The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued its annual FOIA report for fiscal year 2020, joining Transportation and Commerce as the only cabinet agencies to release their reports thus far. A few highlights from VA’s report:

• Received 19,053 requests (a decrease of 10% from 2019) and processed 19, 323 requests.

• Received 369 appeals and processed 432 appeals.

• Backlogged requests rose from 2491 in 2019 to 3220 in 2020, a nearly 30% increase.

• Granted all 184 requests for a public interest fee waiver.

• Expended $16,460, 304 in non-litigation costs and collected $41,221 in fees, or one quarter of one percent.