FOIA News: Court upholds majority of EPA's revised FOIA regulations

EPA Beats Challenge to New Freedom of Information Act Process

By Samantha Hawkins, Bloomberg Law, Sept. 13, 2022

• Agency made changes to streamline FOIA requests

• Changes won’t slow FOIA process, judge says

The Environmental Protection Agency defeated claims brought over changes it made to its internal policies for handling Freedom of Information Act requests, after a federal judge in Washington, D.C. ruled that the changes wouldn’t slow down requests or subject them to political interference.

In 2019, the agency removed the option of submitting FOIA requests direct to regional offices of the EPA, authorized the EPA administrator to make final FOIA determinations, authorized agency officials to withhold a portion of a record on the basis of responsiveness, and modified the language related to its aggregation of FOIA requests.

See full article here (subscription required).

Read court’s decision in “Court Opinions” post below.

FOIA News: FOIA Advisory Committee meeting

The Committee is meeting for the second time this month on Wednesday, September 14, 2022, from 10am to noon. Additional meeting information is available here.

FOIA News: FDA finalizes FOIA regulations

The Food and Drug Administration issued a final rule today amending its FOIA regulations, which will become effective on October 13, 2022. The amendments incorporate statutory revisions from 2007 and 2016, and “reflect changes to the organizational structure of FDA, . . . make the FOIA process easier for the public to navigate, and . . . make provisions clearer.”

FOIA News: CNCS finalizes updates to FOIA regulations

The Corporation for National and Community Service has completed the process of amending its FOIA regulations, issuing a final rule appearing in the Federal Register on September 9, 2022. The amendments were made “to reflect changes made in the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 and to make the regulations more user friendly through plain language.” This final rule takes effect on October 11, 2022.

FOIA News: Learning is fundamental, advises DOJ's Chief FOIA Officer

ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY GENERAL VANITA GUPTA HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANCE OF FOIA TRAINING AND NEW E-LEARNING RESOURCES

By DOJ/OIP, FOIA Post, Sept. 8, 2022

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, who also serves as the Department’s Chief FOIA Officer, recently issued a memorandum to agency Chief FOIA Officers and General Counsels emphasizing the importance of FOIA training, underscoring the Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines issued earlier this year.  The memorandum highlights three new training modules that the Office of Information Policy (OIP) has made available to all agencies.   

Read more here.

FOIA News: FOIA Advisory Committee to meet twice in September

The federal Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee will meet on Thursday, September 8, 2022, at 10:00 a.m., and again on Wednesday, September 14, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. The agendas and meeting materials are available here.

FOIA News: Plaintiff seeks to accelerate Volkswagen suit

VW, DOJ Rip Bid To Rush Jones Day Emission Docs FOIA Row

By Linda Chiem, Law360, Sept. 2, 2022

The U. S. Department of Justice and Volkswagen AG have said that a Loyola Marymount University professor cannot shortcut California federal court proceedings to force the release of a confidential Jones Day report on the German automaker's internal investigation into the 2015 emissions-cheating scandal. The DOJ and Volkswagen filed separate briefs Thursday opposing Lawrence P. Kalbers' recent request to expedite proceedings in his Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking to get the DOJ to publicly release Jones Day's findings — which have been kept under wraps for years — on how the "clean diesel" emissions-cheating scandal took shape.

Read more here (accessible with free trial subscription).

FOIA News: SEC files SJM in "Crypto Conflict" case

SEC Seeks Early Win In FOIA Fight Over Crypto Conflict Docs

By Daniel Ducassi. Law360, Sept. 1, 2022

The Securities and Exchange Commission asked a Virginia federal judge on Wednesday to give it an early win in its records dispute with a watchdog group over documents that might reveal former high-ranking SEC officials' conflicts of interest associated with their oversight of cryptocurrency. The SEC said in a court filing that it has already given the group, Empower Oversight Whistleblowers & Research, all the documents it had originally asked for and which the commission could lawfully provide. The SEC argues that any withholding or redaction of documents was legally justified, and that its search process need not be perfect, just reasonably . . .

Read more here (accessible with free trial subscription).

Copy of Complaint here.

FOIA News: CATO gathers FOIA critics to air grievances

The CATO Institute will host an online discussion entitled FOIA and Government Transparency: A Report Card on September 22, 2022, See details here.

FOIA News: OIP issues summary/assessment of CFO reports

SUMMARY AND ASSESSMENT OF AGENCY 2022 CFO REPORTS ISSUED

By DOJ/OIP, FOIA Post, Aug. 30, 2022

Today the Office of Information Policy (OIP) is pleased to release its summary and assessment of agencies’ 2022 Chief FOIA Officer (CFO) Reports.  OIP’s 2022 summary and assessment focuses on steps agencies have taken to improve FOIA administration in five key areas:

• Applying a Presumption of Openness,

• Ensuring Agencies Have Effective Systems for Responding to Requests,

• Increasing Proactive Disclosures,

• Greater Utilization of Technology in FOIA Administration, and

• Improving Timeliness and Reducing Backlogs.

This past March marked the thirteenth year that agency CFOs submitted these reports to the Department of Justice. 

Read more here.