FOIA News: Agriculture reduced request backlog by 18 percent in FY 2021

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reduced its backlog from 2546 requests at the end of FY 2020 to 2081 requests at the end of in FY 2021, an 18.2 percent decrease, according to quarterly FOIA reports posted on USDA’s website. The Department received 21,000 requests in FY 2021, down 7.9 percent from the 22,810 requests received in FY 2020; the Department processed 21,884 requests in FY 2021 as opposed to 23,103 requests in FY 2020, a decrease of 5.3 percent.

FOIA News: Pennsylvania treasure hunters sue the DOJ in Civil War gold case

Pennsylvania treasure hunters sue the DOJ in Civil War gold case

By Jason Nark, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 4, 2022

The Pennsylvania treasure hunters on a never-ending quest to find a legendary lost shipment of Civil War gold are suing the Feds for documents.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Dennis Parada, a longtime treasure hunter from Clearfield County, alleges that the FBI has failed to provide him with any records of the case of the Elk County gold, despite a FOIA request filed more than three years ago

Read more here.

FOIA News: Transportation's request backlog climbed 13% in FY 2021

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s FOIA request backlog increased in fiscal year 2021 by 569 requests, or 13.3 percent, according to quarterly FOIA data posted on DOT’s website. At the end of FY 2020, DOT’s request backlog stood at 4272 requests; it climbed to 4841 request by the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021. DOT received 15729 requests in FY 2021, a 7.5%,increase from FY 2020, when it received 14632 requests. The number of requests processed by DOT dropped from 15433 in FY 2020 to 14700 in FY 2021, a decrease of 5 percent,

FOIA News: USDA to proactively post slaughter plant records

USDA to Proactively Post Slaughter Records to Settle Lawsuit by AWI, Farm Sanctuary

Press Release, Animal Welfare Inst., Jan. 4, 2021

In a huge win for transparency and accountability, the US Department of Agriculture has agreed to publicly disclose on its website records related to the treatment of animals in US slaughter plants to settle a lawsuit filed by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and Farm Sanctuary. Marian Payson, a federal magistrate judge for the US District Court for the Western District of New York, approved the settlement yesterday.

The 2018 complaint alleged that the USDA failed to proactively disclose records relating to the enforcement of two laws—the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act—as required by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Read more here.

FOIA News: SCOTUS to consider "consultant corollary" petition

On Friday, January 7, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to grant a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Fifth Circuit case Jobe v. NTSB,. The petition asks the Court to reject the “consultant corollary” doctrine outright or, alternatively, to hold that a “self-interested party helping an agency to investigate its own conduct cannot possibly create “intra-agency” communications.” The docket material is available on SCOTUSblog here.

FOIA News: Backlog of requests worsened at DOD, DOE, HHS, DOJ, and State in FY 2021; improved at Education; steady at Interior

Backlogged FOIA requests increased by double digits in fiscal year 2021 at the Department of Defense; Energy; Health & Human Services; Justice; and State, according to quarterly data available on FOIA.gov. The Department of Education, by contrast, was able to reduce its backlog by double digits, while Interior’s backlog increased by only single digits. Here is a breakdown of the preliminary data:

• Defense: 11% increase, from 16,000 backlogged requests in 2020 to 17,774 in 2021.

• Education: 19% decrease, from 819 backlogged requests in 2020 to 693 in 2021.

• Energy: 22.7% increase, from 554 backlogged requests in 2020 to 680 in 2021.

• HHS: 14% increase, from 8817 backlogged requests in 2020 to 10,053 in 2021

• Interior: 4% increase, from 4100 backlogged requests in 2020 to 4267 in 2021.

• DOJ: 38% increase, from 36,018 backlogged requests in 2020 to 50,017 in 2021.

• State: 15.8% increase, from 13,798 backlogged requests in 2020 to 15,984 in 2021.

Other cabinets agencies have not yet entered data in FOIA.gov for all four quarters of FY 2021. Agencies were required to provide their FY 2021 annual reports to DOJ’s Office of Information Policy for review by November 15, 2021, and they must post their annual reports online by March 1, 2021.

FOIA News: FERC wins Exemption 6 case at D.C. Circuit

DC Circ. Sides With FERC Over Nonprofit's FOIA Suit

By Clark Mindock, Law360, Dec. 20, 2021

The D. C. Circuit has said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission need not provide more than the initials and street names of property owners potentially impacted by a now-discontinued pipeline project, rejecting a nonprofit's claims that full names were necessary. A three-judge panel said Friday that the Niskanen Center had failed to identify an overriding public interest that would compel the federal agency to disclose the full names and addresses of landowners who own property along the pipeline's path since the nonprofit would've been able to figure out those contacts from the offered information. While the Niskanen Center had argued the Freedom. . .

Read more here (accessible with free 7-day trial)

Copy of decision here.

FOIA News: DOJ updates Exemptions 4 and 7(F) of FOIA Guide

On December 16, 2021, the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy issued updated versions of Exemption 4 and Exemption 7(F) of the Guide to the Freedom of Information Act.

FOIA News: Congressmen seek to expedite COVID FOIA requests

Reps Roy, Norman launch effort to bring transparency on COVID FOIA requests

Press Release, Office of Rep. Chip Roy, Dec. 17, 2021

On Thursday, Rep. Chip Roy (TX-21) and Rep. Ralph Norman (SC-05), joined by several of their House colleagues, introduced the Answer COVID FOIAs Now Act to require current outstanding COVID-related FOIA requests to be completed within 100 days. The introduction follows reports that the Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency (PHMPT) is suing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for failure to produce requested documents via FOIA and asking to have until 2097 to do so.

* * *

This bill would ensure expedited processing of COVID-related FOIA requests.

COVID-related FOIAs are those that relate to:

• A drug or medical device to treat, prevent, or mitigate COVID-19;

• Gain-of-function or potential pandemic pathogen (P3) research;

• A policy, rule, or standard requiring vaccination of individuals.

If agency heads fail to complete the requests within 100 days, a penalty of $1 million would be taken from the office of the head of the federal agency and transferred to the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program.

* * *

Full text of the legislation is available at the link here.

See full press release here.

FOIA News: ICE defends withholding of docs on state judge who aided illegal alien

ICE Looks To Escape Suit Seeking Mass. Judge Docs

By Alyssa Aquino, Law360, Dec. 15, 2021

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement urged a Massachusetts court to end litigation seeking records on a state court judge accused of helping an undocumented immigrant evade ICE custody, saying that certain sought-after documents would harm pending criminal proceedings if released. The agency said it has already released dozens of pages of information compiled during its investigation of Judge Shelley Richmond Joseph and court officer Wesley MacGregor, Judge Joseph's alleged accomplice. But the agency has claimed Exemption 7(A) of the Freedom of Information Act, which allows the government to shield information whose release could interfere with law enforcement proceedings, to withhold three. . .

Read more here (accessible with free trial subscription)