The National Freedom of Information Coalition joined Reinvent Albany in urging New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign a bill that would enhance the state’s Freedom of Information Law. “We are asking you to sign this bill into law as part of a new and sincere commitment to fostering greater transparency in our state,” reads […]
Tag: FOIL
Foiled by FOIL: How NYC agency has dragged out a request for public records for nearly a year.
Ten months ago, three teenaged boys who had escaped from a group home in Brooklyn were arrested for the violent assault and rape of a woman in Manhattan. The boys had been placed in the home as part of a program run by New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services, which had been seeking alternatives to formal detention facilities for troubled youngsters caught up in the juvenile justice system.
[…]
New records gained under legislative FOIL would likely be minimal in New York
A provision in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget proposal to fully subject the Legislature to the Freedom of Information Law would be unlikely to lead to a torrent of new records being made available to the public.
The idea has widespread support in the transparency community, but some advocates think the governor’s top priority should be ensuring that existing FOIL requirements imposed on the executive branch work as smoothly as possible.
[…]
Read More… from New records gained under legislative FOIL would likely be minimal in New York
FOIL’d: The pursuit of open records in New York
Headquarters for New York City’s health and police departments are separated by the East River, but they might as well be worlds apart when it comes to transparency.
In December, identical public record requests for a list of employees were sent to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the New York City Police Department. Continue>>>
======
[…]
Read More… from FOIL’d: The pursuit of open records in New York
Editorial: The People’s Law Turns 40
The other day, a local woman approached a Gazette editor and regaled him with tales of her experience trying to get information from a local government.
She complained that her request for information wasn't honored in a timely manner, that government officials kept pushing back the date of when they said the information would be available, and then threatened her if she continued to badger them.
[…]
EDITORIAL: Cuomo administration blocks transparency
Forty years ago, the New York State Legislature adopted the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) and declared the government needed to be 'responsive and responsible to the public,' but most of all that 'the government is the public's business.'
The Legislature got it right. And 40 years later, it is almost impossible to imagine any citizen arguing against the sentiments expressed in that legislative declaration.
[…]
Read More… from EDITORIAL: Cuomo administration blocks transparency
Cuomo’s office tightly controls public records
Gov. Andrew Cuomo took office four years ago promising the most transparent administration in history, but journalists and advocacy groups say his office instead tightly controls requests for public records on anything controversial and routinely delays or denies their release.
[…]
Read More… from Cuomo’s office tightly controls public records
State Tax Department worker researched GOP official who filed FOIL request
A state tax official conducted a background research on a Republican party official after receiving a public information request, the Daily News has learned.
Without mentioning his job, Joe Uddo, who is the political director for the state GOP, had filed a ìFreedom of Information Law' request on Aug. 22 with the tax department seeking to understand why some taxpayers had been disqualified from a property tax exemption program.
[…]
Read More… from State Tax Department worker researched GOP official who filed FOIL request