Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 21:36:16 -0600 From: Lynn Brandvold <lynn@gis.nmt.edu> Subject: FOIA To: GEN-NYS-L@rootsweb.com Hi GEN-NYers, I received the message below. Does anyone know the answer? I hadn't thought about it before but Valerie is right, it does sound illogical. Lynn > Dear Lynn > > I have used the FOIA to obtain records of people listed in the Social > Security death benefits list and have found only one problem with the > process -- that it is very slow. However, in New York State, there are > particular state laws preventing non-direct descendants from obtaining > vital records of a person before a certain number of years, a number > that changes depending on the type of record and whether the person is > alive. > > My question is: Does the Committee for Open Government in Albany intend > FOIA to override these privacy laws? It seems odd that I can find out > birth/parent details on someone who died in 1999 if I write to the > Frederal Govt., but I have to wait for 50 years according to NYS > regulations. All it means to genealogists is that there is a period of > time that precedes the SS list of people but that is closed to easy > research because it falls into the privacy category. It all seems > illogical. > > Valerie Clift Valerie, Lynn: As a reporter with a major national newspaper chain, I have used FOIA for many years and have even garnered an award or two for using the filing... But FOIA only applies to federal officials and agencies. On the state level, you have to apply through the appropriate state public-records laws. And like the FOIA, these tend to make government only as open as government wants to be, not as open as WE would like it to be. So no matter what an "open government" committee wants to make open, the law as finally written will only make open those records lawmakers wish to make open ... and if the law grants bureaucrats and paper-pushers great discretion in opening or closing records, "improvements" in the law could make records less open, not more so. I'll give you a few examples. On the national level, the FOIA does not apply to most of the federal judiciary, nor to much of Congress or the Executive. Want to find out whether or not your local Federal judge spent $50,000 on gold bathroom fixtures at the new court house? Surprise! That info isn't subject to FOIA! We tried to get it here for a story after we heard rumors about the new sultan's palace that is the Joe D. Waggonner Federal Building here... And on the state level, the list of exclusions to the state open records law (here in Louisiana) includes everything from open police investigations (even if the case is "closed" but the FILE is still open!) to the minutes and records of the state undertakers board! Go figure! Anyone who has used the FOIA letters to get state records and succeeded, please believe me when I say FOIA only applies to federal agencies, and then not all. I had it explained to me once by a state figure here that FOIAs citing the federal law are usually answered by state folks as a courtesy, but you will usually get a faster response by citing your own state's open records law, since the clerks or whomever you're dealing with will assume you are better informed than folks filing under FOIA ... Good hunting to all.... John Andrew Prime Shreveport, Louisiana http://www.shreve.net/~japrime/lagenweb/resume.htm japrime@shreve.net