIAB), said they do not have a FOIL log, though they maintain a FOIL website.

31 of the 37 FOIL Logs Were Missing Basic Information

• Only six FOIL logs provided eight or more of the twelve fields we requested. 
• Only eight FOIL logs included the status and disposition of requests – basic information that lets us know whether requests are still open or have been closed, and whether records were provided or denied.
• Only four FOIL logs included the exemptions the agency cited for denying FOIL requests.

We Sent Appeals to 34 Agencies Asking for Complete FOIL Logs 

Since many FOIL logs were incomplete, we sent 34 appeals — 18 of which we were required to send via hard copy mail, according to the instructions provided by agencies. 

• Only four agencies were not appealed based on their responses. 
• Nine agencies initially provided us logs in spreadsheet format, and 28 agencies gave us PDFs, so we appealed.
  • After appeal, 9 agencies provided us logs in spreadsheet format.

We will continue to update this tracker as we receive more information from agencies. Additionally, once we receive complete information, we will release a detailed analysis of the logs.

Reinvent Albany’s Previous Reports on Freedom of Information Law

• NYS Agencies Failing to Make FOIL Easier for Public (May 2026)
• Listening to FOIL 2026: Lessons from 11 NY State Agencies (January 2026)
• Listening to FOIL 2025: Lessons from Five NYS Agencies (June 2025)
• New York City Government Flouting Freedom of Information Law (April 2025)
• Opening New York 2024: Rating 66 Agency Transparency Plans (May 2024)
• Listening to FOIL 2024: Lessons from Six NYS Agencies (March 2024)
• Opening New York 2022: Rating 70 State Agency Transparency Plans (March 2022)
• NYS Legislature – “Tale of Two Houses” (December 2020)
• Metropolitan Transportation Authority – FOIL that Works (October 2018)
• NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications – Listening to FOIL (November 2015)
• NYC Government – “Beyond Magic Markers” (June 2014)