Public records by state · New York
New York FOIL: fees, the two-hour rule, deadlines, appeals
The Freedom of Information Law is article 6 of the Public Officers Law, POL 84 through 90: what an agency may charge, the response clock, the exemptions, and the two-step appeal lane.
Request volume keeps climbing. AI-generated requests, social media, and reporters add to the queue, and records staff does not grow with it. In most offices review still happens one page at a time in Adobe, by one or two people. The requests now reach whole email exports. New York sharpens the squeeze: the statute prices copies while the review hours stay the agency's own.
RESPOND
5 business days
Grant, deny in writing, or acknowledge with an approximate date. POL 89(3)(a).
PREP TIME
Free under 2 hours
Employee time bills only when preparing an electronic copy needs two hours. POL 87(1)(c)(iv).
APPEAL
10 business days
The appeals officer's window to explain in writing or provide the record. POL 89(4)(a).
Fees
What an agency may charge. A cap and four actual costs.
Start with the cap. Fees for copies of records shall not exceed twenty-five cents per photocopy up to nine by fourteen inches, and a different fee applies only where another statute prescribes one. POL 87(1)(b)(iii). Everything else goes out at the actual cost of reproduction. POL 87(1)(c).
THE TWO-HOUR RULE
Most redaction hours in New York are the agency's own cost. The statute prices copies. The one labor charge it allows is preparing an electronic copy, and only when the preparation needs at least two hours.
The list is closed. "In determining the actual cost of reproducing a record, an agency may include only" the items below. POL 87(1)(c).
| Charge | Amount and conditions | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Photocopies up to 9 by 14 inches | Up to 25 cents a page. | POL 87(1)(b)(iii) |
| Any other record | Actual cost of reproduction. | POL 87(1)(b)(iii) |
| Employee time to prepare a copy | The lowest paid capable employee's hourly salary, only when at least two hours are needed. | POL 87(1)(c)(i), (iv) |
| Storage devices or media | Actual cost. | POL 87(1)(c)(ii) |
| Outside professional service | Actual cost, only when the agency's own equipment is inadequate to prepare the copy. | POL 87(1)(c)(iii) |
- Search time is never chargeable. "Preparing a copy shall not include search time or administrative costs." POL 87(1)(c)(iv).
- Volume does not excuse a denial. An agency may not turn a request away as voluminous or burdensome for lack of staffing where an outside service can make the copies, at a recoverable cost. POL 89(3)(a).
When a denial is challenged
The two-step appeal lane.
Step one: the administrative appeal
A person denied access has thirty days to appeal in writing to the head, chief executive, or governing body, or a designee, who then has ten business days to fully explain in writing the reasons for further denial or provide the record. POL 89(4)(a).
Silence counts. Failure to conform to the response rules of subdivision 3 constitutes a denial and can be appealed. Every appeal also has a witness: the agency immediately forwards each appeal and its determination to the committee on open government. POL 89(4)(a).
STEP TWO: ARTICLE 78
A requester denied on appeal may bring an article 78 proceeding. The agency carries the burden of proving the record falls within an exemption. POL 89(4)(b).
ATTORNEY'S FEES: MAY
The court may assess reasonable attorney's fees and costs when the requester substantially prevailed and the agency failed to respond within the statutory time. POL 89(4)(c).
ATTORNEY'S FEES: SHALL
The award turns mandatory when the requester substantially prevailed and the court finds no reasonable basis for denying access. POL 89(4)(c).
The clock
Five business days, then a date certain.
Within five business days of receiving a written request for a record reasonably described, an agency must make the record available, deny it in writing, or send a written acknowledgment with an approximate date, reasonable under the circumstances, for a decision. POL 89(3)(a).
The twenty business day marker. An agency that grants a request but cannot disclose within twenty business days of its acknowledgment must state the reason in writing and a date certain within a reasonable period. POL 89(3)(a).
Certify what you do not have. On request, an agency certifies a record is not in its possession or cannot be found after diligent search. POL 89(3)(a).
The committee's regulations, 21 NYCRR part 1401, fill in the day to day mechanics.
Exemptions
Everything is public until a lettered paragraph says otherwise.
The duty comes first: each agency shall make available for public inspection and copying all records. The same sentence then permits denying access to "records or portions thereof" under the lettered paragraphs of POL 87(2). Seen most:
- (a) Exempt by statute. Specifically exempted from disclosure by state or federal statute. POL 87(2)(a).
- (b) Personal privacy. An unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, defined in POL 89(2)(b): employment, medical, or credit histories, name and address lists sold for solicitation, and personal details whose release would cause hardship.
- (e) Law enforcement. Records compiled for law enforcement, only to the extent disclosure would interfere with an investigation or a judicial proceeding, deprive a person of a fair trial, identify a confidential source, or reveal nonroutine investigative techniques. POL 87(2)(e).
- (g) Inter-agency and intra-agency materials. The deliberative wrapper is exempt. What stays public inside it: statistical or factual tabulations or data, instructions to staff that affect the public, final agency policy or determinations, and external audits. POL 87(2)(g).
Redact and release. The exemptions reach records "or portions thereof": a partly exempt record goes out with the exempt portion withheld and the rest disclosed. POL 87(2). For privacy it is explicit: no invasion when identifying details are deleted. POL 89(2)(c).
The act
Who the law covers.
The article "shall be known and may be cited as the 'Freedom of Information Law.'" POL 85.
An agency is nearly everything. Any state or municipal department, board, bureau, commission, public authority, public corporation, council, or office performing a governmental or proprietary function, except the judiciary and the state legislature. POL 86(3). The legislature answers for its records under its own section. POL 88.
A record is any information kept, held, filed, produced or reproduced by, with or for an agency, in any physical form whatsoever. Email and its attachments fit. POL 86(4).
Practical notes
For the person actually answering requests.
- Keep the subject matter list current. Each agency maintains a reasonably detailed current list, by subject matter, of all records in its possession, updated annually. POL 87(3)(c).
- Name your records access officer. The committee's regulations, 21 NYCRR part 1401, have each agency designate who receives requests and answers them.
- Ask the committee before you guess. The committee on open government issues advisory opinions and guidelines to agencies and requesters. POL 89(1).
New York FOIL questions, answered from the statute
How long does a New York agency have to respond to a FOIL request?
Five business days after receiving a written request for a record reasonably described. It must make the record available, deny it in writing, or acknowledge with an approximate date for a decision. A missed deadline counts as a denial that can be appealed. POL 89(3)(a), (4)(a).
Can a New York agency charge for time spent redacting records?
The fee schedule has no charge for review time, so most redaction hours are the agency's own cost. Paper copies carry only the twenty-five cent cap. For electronic records, employee time bills only when preparing the copy takes at least two hours, at the lowest paid capable employee's salary. Search time and administrative costs are never chargeable. POL 87(1)(b)(iii) and (c).
What can a New York agency charge for copies?
Up to twenty-five cents per photocopy up to nine by fourteen inches, unless another statute prescribes a different fee. Any other record goes out at the actual cost of reproduction, limited to employee time to prepare the copy, storage media, and an outside service used when the agency's own equipment is inadequate. POL 87(1)(b)(iii) and (c).
How do you appeal a FOIL denial in New York?
In writing, within thirty days, to the head, chief executive, or governing body, or a designee. The appeals officer has ten business days to fully explain the denial in writing or provide the record. POL 89(4)(a). Then comes article 78, with the burden of proof on the agency. Attorney's fees may follow when a requester substantially prevails after a blown deadline, and must follow when the agency had no reasonable basis for denying access. POL 89(4)(b) and (c).
What records are exempt from disclosure under New York FOIL?
POL 87(2) lets an agency deny access to records or portions of records under its lettered paragraphs: records exempted by state or federal statute, privacy invasions defined in POL 89(2)(b), law enforcement records whose release would cause a listed harm, inter-agency and intra-agency materials with carve-outs for factual and final material, and more. A partly exempt record is released with the exempt portion withheld.
How should an agency handle a request for a whole email export?
Email kept for agency business is a record, whatever its form. POL 86(4). It cannot be denied as voluminous or burdensome for lack of staffing where an outside service can make the copies. POL 89(3)(a). Bill it under the actual cost rules, employee time only once preparation needs two hours, then redact the exempt portions, including inside attachments, and release the rest. POL 87(1)(c), (2).
This page is general information, not legal advice. The statute is the authority: read it at nysenate.gov and check anything that matters before it goes out.
The redaction is usually the slow part.
New York prices copies, and the review is the agency's own cost. RecordBeacon reads a records set, including whole email exports, flags content that may be exempt, and holds every mark for a named reviewer. The release records who decided what, which is the record you want when a denial is challenged. The first fifteen documents are free with no card.
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