The agency will grant a fee waiver when disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations and activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. Requests for fee waivers from individuals who are seeking records pertaining to themselves usually do not meet this standard.

Does this mean that generally you would have a fee for making a first-party request?

I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask, so apologies in advance if it is not.

Long story short, my partner got arrested a few months back. They were charged with a misdemeanor, and are currently awaiting a court date. They were drunk when the incident occurred, and cannot recall many details of the night. Out of pure curiosity, I want to file an FOIA for their police report. But I don’t want my partner to know about it because it is still a sore topic.

Will they be notified when I file an FOIA? I know that FOIA requests are technically public records. If they aren’t notified, how easy would it be for them to find out I filed one? Will my name be attached to the request?

Trying to get info on FEMA funding received for a specific house in Florida that is contested. Is this something where FOIA would be required, or are there datasets where I can drill down into addresses, names, and specific amounts received? (Found aggregate IHP data, but no specific addresses listed)

I am looking for funding that was dispersed in the last month, which may present another problem.

I have reached out with this inquiry to the Fema-Foia email, fwiw.

I opened up a third-party FOIA request a few months ago for military start dates (particularly basic training) of a particular individual.  I supplied their full name (a not particularly common name), their exact date of birth, and a few other facts about their current military assignment.  After 2 months, I received a response that NO RECORD could be found of that individual.  I supplied further evidence that the information I supplied was correct and asked them to reopen the request and give it priority since I’ve already been waiting for 2 months.  They have not responded to that request.  A week ago, I sent an email to the FOIA Public Liaison Officer for that military branch asking them to advise me.  I haven’t gotten a response to that either.  All of my communication in this matter has been via email, except the official response of NO RECORDS was provided by US Postal Service.

Any ideas what is going on?  Are my expectations too high for what seems like a simple answer to a question that is not particularly invasive to the privacy of that individual. 

I applied for CBP got to the background investigation were I was told I was ineligible. Naturally I wanted to know the reason why so I applied for FOIA request and got it. All they sent was my background stuff I filled out in the EQIP with no explanation on the determination. Did I fill out it wrong or will they not actual tell me the reason for being ineligible?

I am one of many victims in a criminal case that ended with the perpetrator pleading guilty to multiple counts and being sentenced to 60 years in prison. The case should be closed now, but I heard unofficially (but from a victim advocate at the courthouse not through rumor) that the perpetrator has appealed his sentencing.

There was a lot of confusion for me during the three-ish years that this took, and now I have known for over a year about this potential for the sentence to change. I want something I can look at to try and stand what happened. But the prosecutor isn’t getting back to me, the coordinator says I have to talk to the prosecutor. The court clerk says I have to come in person to make any requests (and I live 6 states away! A 2 day drive).

I’m wondering if what I need to do is submit a FOIA, and I have no idea how to begin. Should I try to find a lawyer? If so would it need to be a lawyer where I live or in the state where the court is?

Can one FOIA obtain info from both police and court?

I had a great relationship with our investigator at the state police but haven’t spoken to him in almost two years. I also had a great relationship with our prosecutor but she is now a judge.

I just don’t know where to start. Any suggestions are appreciated!

I suspect that my Bureau of Internal affairs report has been closed for a very unique reason. Can I FOIA it?

I made an FOI request 11 months ago, 3 weeks ago the request status changed to Searching For Records.

Does anyone know how long it takes once it reach's this stage?

In response to a FOIA request, the government agency has asked to have a video call with the requester to clarify the request. Is this unusual?

I was recently asked by my local municipality if I'd be interested in helping with a commitee to value a service provider and to investigate the cost increases to help better understand the need and to see if there is any other alternative solutions. The reason I was asked is years of experience in this area. It's a non paid volunteer committee, over the past few months we have met to discuss the issues, evaluate costs, toss ideas around, plan discuss etc on what is the best path forward. We are suppose to report our " reccomended solutions" to the town council who will then decide what path to take. Recently we met with a competitor to the current service provider. Of course someone in the competitors team leaked an email that we were meeting. The current service provider has now submitted a FOIA request for any emails from my address ( which is my company provided email as no one told me to set up a separate email account for this type stuff) The list of generic terms that's being ask for crosses over into tons of stuff unrelated to my public volunteer "job". As my employer is in the same general field. Example would be the word water, if my company was a septic company and the foia requester was in the public water business. My job has nothing to do with this business but uses similar word or phrases. Being that I was asked to produce every instance of these phrases it opens up my employer to a lot of harm. Currently my employer is unaware of the situation. As I wanted to meet with the towns legal council first. Has anyone heard or dealt with similar?

Topic (facts): Mulberry, GA, a new city in NE Gwinnett County, GA, was approved as a city in 2024 by the GA legislature, signed by the governor in three days, and approved by residents. By law, the city cannot collect taxes and is mandated to provide key services like zoning, code enforcement, and sanitation. Mulberry claims that they will not charge property taxes, and will only provide the three mandated services to residents.

Gwinnett County sued the State of Georgia, arguing that Mulberry's creation is illegal, partly because the city cannot charge property taxes, leaving county residents to cover any unpaid bills.

News article: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/gwinnett-county-files-lawsuit-against-state-over-constitutionality-of-new-city-of-mulberry/ [there is additional content on Google News, however, please see the lawsuit analysis at the bottom for detailed information]

FOIA paperwork/context:

Main File (225MB): https://file.io/wUMdyBduUUDI
Copy of lawsuit (13MB): https://file.io/va8Ud4Gp7c88

Analysis of above lawsuit: https://youtu.be/8rBJQ9uuGhQ?si=Gr1MebiAYbyHshZu

Submitting FOIA for county jail tablet records Allen County Indiana. Any advice? From anywhere?

This has been my status since August. I’ve emailed and written letters to contact me to discuss the next steps and I’ve heard nothing back. What can I do ? Just continue to wait ? Could muckrock help with this ? Thx

There was an event that affected my close family and I want to request a FOIA to retrieve more information and possibly footage of what exactly happened.

Since this event was somewhat popular I don't want the FOIA request to be public however I don't know how to approach this exactly.

I researched and read that many people use Muckrock, I don't know any other similar website but I remember that I once requested something on Muckrock and it was a public request.

Unfortunately I also can't afford a lawyer or something to assist me with this.

Are there any easy and cost effective ways to request FOIAs and not make it a public record?

I apologize if there are slight errors in the wording, I am not completely familiar with all of the legal terms.

Long post ahead! So I work for a city in missouri i was a wastewater supervisor. 28 years of service and here's the story.... we have all new people in city hall and this new lady has my budget-300% for the year always and can't answer how or why.. fast forward i was in a work accident backed 1 truck into another my prescription pain meds showed up in urine and this is where she starts trying to get revenge!!! They made me stay home and not step on property until I turned in ALL my meds and what they could cause! I said you can have my pain med info and that's it next i had to see work comp dr a week later he says 95% accident was caused because I'm over worked and short staffed NOT the prescription pain meds I have been on since 2016 with no dose change! I turned that in and caught her talking to city attorney on phone with 4 other city employees is there anyway I can request phone records to prove she was on phone to attorney? Can I ask for closed session council minutes where they discussed me? I was harassed,bullied, and degraded into quiting my job that I loved for 28 years

I put in this request to prove a investigation is closed and I was found innocent in order to get my discharge code updated (General to Honorable) I haven’t checked it in prob two weeks I haven’t received anything in the mail and looking at my inbox on the email I provided (although it is cluttered) I can’t seem to find it in my inbox either, is there a way I can see the day the documents were “sent” and what email would it be under if it was virtually because I’ve tried every keyword I can think of, thanks for the help!

Hi. I was on a flight out of BDL in 2016, but after door closed and we started taxiing, there was an incident with a passenger and plane had to go back to gate. I have the flight number. Is there any way I can get the incident report? Somewhere to search, FOIA if needed?

Thank you so so much. This is unexpectedly really important to me now, and anything to find and expedite would be beyond amazing. Thank you.

https://preview.redd.it/k3abcwzp0std1.jpg?width=2230&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30b3602c9bd4b7bb226491174773ed7fddf9973e

This 'FOIA lady' stuff is a bit crazy to even believe is happening. https://www.freedommag.org/news/nih-and-senior-staffers-evade-foia-c95535

Especially those with absolutely no known records of any kind. What could one expect to see under those circumstances? School Records, Credit Information, Employment Records, Health Information? Would very much appreciate info from those who have been through this process!!!

Anyone ever have luck with congress member getting it?

About three months ago, I submitted a FOIA request to my small town's local police department to get information about an issue involving me. Despite following up with emails, I haven’t received any response. It's been three months now, and this information is very important to me as it pertains to something that happened to me. What should I do?

I tried obtaining police body footage in RI regarding an incident to countersuit. I previously spoke with an attorney who said FOIA permits its release.

However, when I asked the police department replied with this:

Under RIGL 38-2-2(II) (D) (c) the record(s) you requested could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy and is not available as a public record. Therefore will not be released.

Anyone know how to get around that? They are concerned for “officers privacy”?

ETA: she died in California, not a federal investigation.

My aunt died in 2019 and her death was investigated for a possible murder. She suffered a head wound and it was believed her ex-boyfriend had something to do with it. The detectives presented the case to the DA's who declined to prosecute because they didn't think they could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

A detective told me I could request the initial crime scene report but everything else about the investigation was confidential and I would not be able to access those reports.

Is this something I could FOIA? The case is closed and they have decided not to prosecute her ex-boyfriend. I don't understand why I couldn't have access to their investigation. Basically, I want to know what evidence they had that he did this to her because they never told us anything given that it was an open investigation.

So I submitted an EFOIPA request in late August, but when I submitted it I just put down my name, DOB, etc., and I did not write anything in the “additional information” box. Within 3 business days it was processed, and I got a letter in the mail with the “no responsive records after a general search of the CRS” response.

A couple of weeks later, I submitted a new request with additional information requesting any records regarding investigations on myself within a certain time period, alongside some addresses. Both requests were “small” in size and limited to the two hours of searching. I wanted to be more specific just in case I messed up the original request somehow.

Nonetheless, I haven’t heard anything about the second request. It’s been 12 business days. Honestly don’t think I was under investigation, but why is the second request taking so long? Is it technically duplicative because it would require a search of the CRS again? Does a request take longer if something is found and they have to redact info?

The Federal Reserve Board is required to respond to FOIA requests, but Federal Reserve Banks are not. However, the Federal Reserve Banks provide data on a specific topic to the board I want. If I submit a FOIA request for the data, can they deny it since the source (Fed Reserve Banks) is not subject to FOIA? Or must the board provide the data once they receive it?

I am planning on doing another FOIA request with the FTC about a civil investigative demand they issued to a company. I am trying to find out more about the invoice policy, the FTC website states that if the invoice goes above your payment maximum (in this case i set my payment maximum to $100) they will hold your request and contact you. if the invoice goes above my payment maximum and i choose not to proceed because of the price would they just close the FOIA case? or would they charge me a fee for the search time they put into my request since i would no longer want to proceed with the payment?

I've recently created an account to ask for some documents. However, when I tried to make a request, there was an error indicating that my account is still on-going verification. I have already accessed the registration link in my email and there was already a pop-up that says that the email registration was successful. Has anyone encountered this problem too? What did you do to resolve this issue?

Hello! I was wondering how long is the processing time now days for cbp foia requests. Mine is indicating “ simple”

Interviewing local homeless people and have heard that homeless people are showing up dead in dumpsters but idk to request from police department or coroners? Just trying to follow this lead and see if it's substantive