Megan Rhyne's blog

I received two comments yesterday from readers about another reader's suggestion for reducing costs from the Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum post earlier this week. The original suggestion came from a frequent records requester in California, and it appears that Virginia law isn't set up in a way to make the suggestion feasible. (p.s. Changes to VCOG Blog are in the works to allow responses to be posted.) Here's the quote the two comments refer to:

According to the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Mississippi, the Magnolia state's open records law says public bodies can charge the "actual cost" for providing the records. "Who knew those two words could be interpreted in so many ways?" the center asks in its spring newsletter.

 

The law is the law is the law.

 

We can have heartfelt and earnest discussions about whether certain laws should exist. We can also reasonably debate the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law.

 

Under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, we should also add to the mix the role common sense plays in the law’s application.

 

Maybe the fact that the law is weighted in favor of the citizen leads some individuals who fill FOIA requests to relay on the strict interpretation of the law when requests are made of them.

 

A few weeks ago I talked about the great tips and strategies suggested by David Cuillier in his Access Across America talk. Between the things Cuillier had to say during the presentation, the fantastic handouts and Cuillier’s book, The Art of Access, there are so many helpful suggestions that it’s hard to pick among as candidates for further exploration.

 

Public records in Virginia are presumed open. As such, they must be disclosed upon request unless a law in another part of the Virginia (or, possibly federal) law prohibits it. Period.

 

But, wait a minute, what about exemptions to disclosure in FOIA? Don’t those prohibit disclosure?

 

No, no they don’t.

 

FOIA’s 142-some-odd exemptions are discretionary. They do not require disclosure, they do not prohibit disclosure. Instead, they allow records to be withheld in the custodian’s discretion.

 

It happened again today.

 

Some FOIA issues come up over and over and over. Usually, it’s an overarching issue with lots of possible permutations. That is, maybe it’s an issue having to do with response time, but there are a thousand different scenarios. Or, maybe it’s about exemptions, but there are over 120 exemptions and thus at least 120 different issues.