Policy
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-09-08
FOIA provides that public bodies bear the burden of proof to establish an exemption by a preponderance of the evidence. However, FOIA is silent regarding whether a requester may challenge as an abuse of discretion a decision not to disclose records that are excluded from mandatory disclosure pursuant to a valid exemption, once the exemption…
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-07-08
Failure to respond to a request for records is deemed a denial of the request and a violation of FOIA. Clear communications are essential to FOIA transactions.
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-03-08
FOI Advisory Council discusses exemptions on vendor proprietary records, security system manuals, and school safety audits. Also discussed: duty of government to seek clarification if records request is confusing; failure to identify the volume of records requested that are subject to an exemption; and improperly denying records based on the sheer volume of the request.
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-08-06
Animal licensing records are open to the public under FOIA and §3.1-796.86. Public bodies should not collect from citizens information that will become part of a public record unless such collection is required or necessary to the mission of the public body.
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-07-06
American Society of Civil Engineers is not a public body because its funding comes primarily from grants. Records provided by the body to the Secretary of Transportation or the Department of Rail and Public Transportation would be public records, though. And because of intense public interest, the ASCE "might wish to consider opening the meetings…
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FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-06-06
Opining whether a FOIA provision violates substantive due process under the federal Constitution is beyond the authority of the FOIA Council.
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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-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-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-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-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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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.
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Attorney General’s Opinion 1979-80 #382
The general statement of policy found at the beginning of FOIA is a reflection of the legislative intent of the Act.
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Attorney General’s Opinion 1974-75 #578
Secret-ballot vote at open meeting not permissible. Election of officers by improper secret at an open meeting not valid until vote can be retaken in open session.
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Attorney General’s Opinion 1972-73 #492
If a body’s constituent members get together to discuss public business is discussed and votes are taken, they have had a meeting, regardless of whether the body labels the get-together an informal gathering. Purpose behind FOIA.