FOIA Coordinator by Edward Vielmetti

Michigan Senate SB 49 of 2013 would protect gun owner information from FOIA requests

Prompted by reaction to a New York paper printing an interactive map that showed detailed locations of owners of registered guns, some Michigan legislators are proposing legislation that would exempt gun records from disclosure under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.

The bill is SB 49 of 2013, and full text is available.

On the house side, HB 4001 of 2013 would increase penalties for non-compliance with FOIA laws and would cap copying charges at $0.10 per page.

Also on the house side, HB 4011 of 2013 would exempt 911 calls from disclosure.  

External requests for faculty records under FOIA trigger union notification at Northern Michigan University

The Marquette Mining Journal has a copy of the Northern Michigan University faculty contract. It includes this FOIA clause, designed to trigger an internal records review before release of records which may have personal privacy implications.

www.miningjournal.net/pdf/news/533646_1.pdf

5.4.2.11.2 As to external requests for faculty records:

a. The University agrees to maintain the confidentiality of faculty records to the extent permitted by law. This provision does not impact upon the University's duty to comply with lawfully issued subpoenas, court orders, discovery demands, garnishments, or other such routine information requests required by law, including routine requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act (the FOIA).

b. If the University receives a nonroutine FOIA request for access to faculty records (e.g., a request for specific items from a faculty record which may constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy as provided in a FOIA exception), the University will take reasonable steps to notify the faculty member and the Association of the request. If the University determines it is required to release faculty records pursuant to such a request, it will take reasonable steps to notify the faculty member and the Association of its decision so that the faculty member and/or the Association can respond to the decision before the release of the records, with the understanding that the University must meet statutory time lines.

There is, as you might expect, a tension between personal privacy and public records when things like individual performance evaluations are included. This particular clause allows ample time for a "reverse FOIA" lawsuit to be filed should the faculty member decide to fight the records release.

Northwest Herald seeks former McHenry County College president Walt Packard's performance evaluations in face of FOIA denials

The Northwest Herald (Illinois) pursues a story on the performance evaluations of former McHenry County College president Walt Packard, which the college refuses to disclose. 

McHenry County College this week again refused a Northwest Herald Freedom of Information Act request to release the contents of its former president’s evaluations. The college repeatedly has cited the personal privacy exemption in FOIA in denying us the information.

Personal privacy exemptions vary from state to state in the small matters of detail that are relevant. Here is detail from the Illinois Attorney General FOIA FAQ:

Personal information that, if disclosed, would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, unless the disclosure is consented to in writing by the person who is the subject of the information.  Under FOIA, the “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” means the “disclosure of information that is highly personal or objectionable to a reasonable person and in which the subject’s right to privacy outweighs any legitimate public interest in obtaining the information.” Disclosing information that relates to the public duties of public employees is not considered an invasion of personal privacy. 

The Herald gets kudos from a reader for its continuing efforts:

I’d like to encourage the Northwest Herald to continue to use FOIA, and continue to remind us all of this very valuable tool. I suggest that citizens learn to use it as well. By its frequent use, it will continue to help us understand our government better.

 

 

Personal privacy: Western Watersheds v Bureau of Land Management

The Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press notes the case of Western Watersheds vs Bureau of Land Management, a FOIA case that hinged on the personal privacy exemption.

A U.S. District Court in Idaho ruled Monday that the public’s right to know outweighed personal privacy interests in a federal Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought against the Bureau of Land Management by two environmental groups, according to court documents.

Their full analysis is here.

The Western Watersheds Project news release says

Conservationists have won a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) today over its refusal to disclose the names and addresses of certain grazing permittees on BLM land. Hon. Candy Dale, Chief Magistrate Judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, ruled in favor of Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians, finding that “the public interest in monitoring the BLM’s rangeland program outweighs the minimal privacy interests held by [grazing] permittees.”

Quite a bit of details of the BLM rangeland program, including the BLM Rangeland Administration System, are online and viewable with no FOIA request. This system is built upon an ESRI platform and has many layers of information, not all of which I have explored; you can generate maps with it