DOL Appeals EEO-1 FOIA Ruling to Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
By Lauren B. Hicks and Emily M. Halliday, Ogletree Deakins, Feb. 27, 202
On February 15, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking review of a district court ruling that ordered the DOL to release federal contractors’ 2016–2020 Type 2 Consolidated EEO-1 Reports to the Center for Investigative Reporting and one of its reporters.
Read more here.
The Department of Justice has released its FOIA annual report for fiscal year 2023, and the numbers are impressive. Below is a summary of the key data.
Requests received: 110,934, an 18.8 percent increase from 93,370 requests received in FY2022.
Requests processed: 144.065, a 73.8 percent increase from 82,868 requests processed in FY2022. The Executive Office for Immigration Review alone processed over 104k requests and nearly 34k more than it received (70,475).
Backlogged requests: 43,927, down 32.4 percent from 64,982 at the end of FY2022.
Appeals received: 2044, nearly the same as in FY2022 (2048)
Appeals processed: 2126, the same number as FY2022 (2126)
Backlogged appeals: 240, a 25 percent decrease from FY2022 (321).
Total costs: $111,990,580, with $93.32 million in administrative costs and $18.66 million in litigation costs. Total costs in FY2023 were 12.3 percent higher than in FY2022 ($99.72 million).
The Department of Transportation posted its FOIA FY 2023 annual report on Friday, which may or may not have been an intentional news dump. As you’ll see below, the key data is pretty mediocre.
Requests received: 17,136 a 10 percent decrease from FY 2022, when it received 19,090 requests.
Requests processed: 16,458, a 13 percent decrease from FY 2022, when it processed 18,958 requests.
Backlog of requests: 5,913, up 10 percent from 5,362 at end of FY 2022.
Appeals received: 78, which is 22 percent lower than in FY 2022 (100).
Appeals processed: 78, which is 90 percent higher than in FY 2022 (41)
Backlog of appeals: 229, up 3 percent from 222 at the end of FY 2022.
Costs: A total of S18.67 million, with $17.95 million in administrative costs and nearly $719k in litigation costs. The department’s total costs in FY 2023 were 23 percent higher than its total costs in FY 2022 ($15.15 million).
Processing time: The FAA took about one year to process its administrative appeals. Half of all perfected and “complex” requests to OIG took about 500 days or more to complete.
The Department of Labor has released its annual FOIA report for FY 2023. Here is a summary of the key data:
Requests received: 14,282 a 1.4 percent decrease from FY 2022, when it received 14.495 requests.
Requests processed: 14,219, a less than 1 percent decrease from FY 2022, when it processed 14,332 requests.
Backlog of requests: 1,468, up 12.4 percent from 1,306 at end of FY 2022.
Appeals received: 199, which is 7,5 percent higher than in FY 2022 (185).
Appeals processed: 192, which is 4.4 percent lower than in FY 2022 (201)
Backlog of appeals: 286, the same number at the end of FY 2022.
Costs: A total of S21.05 million, with $20.25 million in administrative costs and nearly $803k in litigation costs. The department’s total costs in FY 2023 were 14.9 percent higher than its total costs in FY 2022 ($18.32 million).
National Archives to Host Sunshine Week Panel on Artificial Intelligence and Government Access
Press Release, Nat’l Archives & Records Admin., Feb. 22, 2024
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will host a panel discussion on “Artificial Intelligence: The Intersection of Public Access and Open Government'' Thursday, March 14, at 1 p.m. ET. This program is being offered during Sunshine Week, an annual nationwide celebration of access to public information. The event will be in person at the William G. McGowan Theater at the National Archives in Washington, DC, and livestreamed on the National Archives YouTube Channel.
Read more here.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will amend its FOIA regulations in accordance with a notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register on February 22, 2024. The updated regulations will add provisions concerning expediting requests and appeals and remove language regarding substantial competitive harm from its submitter notice provisions. Public comments may be submitted through April 22, 2024.
Department of Justice Sunshine Week 2024 Celebration
DOJ/OIP, FOIA Post, Feb. 21, 2024
We invite you to join the Department of Justice for this year’s kick-off to Sunshine Week in person and online. On Monday, March 11, 2024 from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm, the Department will hold its annual Sunshine Week celebration event in the Great Hall. Established in 2010, this will mark the fourteenth 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.
The event will include the Department’s annual Sunshine Week FOIA Awards Ceremony to honor and celebrate the work of dedicated FOIA professionals across the government.
The event will also be broadcast via livestream at www.justice.gov/live.
See more here.
The Department of the Interior, whose request backlog increased nearly 200 percent between FY 2017 and FY 2022, has released its annual FOIA report for FY 2023. Here is a summary of the notable data:
Requests received: 7,085 a 10 percent increase from FY 2022, when it received 6.405 requests.
Requests processed: 7,388, a nearly 20 percent increase from FY 2022, when it processed 6,167 requests.
Backlog of requests: 4,320, down 10 percent from 4,808 at end of FY 2022.
Appeals received: 205, which is just over 10 percent higher than in FY 2022 (229).
Appeals processed: 299, which is just under 10 percent higher than in FY 2022 (273)
Backlog of appeals: 217, down nearly 31 percent from 314 in FY 2022.
Costs: A total of S18.14 million, with $17.35 million in administrative costs and $794k in litigation costs. The department’s total costs in FY 2023 were 2.3 percent lower than its total costs in FY 2022 ($18.57 million).
The Department of Health and Human Services, whose FOIA request load often places it in the top five government-wide, has released its annual FOIA report for fiscal year 2023. Here is a summary of the notable data:
Requests received: 46,530, an increase of nearly 21 percent from FY 2022, when it received 38,462 requests.
Requests processed: 47,038, an increase of 26 percent from FY 2022, when it processed 37,241 requests.
Backlog of requests: 11,256, down one-half percent from 11,320 at end of FY 2022.
Appeals received: 466, which is just shy of 6 percent higher than in FY 2022 (440).
Appeals processed: 411, which is 14 percent lower than in FY 2022 (478)
Backlog of appeals: 640, up 10 percent from 581 in FY 2022.
Costs: A total of S39.7 million, with $32.23 million in administrative costs and $7.46 million in litigation costs. This is approximately 18 percent higher than total costs in FY 2022 ($33.5 million).