Q&A: Heat, fire, and water

Q.  To which component of the U.S. Dep't of Health and Human Services should I send a request concerning the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program?

A.  You might wish to submit your request to HHS's Administration for Children & Families (ACF), which administers the program.  Here is information about submitting a request to ACF:  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/submit-a-foia-request.

Q.  How do I file a request to DC Fire and Emergency Management Services in Washington, D.C.?

A.  You may submit a FOIA request to D.C. Fire & EMS via this web portal:  https://foia-dc.gov/palMain.aspx.

Q.  How do I make FOIA request to the Coast Guard about an injury that occurred on a vessel in 2013.   

A.  To  submit a FOIA request to the U.S. Coast Guard, just follow the instructions here:  https://www.uscg.mil/foia/. 

Q&A: Museums in New York

Q. Are New York State chartered museums exempt from FOIA requests?

A. Whether New York's Freedom on Information Law ("FOIL") applies to an incorporated (i.e., chartered) museum depends upon the degree of control exercised by government officials.  For example, in 2005,  the Appellate Division affirmed a New York County Supreme Court case in which the court determined that the Metropolitan Museum of Art was outside FOIL's  coverage.  In considering its status in relation to that statute, the court found that:

the Museum is a not-for-profit educational corporation controlled by a Board of Trustees consisting of 40 self-elected individuals.  The City retains no authority to hire or fire the Museum’s Director or President, and no City representatives sit on the Executive Committee, although five of seven ex-officio Trustees are City officials.  Moreover, the Museum’s operating and capital budgets are primarily privately funded, and its budgets are not subject to City approval or public hearings.

Since, as the Supreme Court correctly held, the Museum is not controlled by municipal officials, there is no danger that they can act through the Museum in order to shield their actions from public scrutiny, and FOIL’s overriding purpose of promoting open and accessible government... a hallmark of a free society (Matter of Russo v. Nassau County Community College, 81 NY2d 690, 697, 603 NYS2d 294 [1993]), is not implicated [Metropolitan Museum Historic District v. DeMontebello, 20 AD3d 28 at 37-38, 796 NYS2d 64 at 71 (1st Dept. 2005)].

Q&A: immigration in Seattle

Q.  How do I find immigration records of a family coming to America through the port of Seattle in 1956?

A.  All immigrants admitted since May 1, 1951 should be entirely documented in an A-File, a unified folder intended to hold all records related to one individual. A-Files numbered 8 million and above (arrived May 1, 1951 and after) are available through the USCIS Freedom of Information Act Program (FOIA).

Q&A: video footage from nightclub

Q.  Can I obtain video from nightclub were I was assaulted by the bouncers?

A.  Generally speaking, the federal Freedom of Information Act and State open record laws apply to government entities only, not to private establishments.  You might be able to obtain any security camera footage, or at least prevent it from being discarded or erased, if you file a lawsuit against the establishment or file a complaint with local police.  In that regard, I can only recommend that you consult with an attorney licensed in your State.

Q&A: financial records concerning Camp Wonder Hands, Columbia, SC

Q.  How can I use the FOIA to receive the financial report for Camp Wonder Hands since 1998?  

A.  As you probably know, Camp Wonder Hands is sponsored by Palmetto Health Children's Hospital and funded by the hospital and through private, civic, and corporate contributions, including from the Palmetto Health Foundation. The Children's Hospital is part of Palmetto Health, a nonprofit public benefit corporation.  The North Carolina Public Records Law applies to "every public office, public officer or official, institution, board, commission, bureau, council, department, authority or other unit of government of the state or of any county, unit, special district or other political subdivision of government." G.S. 132-1. In 1981, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that the expense accounts of the president and board of directors of  the Wake County Hospital System were required to be disclosed under public records law.  News and Observer Pub. Co. v. Wake County Hospital System, 284 S.E.2d 542, 55 N.C.App. 1 (N.C. App. 1981).  Therefore. you might wish to submit a Public Records Law request to the above-referenced entities. 

Note that if you are interested in the Palmetto Health Foundation's financial statements, they can be located on its website here:  http://www.palmettohealthfoundation.org/body-NoRightMenu.cfm?id=48&oTopID=53.  On page 27 of the following document, for example, you'll see a line item for Camp Wonder Hands:  http://www.palmettohealthfoundation.org/documents/Foundation/YE%2009-30-2014%202013.pdf.

Q&A: may Dep't of Labor withhold names and addresses of physicians?

Q.  I just received a response from the DOL Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation in which it denied releasing the names and address of doctors performing impairment evaluations of former employees.  I understand that the names and address information of the former employees would remain private.  In this case, aren’t the doctors acting as contractors for the agency?  And it’s not their personal information but their business addresses that are at issue.

A.  I assume that DOL cited Exemption 6 of the FOIA (personal privacy) as the basis for withholding the records you requested.  Balancing the privacy interests of individuals against the public interest in disclosure can be a challenging process and reasonable individuals can disagree about the outcome even when the facts are undisputed.  Having said that, I can tell you that at least one district court has decided in favor of DOL in a case involving the identifying information of examining physicians   See Brown v. Perez (D. Colo. 2014).  I hope this is helpful.

Q&A: access to names of federal job applicants

Q.   Can a requester request the names of candidates that were interviewed for a position/job in the federal government? I know that when a requester requests the names of individuals who are on the job certificate, they only see their name/information and no one else.  

A.  Courts consistently have found that agencies may withhold information about unsuccessful applicants on the grounds that their privacy interests outweigh the public interests in disclosure.  See, e.g., Neary v. Fed. Deposit Ins. Corp. (D.D.C. 2015) (ruling that agency properly withheld identifying information of rejected interviewees under Exemption 6 of the FOIA).

Q&A: bid information from University of Florida

Q.   I  requested bid information from the University of Florida and received no response within the time limit.  What are my options?

A.    As you may know, the Florida Public Records Act does not identify the specific number of days within which a public entity must respond to a public records request.   If a response in unreasonably delayed, however, you may seek mediation through the Office of the Attorney General Open Government Mediation Program, file a complaint with your local state attorney, or file a lawsuit in court.

Please note that certain bid information is exempt from disclosure.  See statutory text below:

119.071 General exemptions from inspection or copying of public records.—

(1) AGENCY ADMINISTRATION.—

(a) Examination questions and answer sheets of examinations administered by a governmental agency for the purpose of licensure, certification, or employment are exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. A person who has taken such an examination has the right to review his or her own completed examination.

(b)  1. For purposes of this paragraph, “competitive solicitation” means the process of requesting and receiving sealed bids, proposals, or replies in accordance with the terms of a competitive process, regardless of the method of procurement.

2. Sealed bids, proposals, or replies received by an agency pursuant to a competitive solicitation are exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution until such time as the agency provides notice of an intended decision or until 30 days after opening the bids, proposals, or final replies, whichever is earlier.

3. If an agency rejects all bids, proposals, or replies submitted in response to a competitive solicitation and the agency concurrently provides notice of its intent to reissue the competitive solicitation, the rejected bids, proposals, or replies remain exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution until such time as the agency provides notice of an intended decision concerning the reissued competitive solicitation or until the agency withdraws the reissued competitive solicitation. A bid, proposal, or reply is not exempt for longer than 12 months after the initial agency notice rejecting all bids, proposals, or replies.

4. This paragraph is subject to the Open Government Sunset Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand repealed on October 2, 2016, unless reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.

(c) Any financial statement that an agency requires a prospective bidder to submit in order to prequalify for bidding or for responding to a proposal for a road or any other public works project is exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution.

Q&A: FOIA statute of limitations

Q.  I submitted a FOIA request back in 2001 and more than 75% of the records were "blacked out."  I then filed an administrative appeal, which was denied [also in 2001].  How do I go about requesting judicial review?  

A.  You may not file a lawsuit based upon the agency's adverse determination in 2001, because the statute of limitations is six years.  See 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2401(a).  You may, however, submit a duplicate request at any time, re-appeal any withholdings, and then file a lawsuit within six years.  See Spannaus v. U.S Dep't of Justice, 824 F.2d 52, 61 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (commenting that appellant, who had missed the deadline to file a lawsuit, could "simply refile his FOIA request tomorrow and restart the process"). 

Q&A: information on corporation in New York

Q.  Where can I find Freedom of Information Act form for the State of New York? I downloaded a form from the NY Attorney General's office, but it does not appear to be the one I want.  Simply, I need incorporation information for a business in New York.  

A.  The State of New York does not require the use of any particular form in order to make a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request.  You may write a standard letter,  To obtain information about a New York corporation, you might wish to navigate the web site of the New York Department of State, which has a searchable business database:  http://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/bus_entity_search.html.  If the information you seek is not included in that database, then a FOIL request to the Department of State would be a reasonable next step.