For Sunshine Week, Transparency Groups Urge Passage of Four Bills Strengthening Freedom of Information Law

March 18, 2025

New York and national transparency advocates sent a Sunshine Week letter to the Legislative leaders urging them to strengthen New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) by passing a package of four bills. The groups also rallied in Albany with legislators to highlight how the bills increase transparency, a cornerstone of government accountability. 

New York’s FOIL turned 50 last year and remains the single most important transparency tool New Yorkers have. Unfortunately, FOIL is not keeping pace with changes in technology, journalism, and case law, and it has been years since it was significantly upgraded. 

The groups urge the Senate and Assembly to pass the same bills for this year’s Sunshine Week – which vastly increases their chances of becoming law. The groups have worked for months with top legal experts, legislative staff, and legislators to develop a package of four realistic and carefully-crafted bills intended to make today’s FOIL more effective and modern (three of these bills passed one house last session):

The groups urged the Legislature to pass the package during Sunshine Week 2025.

See the full letter here and the list of groups below.

American Oversight
BetaNYC
Common Cause/NY
Defending Rights & Dissent
Earthjustice
Freedom of the Press Foundation
League of Women Voters of New York State
The Legal Aid Society
The Media and Democracy Project (MAD)
National Press Photographers Association (NPPA)
New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU)
New York Coalition for Open Government
New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG)
The Radio Television Digital News Association
Reinvent Albany
Society of Environmental Journalists
The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.)
TIMBER