Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Direct link to this page: foia.globe1234.com

General FOIA Links

 

Filing for Federal Information:

How Long Will You Wait for Federal Information?

Major Agencies

Simple Requests, Median Weeks

Complex Requests, Median Weeks

No. of FOIA Requests Received in FY2016

DHS

2

16

325,780

DOJ

3

18

 73,103

DoD

3

20

 53,544

NARA

3

 122

 49,966

VA

1

4

 34,459

HHS

3

9

 34,232

SSA

2

14

 29,631

State

33

78

 27,961

USDA

0

5

 23,870

EEOC

4

6

 17,680

U.S. DOL

1

2

 16,196

SEC

1

0

 14,458

DOT

3

4

 13,800

Treasury

1

4

 12,368

EPA

3

9

 10,403

OPM

0

4

 10,189

DOI

1

3

6,428

PBGC

1

3

3,713

USPS

1

5

2,718

NLRB

5

 -

2,679

CIA

6

31

2,547

ED

1

9

2,445

HUD

3

8

2,345

DOC

3

9

2,026

DOE

3

14

1,974

FTC

1

3

1,260

SBA

1

4

1,116

GSA

2

7

957

FCC

3

29

836

NASA

2

5

834

USNRC

1

5

785

FRB

1

7

728

U.S. CPSC

3

9

702

CSOSA

4

8

627

NTSB

88

18

471

FDIC

2

5

465

CFPB

2

7

442

ODNI

1

47

382

USAID

3

22

377

NSF

3

6

348

US Average

5

23

759,842

 

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US Justice Department:

 

Regulations:

Besides the law, each federal agency publishes regulations (also called rules) to carry out the law. To find them try a search engine, after you change name_of_agency to the agency you want:

There is another search at ecfr.gov, but it is not as complete. Agencies also have internal guidance, which MuckRock obtained by FOIAs. They focus on just one of the exemptions, but include guidance on other issues.

 

FOIA at Medicare, Health and Human Services

Like other agencies, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has rules for FOIAs, and each major office in HHS also has rules. The overall HHS rules on FOIAs, adopted in 2016 are at:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/10/28/2016-25684/freedom-of-information-regulations

 

Former rules at HHS were in effect for decades and are at:

https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2015-title45-vol1/pdf/CFR-2015-title45-vol1-part5.pdf

 

There were lots of changes. For example on appeals, after they deny a FOIA, an improvement in the new rules is:

Worse in the new rules:

It is not clear how these HHS rules interact with separate FOIA rules at sub-agencies of HHS. For example the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has its own rules, which still say 30 days to appeal, and do not address the freeze in processing during a lawsuit. CMS rules are at

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/42/part-401/subpart-B

and CMS also has policies at

http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/FOIA/Downloads/FOIAProcessingPolicyProceduresGuide-.pdf

 

Example of a FOIA for Documents which Medicare Gives to Accountable Care Organizations

Text of FOIA from Paul Burke submitted online July 15, 2013, Control # 071620137079

Denied Feb 25, 2015 in a letter from Medicare, then released June 8, 2016

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