FOIA
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-25-04
FOIA requests and responses should be clearly communicated and shold avoid editorial comments so that the process does not become adversarial. Minutes of state agencies created prior to July 1, 2004, may be inadequate representations of what transpired in a meeting; a public body is not required to recreate the actions of a pre-July 1,…
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-22-04
It is the policy of the FOIAC not to issue advisory opinions on matters in pending litigation, or on matters that have already been decided by a judge of competent jurisdiction. Whether or not an entity is a public body is to be measured at the time a request for records is made. Even if…
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Wigand v. Wilkes
Public television and radio station not a public body because less than two-thirds of funding comes from public money, and they do not perform a delegated governmental function.
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-19-04
E-mail exchanges between members of an electoral board do not violate FOIA’s meeting provisions, though to the extent those e-mails relate to the transaction of public business, they are public records subject to disclosure. Centralized repository for e-mail messages between public body memers is a good idea. Before engaging in e-mail discussion of substantive matters,…
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-06-04
Town-created strategic planning committee is a public body. The Onancock Business and Civic Organization is not a public body because, exclusive of public grant funding, it receives only 36% of its funding from governmental monies. FOI Advisory Council cannot advise on what is or should be meaningful citizen participation. Nothing in FOIA prohibits receivers of…
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Beck v. Shelton
FOIA does not apply to members-elect. Exchange of multiple e-mails over a several-hour period not an illegal electronic meeting. Neighborhood meeting no FOIA violation.
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-03-04
When a locality delegates its animal control authority to a third party (in this case, the SPCA, a charitable organization), the records of that party related to its animal control functions are open to the public. When a locality delegates its animal control authority to a third party (in this case, the SPCA, a charitable…
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-01-04
The Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority, an interstate compact between Virginia, D.C. and Maryland, is subject to FOIA because the compact’s terms says that Virginia law applies in cases raised under the compact. Public body may recoup costs of providing records. Records detailing legal advice given to public body may be withheld.
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-20-03
When providing records that have already been assembled for easy public access, the government is not required to charge requesters anything for those records, much less the amount it cost to first compile the records for an earlier requester. Government does not have an obligation to lend out a CD of public records for requesters…
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-19-03
Records held by Barnes & Noble relating to the management of pulbic university bookstores are subject to FOIA if the store is acting as the university’s agent, but not if the store is acting as an independent contractor. University may not frustrate public policy of access to records on the transaction of public business by…
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-18-03
A university student organization supported wholly or principally by public funds is subject to FOIA as an independent body; the parent university is not the custodian of the organization’s records. It is recommended that a FOIA request made of a public body that is not the custodian of the records sought should be forwarded on…
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-15-03
Government employee requests under FOIA should not be treated differently from requests made by citizens; letter admonishing public employee for making a FOIA request goes against the legislative intent of FOIA; as long as records were produced in accordance with FOIA, there is no remedy under the act for the simultaneous abuse of the FOIA…
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-13-03
Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority is a public body subject to FOIA. A press conference attended by a quorum of a public body or committee members representing the body is a meeting under FOIA. Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority may not deny media kits to citizens who request them. Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority may not exclude members…
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-11-03
An exception to the general rule that a public body does not have to create a record that does not exist is when the requested information is for employee salaries. General recommendation that public body and requester work together to clarify requests. General advice to compare information contained in records oneself instead of relying on…
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-09-03
A volunteer fire department that receives roughly 90% of its funds from state and local government sources is a public body subject to FOIA.
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-05-03
A city’s response for a demand of records under a subpoena duces tecum is governed by rules of the Supreme Court, not FOIA, even if those records would otherwise be available under FOIA.
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-17-02
The Halifax Industrial Development Authority is a public body subject to FOIA. The FOI Advisory Council’s formal written and informal opinions are advisory only; they do not carry the enforcement authority of a court ruling.
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-11-02
The FOI Advisory Council does not have authority to interpret the First Amendment. A circuit court is subject to FOIA. If the clerk’s office maintains a digital database of land conveyances, that database must be made accessible to a requester.
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-09-02
Ironbridge Acres, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Petersburg Hospital Authority is a public body subject to FOIA.
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-04-02
Because no general exemption or agency-specific exemption under FOIA, nor a confidentiality mandate in the Virginia Public Procurement Act, applies, draft documents and other records related to the negotiation of contracts must be disclosed. Whether such disclosure would threaten the government’s bargaining position is a matter to be taken up with the General Assembly.
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PETA v. City of Virginia Beach
Virginia Marine Science Museum Foundation is a private entity not subject to FOIA.
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-03-02
Expenditure records of the Department of Housing and Community Development are public records. Where detailed records exist, a summary of the information is not an acceptable response to a request for the actual records.
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-48-01
A nonprofit hospital’s line of credit obtained from an industrial development authority is not enough to establish that the hospital is supported wholly or principally by public funds. A local board’s authority, consisting only of reappointing hospital directors when others resign does not make the hospital into an entity that is performing the board’s delegated…
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Attorney General’s Opinion 2001 #101
Institutional review boards and human research review committees at institutions of higher learning are not public bodies. They are supported wholly or principally by public funds, but they do not perform a delegated function of their parent entities.
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-43-01
Notice of future meetings must be posted at the clerk’s office and a prominent public location. Though FOIA encourages the use of electronic communication via the Internet, the town’s Web site does not qualify as a prominent public location under FOIA’s meeting notice provisions.