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> The ACLU said that its recent Freedom of Information Act request to better understand the system has been ignored. Now it’s suing to ask a judge to turn over
by dahart 7y ago
> The ACLU said that its recent Freedom of Information Act request to better understand the system has been ignored. Now it’s suing to ask a judge to turn over the documents.
I'm not certain, but it seems like the government ignoring FOIA requests has been an ongoing problem for years. I'm reading FOIA.gov right now, and don't see anything yet, but are there any explicit deadlines for a reply or automatic penalties for dropping requests on the floor instead of replying? Are there good reasons why some requests should be ignored, as opposed to, say, citing an exemption?
- JadeNB 7y ago> I'm reading FOIA.gov right now, and don't see anything yet, but are there any explicit deadlines for a reply or automatic penalties for dropping requests on the floor instead of replying? Technically, 20 days, but that's a farcical joke. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act_(United_States)#Processing_time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act_(Un...
- ritchiea 7y agoI used to have a job that relied on FOIA requests to perform my duties. Like any inter-organizational relationship it took a mix of formal requests and personal contact to get what we needed. And the ease at which we could get our FOIAs filled depended on the gov department budget and morale. You can define policy then structurally drain departments of The resources necessary to execute that policy & their mission.
- rcw4256 7y agoFOIA has no real penalties for noncompliance. In Washington State, our public records law has penalties (legal fees + $100 per day of noncompliance), and as a result, state agencies tend to actually follow it.