May 2020 FOIA Litigation with Five-Year Monthly Trends
By FOIA Project Staff, June 17, 2020
During the month of May 2020 federal district courts saw a total of 70 new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits filed under 5 U.S.C. 552. To place this number in perspective, 70 new filings compares with a monthly average of 68 filings during the last 12 months. This month’s total brought overall FOIA filings on an annual basis for these last 12 months to 816.
Read more here.
Today the American Society for Access Professionals released a preliminary program for its national training conference, which will take place virtually on July 28-29, 2020. Registration information is available here.
VIRTUAL FOIA TRAINING FOR AGENCY FOIA PROFESSIONALS – JULY COURSES NOW AVAILABLE
Office of Info. Policy FOIA Post, June 24, 2020
Today, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) announced dates for our new virtual FOIA training during the month of July. OIP offers a number of training opportunities throughout the year for agency FOIA professionals and individuals with FOIA responsibilities. Due to COVID-19 and maximum telework, OIP is pleased to offer virtual training sessions that are taught in real-time by OIP instructors.
Read more here.
When Public Comments Aren’t Public: Land Agency Holding Records
BLM declines to publish many public ‘scoping’ comments
Land agency FOIA backlog up to three years long
By Bobby Magill, Bloomberg News, June 24, 2020
Usually when public comments are filed with a federal agency, they are made, well, public. Not so for the Bureau of Land Management, which is demanding that in some cases, such comments only be obtained through the cumbersome Freedom of Information Act.
Critics say the BLM’s action is part of a pattern shaping up in the Interior Department over the past year or more of delaying or denying requests for basic information from journalists and the public.
Read more here.
The Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled is finalizing amendments to its FOIA regulations effective July 31, 2020, according to a final rule scheduled to be published in in the Federal Register on June 24, 2020. The Committee initially proposed the changes on May 21, 2019, and no public comments were submitted.
Dep’t of State, Lead Gov’t Info. Specialist (GS 13), D.C., closes June 23, 2020
Dep’t of Agriculture, Gov’t Info. Specialist (GS 12-13), D.C., closes June 25, 2020
Dev. Finance Corp., Gov’t Info. Specialist (GS 11), D.C., closes June 25, 2020
Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, Gov’t Info. Specialist (GS 12), New Mexico, June 26, 2020
Dep’t of the Army, Gov’t Info. Specialist (GS 12-12-13), Virginia, closes June 29, 2020
Dep’t of the Interior, Gov’t Info Specialist (GS 13) Virginia, closes July 1, 2020
Fed. Emergency Mgmt. Agency, Gov’t Info. Specialist (GS 9-11), D.C., closes July 1, 2020
Food & Drug Admin, Lead Gov’t Info. Specialist (GS 14), Maryland, closes July 2, 2020
U.S Customs & Border Prot., Supervisory Attorney-Advisor (GS 15), D.C., closes July 6, 2020
In Turnabout, Small Business Administration Says It Will Disclose Names of Big PPP Borrowers
Disclosures will be made for loans above $150,000 under pressure from Congress
By Ryan Tracy, Wall St. J., June 19, 2020
Bowing to bipartisan pressure in Congress, the Trump administration said it would release the names of borrowers who received Paycheck Protection Program loans of $150,000 or more, accounting for about 75% of funds lent through the program.
The Treasury Department and Small Business Administration said Friday they would disclose business names, addresses, demographic data, number of jobs supported and other details. Specific loan amounts won’t be disclosed, but the government will place each loan in one of five size categories ranging from $150,000 to the maximum loan amount of $10 million, the agencies said.
Read more here.
Mueller Report Redactions on Roger Stone Are Revealed
The Justice Department had kept them secret while it was investigating Mr. Stone. He was later convicted of seven felonies and sentenced to prison.
By Sharon LaFraniere, NY Times, June 19, 2020
The Justice Department released information on Friday about President Trump’s friend and former campaign adviser Roger J. Stone Jr. that it had previously redacted from the report by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The newly disclosed material dealt largely with efforts by the Trump campaign to discover what material WikiLeaks had obtained that could be damaging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Mr. Stone was at the forefront of the campaign’s effort to contact WikiLeaks, the chosen repository of Russian government for a trove of Clinton campaign emails and other documents that its operatives stole in an attempt to boost Mr. Trump’s election chances.
Read more here.
Tax Preparer Email List Shielded From FOIA Bid, IRS Says
By Theresa Schliep, Law360, June 17, 2020
The IRS correctly rejected a tax professional's Freedom of Information Act request for a list of people with preparer identification numbers and their email addresses because public records law shields that information, the agency told a D.C. federal court.
Email addresses of individuals with preparer tax identification numbers, or PTINs, that were sought by Michael Rosedale are exempt from FOIA disclosure requirements because that information could compromise the personal privacy of the preparers and their customers, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday. The agency's filing requested summary judgment that would end the case.
Read more here (accessible with free trial subscription).
More than 60 percent of agency FOIA websites reviewed by the Office Of Government Information Services in May and early June failed to mention whether the COVID-19 pandemic was affecting agency FOIA processing. See additional details here.