Study shows fewer open records requests being granted (Texas)
12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Federal agencies are granting fewer Freedom of Information Act requests, a study by the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government found.
In 2007, federal agencies granted in full or in part about 60 percent of the requests they received. That's down from 69 percent in 1998.
The coalition, an alliance of journalism groups that support government transparency, examined reports federal agencies must file each year about the processing of their FOIA requests. The study examined reports from 1998 to 2007 for the 25 federal agencies that receive the most third-party FOIA requests. The analysis did not include two agencies that get huge numbers of requests from individuals about themselves – the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration.
In their annual reports, federal departments and agencies cite statistics such as the number of requests they receive, the number they grant or deny, why records were denied and other information relating to FOIA request processing. Amendments to the FOIA in 1996 required agencies, starting in 1998, to submit annual reports to the U.S. Attorney General.
Updates to FOIA passed by Congress last year increased the pieces of information that agencies must put in their annual reports – including more details about processing times and a list of the agency's 10 oldest pending FOIA requests.
Posts
