Things To Know About Public Records Request Response

 

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was passed by the Congress in 1966, and it allows any person (citizen or not) to request records in possession and control of a Federal agency as well as its components. While the definition of records varies from one state to another, but a record can be in the form of books, maps, papers, machine-readable materials, photographs as well as information stored electronically like blog posts, websites, email, chat logs, and SMS messages.

 So how does public records request response work? When agencies get a records request, they must be in a position to provide access to the public records within a specified time frame. But due to the fact that FOIA laws also vary per state, it can be a bit confusing how long a particular state has to respond to a request. For instance, Vermont has the shortest timeframe (2 days) while Maryland has the longest timeframe (30 days).

Close to 25 percent of all states skew towards 3 to 5 days while a little over a third are 7days or longer. 5 states, which make up 10 percent of the country, merely require a “prompt” response, meaning that there is little to stop the public offices from those states from simply ignoring someone’s requests. But there are some states, such as New York, which have a very formal appeals process that specifies that agencies failing to respond to requests within the legally-mandated timeframe of 5 days are in violation of the law.

In order to ensure that public records are more accessible and the request process is streamlined, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as well as the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a directive that provides guidance and the timelines for electronic records retention. From the end 2019, federal agencies are supposed to manage all permanent records in an electronic format.

For more information on public records request response, visit our website at https://www.telemessage.com/

 

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