Public Access Opinion 17-015

Failure to Respond to a FOIA Request

Freedom of Information Act - FOIA
Case: Public Access Opinion 17-015
Date: Thursday, December 28, 2017

The Office of the Governor violated FOIA by failing to comply with, deny in whole or in part, or otherwise appropriately respond to a FOIA request. On September 14, 2017, an individual submitted a request for a log of FOIA requests received by the Governor since July 1, 2017. The requestor received no response and subsequently requested the PAC review the Governor’s failure to respond. The PAC found that the Governor violated Section 3(d) of FOIA by failing to provide the requested records or to respond in writing to the FOIA request. The PAC ordered the Governor’s Office to immediately provide all records in response to the FOIA requestor, subject only to any permissible redactions under Section 7.

This opinion is binding only to the parties involved and may be appealed pursuant to State law.