FOIA News: DOJ posts annual report; DHS backlog plummets

The Department of Justice belatedly posted its fiscal year 2020 annual report on Tuesday, or perhaps well after business hours on Monday. Of note, DOJ reported that it received nearly 9 percent fewer requests, its request backlog increased 17 percent, and its total FOIA costs topped $100 million for this first time.

Although DHS has not posted its annual report, data available on FOIA.gov indicates that the department reduced its backlog of requests from 53,971 to 31,454, a whopping 42 percent improvement.

FOIA News: More annual reports posted; DOJ’s still pending

• Health & Human Serv.: HHS received 36,825 requests in FY 2020 versus 35,358 in FY 2019, about a 4 percent increase. Its backlog of requests increased from 7764 to 8817, or 13.5 percent.

• Labor: DOL received 15,820 requests in FY 2020 versus 16,259 in FY 2019, less than a 3 percent decrease. Its backlog of requests increased from 1509 to 1714, or 13.5 percent.

DOJ has posted a list of all annual reports that are available here. As of 6:00PM on March 1st, neither Justice, Homeland Security, Energy nor Treasury had posted their FY 2020 reports.

FOIA News: Government Watchdogs on Biden Administration Transparency

Biden won’t release White House virtual visitor logs

By Anita Kumar, Politico, Mar. 1, 2021

For dozens of good government groups on the left and right, simply not being Trump is not enough. They are now urging Biden to do more, including fixing the very problems in transparency laws that his predecessor’s actions showed need fixing. That includes answering public records requests more quickly; publishing Office of Legal Counsel opinions; revising classification policies; and releasing logs of virtual meetings and physical meetings at other locations where the president and his aides travel.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Deadline arrives for posting annual FOIA reports

Agencies must post their annual FOIA reports on their website on or before Monday, March 1, 2021. The cabinet agencies that have not yet posted their reports as of February 28, 2021, are HHS, DHS, Education, Energy, DOJ, Labor, and Treasury.

In case you missed them, the Defense Department and the State Department recently posted their annual reports. Each suffered double-digit percentage increases in their request backlogs: DOD’s backlog rose from 13198 to 16000 (or 21 percent); and State’s climbed from 11016 to 13798 (or 25 percent).

FOIA News: HHS defends withholding sexual abuse records

Feds Ask 2nd Circ. To Block Report On IHS Doctor Abuse

Law360, Feb. 25, 2021

The federal government should not have to release a report to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal detailing over two decades of sexual abuse committed by a former Indian Health Service pediatrician, the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services argued Wednesday. In a Second Circuit brief, the agency sought to reverse a January order to release the report on Stanley Patrick Weber, arguing that an exception to the Freedom of Information Act blocks the release of certain "medical quality assurance" reports to encourage "candid reviews" of care provided by the Indian Health Service within HHS.

Read more here (accessible with free trial subscription).

FOIA News: OGIS Calendar of Events for Sunshine Week

Sunshine Month: Save the Dates!

Nat’l Archives & Records Admin., FOIA Ombudsman (Feb. 24, 2021)

Please mark your calendars for several virtual FOIA events coming up in March, including our Sunshine Week event on March 15!

FOIA Advisory Committee Meeting
Wednesday, March 3rd
10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (ET)

The FOIA Advisory Committee meets to hear presentations about and discuss access to records in the legislative and judicial branches, and updates from the Classification, Legislation, Process, and Technology subcommittees.

Members of the public are welcome to:

• Watch the livestream on the National Archives’ YouTube Channel.
  

• Attend the meeting virtually through Webex. Those attending the meeting via Webex will need to connect to the audio portion of the meeting by telephone. There will be a public comment period at the end of the meeting.

If you wish to attend via Webex, you must register by February 28 at 11:59 p.m. (ET). After you register, we will send you information for accessing the meeting.

National Archives Sunshine Week Program
Monday, March 15th
1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (ET)

We are pleased to announce that Senior U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth will join us for a special event celebrating Sunshine Week with the National Archives. The first hour of the program will feature a conversation with Senior Judge Lamberth on open government and the legal landscape. The second hour will include a conversation with users of FOIA. 

Members of the public are welcome to

• Watch the livestream on the National Archives’ YouTube Channel.
  

• Attend the meeting virtually through Webex. Those attending the meeting via Webex will need to connect to the audio portion of the meeting by telephone.

If you wish to attend via Webex, you must register by March 12 at 11:59 p.m. (ET). After you register, we will send you information for accessing the meeting.

Read more here (including OIP Best Practices Workshops)

FOIA News: Upcoming Best Practices Workshops on COVID & FOIA

Two Upcoming Best Practices Workshops in March

Dep’t of Justice, Office of Info. Pol’y, FOIA Post (Feb. 24, 2021)

The Office of Information Policy (OIP) is pleased to announce two upcoming Best Practices Workshops this March focused on agencies’ administration of the FOIA in the face of the workplace challenges presented by the pandemic. 

Last March, agencies quickly adjusted to new workforce policies to protect the health and well-being of their employees while continuing their agencies’ missions.  In May 2020, OIP issued guidance encouraging agencies to, among other things, continuously assess their FOIA programs as circumstances evolve with a focus on finding workable solutions to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of their FOIA programs.  In December 2020 and February 2021, the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) issued two reports detailing its review of agency FOIA websites for public notices on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agencies’ FOIA administration in accordance with OIP’s guidance. In addition, agencies detail the various challenges they faced during the year due to the pandemic and the steps taken to mitigate those challenges in their 2021 Chief FOIA Officer Reports.  As reflected in these reports, many agencies have made changes to their FOIA programs since last March to continue to effectively administer the FOIA in the current environment.  This has also been a topic of continued interest for the Chief FOIA Officers (CFO) Council Technology Committee.  OIP, OGIS, and the CFO Council Technology Committee invite agencies to join us for these upcoming opportunities to discuss current challenges and to learn successful strategies agencies have implemented to adjust to the workplace challenges associated with the pandemic.     

FOIA programs in the Intelligence Community are confronted with some of the biggest challenges in this area, which is why we are very pleased to focus our first workshop on March 11 (1pm – 3pm), on best practices specific to the Intelligence Community.  

Following this event, on March 30 (1pm - 3pm), a second workshop will be held on this topic featuring a broad panel of experts from a diverse group of agencies, including small, medium, and large agencies.

Both workshops are open to all agency FOIA professionals and interested personnel.  Registration is required for attendance.  Government employees must use their government email address to register for the event through Eventbrite.  

Read more here.

FOIA News: GAO's Michelle Sager on Fed News Network

Agencies increasingly turning down FOIA requests

By Tom Temin, Federal News Network, Feb. 24, 2021

Freedom of Information Act requests are on the rise. Rising faster are instances of federal agencies turning them down. Turns out, they’ve got quite a few perfectly legal reasons for stamping “Sorry, no dice” on FOIA requests. For a review, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the Director of Strategic Issues at the Government Accountability Office, Michelle Sager.

Read more here.

FOIA News: DOJ-OIP Announces Sunshine Week Kick-Off

Department of Justice Sunshine Week Virtual 2021 Celebration

Dep’t of Justice, Office of Info. Pol’y, FOIA Blog (Feb. 24, 2021)

We invite you to join the Department of Justice for this year’s kick-off of Sunshine Week. On Monday, March 15 from 10am – 11am, the Department of Justice will hold our annual Sunshine Week event virtually. Established in 2010, this will mark the eleventh year of the Department’s event recognizing the importance of FOIA for government transparency and celebrating the efforts of those professionals dedicated to the success of their agencies’ FOIA administration. We invite all agency personnel and members of the public to join us for this year’s event, which will include an address from the Director of the Office of Information Policy highlighting recent initiatives and agency FOIA activities, as well as the Department’s annual Sunshine Week FOIA Awards Ceremony to honor and celebrate the work of dedicated FOIA professionals across the government.

Read more here.

FOIA News: Orgs ask Biden to prioritize transparency

Groups press Biden to commit to transparency

Their letter asks the new president to reinvigorate FOIA and rein in government secrecy.

By Josh Gerstein, Politico, Feb. 22, 2021

On President Barack Obama’s first full day in office, he issued an executive order and two presidential memoranda urging greater transparency in government.

When President Joe Biden was sworn in last month, he signed 17 executive orders and other directives. None was focused on transparency.

Now, a coalition of advocates for more access to government information and deliberations are urging Biden to make such openness a higher priority and to reverse what they contend was a deterioration in public access to the inner workings of government under former President Donald Trump.

Read more here.