# Freedom of information in the United States

Freedom of information in the United States relates to the public's ability to access government records, meetings, and other information. In the United States, freedom of information legislation exists at all levels of government: federal level, state level, and local level.

## Federal level

Since the founding of the United States, the public's right to know the affairs of their government has been foundational democracy. James Madison wrote during the United States Constitutional Convention, "The right of freely examining public characters and measures and free communication, is the only effective guardian of every other right."
Several federal laws have strengthened the public's ability to access public records.

### Federal legislation

The most important was the Freedom of Information Act, signed into law on July 4, 1966, by President Lyndon Johnson.
* Administrative Procedure Act PL 79-404; 1946
* Freedom of Information Act PL 85-619; 1966
* Federal Advisory Committee Act PL 92-463; 1972
* Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act PL 93-344; 1974
* Government in the Sunshine Act PL 94-409; 1976
* Inspector General Act PL 95-452; 1978
* Ethics in Government Act PL 95-521; 1978
* Presidential Records Act PL 95-591; 1978
* Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments PL 104-231; 1996

### Proposed legislation

* FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act of 2014 (H.R. 1211; 113th Congress) - would amend the FOIA to speed up the response time and ease of making a "FOIA request", among other changes.

### Miscellaneous Authoritative Federal Sources

* Executive Order 13233, drafted by Alberto R. Gonzales and issued by George W. Bush on November 1, 2001, is used to limit the FOIA by restricting access to the records of former presidents.
* Executive Order 13392: Improving Agency Disclosure of Information.

### U.S. Attorney General Memoranda
#### History

The Holder Memo is part of series of policy memos on how federal agencies should apply FOIA exemptions. Beginning in 1977 with Attorney General Griffin Bell, and continued by Attorney General William French Smith in 1981 and Attorney General Janet Reno in 1993, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced how the executive branch should approach FOIA, its application, and DOJ's defense of agency's actions. In other words, DOJ's position on when they would defend in a FOIA suit has seesawed for about the last three decades.

##### Reno Memo

The Reno Memo established a "presumption" in favor of disclosure by providing that "it shall be the policy of the Department of Justice to defend the assertion of a FOIA exemption only in those cases where the agency reasonably foresees that disclosure would be harmful to an interest protected by that exemption". It encouraged all government agencies to review FOIA requests in a manner most favorable to openness and to release information, even though it might fall within one of the nine exemption categories, if no "foreseeable harm" would result from the disclosure. The goal was to achieve the "maximum responsible disclosure".

##### Ashcroft Memo

On October 12, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a policy memorandum on FOIA to all federal executive agencies. The AG declared the Department of Justice (DOJ) would defend agencies' decisions to withhold documents from a FOIA requester under one of the statute's exemptions "unless they lack a sound legal basis or present an unwarranted risk of adverse impact on the ability of other agencies to protect other important records".
The Ashcroft Memorandum reversed the Reno standard. Agencies were told that in making discretionary FOIA decisions they should carefully consider the fundamental values behind the exemptions—national security, privacy, government's interests, etc.—and to lean in their favor whenever possible. The Ashcroft Memo with its "sound legal basis" standard encouraged (or at least seemed to support) greater use of FOIA exemptions by federal agency personnel.

##### AG Holder Memo

The Ashcroft Memo was rescinded by Attorney General Eric Holder on March 14, 2009. The AG Holder Memo appears to have reinstated the Reno Memo standard and extends the policy. The policy of the executive branch is to be open, responsive, transparent, and accountable. The current memo encourages the maximum disclosure possible in discretionary exemptions and to, whenever possible, reasonably segregate exempt information and release the rest.

## State legislation

All fifty U.S. states and the District of Columbia also have freedom of information laws that govern the public's access to government records at state and local levels. These laws go by many different names including Sunshine Laws, Public Records Laws, Open Records Laws, etc. Additionally, Open Meeting Laws govern the public's access to meetings of public officials or appointed boards.
All Freedom of Information style laws supports the ideal that in a democracy, people have the right to know the business of their government. However, the laws vary in scope and strength among jurisdictions. For example, Florida's Sunshine Law creates both a statutory and constitutional right to access whereas many states only provide the statutory right. Additionally, while a state may have strong legislation the state's compliance with its own laws may negatively impact the public's ability to access records.

### Freedom of Information laws by state

| State | Freedom of Information Law | Code Section | First Enacted | Who May Request Records |
| Alabama | Alabama Public Records Law | Al. Code §§ 36-12-40; 36-12-41 | 1923 | Any citizen |
| Alaska | Alaska Public Records Act | A.S. §§ 40.25.110 to 40.25.125; 40.25.151 | 1900 | Any person |
| Arizona | Arizona Public Records Law | A.R.S. §§ 39–121.01 to 39–121.03 | 1901 | Any person |
| Arkansas | Arkansas Freedom of Information Act | Ark. Code Ann. §§ 25-19-101 to 25-19-111 | 1967 | Citizens of the state/commonwealth |
| California | California Public Records Act | Gov't Code §§ 7920.000 to 7931.000 | 1968 | Any person |
| Colorado | Colorado Open Records Act | C.R.S. §§ 24-72-200.1 to 24-72-205.5 | 1969 | Any person |
| Connecticut | Connecticut Freedom of Information Act | Connecticut General Statutes Chapter 14 §§ 1–200 to 1-242 | 1975 | Any person |
| Delaware | Delaware Freedom of Information Act | Tit. 29, §§ 10001 to 10007; 10112 | 1977 | Citizens of the state/commonwealth |
| Florida | Florida Sunshine Law | Fla. Stat. §§ 119.01 to 119.19 | 1967 | Any person |
| Georgia | Georgia Open Records Act | O.C.G.A. §§ 50-18-70 to 50-18-103 | 1959 | Citizens of the state/commonwealth |
| Hawaii | Uniform Information Practices Act (Modified) | Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 92F-1 to 92F-43 | 1975 | Any person |
| Idaho | Idaho Public Records Act | Idaho Code §§ 74–101 to 74-126 | 1990 | Any person |
| Illinois | Illinois Freedom of Information Act | ILCS 5 §§ 140/1 to 140/11.6 | 1984 | Any person |
| Indiana | Access to Public Records Act | IN Code §§ 5-14-3-1 to 5-14-3-10 | 1983 | Any person |
| Iowa | Iowa Open Records Law | Iowa Code §§ 22.1 to 22.16 | 1967 | Any person |
| Kansas | Kansas Open Records Act | KSA §§ 45–215 to 45-524 | 1984 | Any person |
| Kentucky | Kentucky Open Records Act | Kentucky Revised Statute Chapter §§ 61.870 to 61.884 | 1976 | From Kentucky: "an individual residing in Kentucky, a domestic business with a location in Kentucky (or an out-of-state business registered with the Secretary of State), a person who works in Kentucky, a person or business that owns real property within Kentucky, a person or business authorized to act on behalf of a Kentucky resident, or a news-gathering organization"; inmates have some restrictions; non-Kentucky people may request records, but their requests can be denied |
| Louisiana | Louisiana Public Records Law | La.R.S. §§ 44:31 to 44:41 | 1940 | Any person 18 or older |
| Maine | Maine Freedom of Access Act | Tit. 1, §§ 400 to 434 | 1959 | Any person |
| Maryland | Maryland Public Information Act | Gen. Provis. §§ 4–101 to 4-601 | 1970 | Any person |
| Massachusetts | Massachusetts Public Records Law | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 66, §§ 1 to 21 | 1897 | Any person |
| Michigan | Michigan Freedom of Information Act | Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §§ 15.231 to 15.246 | 1977 | Any person |
| Minnesota | Minnesota Data Practices Act | Minn. Statutes §§ 13.01 to 13.99 Ch. 13 Appendix | 1974 | Any person |
| Mississippi | Mississippi Public Records Act | Miss. Code Ann. §§ 25-61-1 to 25-61-19 | 1983 | Any person |
| Missouri | Missouri Public Records Act | Mo. Code §§ 109.180; 610.010 to 610.225 | 1961 | Citizens of the state/commonwealth |
| Montana | Montana Public Records Act | Montana Code §§ 2-6-101 to 2-6-1020 | 1895 | Any person |
| Nebraska | Nebraska Public Records Law | Nebraska Statutes §§ 84–712 to 84-712.09 | 1866 | Any person |
| Nevada | Nevada Open Records Act | N.R.S. §§ 239.010-239.340 | 1911 | Any person |
| New Hampshire | Right to Know Law | R.S.A. Ch. 91-A:1 to 91-A:10 | 1967 | Any citizen |
| New Jersey | New Jersey Open Public Records Act | N.J.S.A. §§ 47:1A-1 to 47:1A-13 | 2002 | Citizens of the state/commonwealth |
| New Mexico | Inspection of Public Records Act | NMSA §§ 14-2-1 to 14-2-12 | 1993 | Any person |
| New York | New York Freedom of Information Law | Pub. Off. §§ 84 to 90 | 1974 | Any person |
| North Carolina | North Carolina Public Records Law | NCGS Chapter 132–1 to 132-11 | 1995 | Any person |
| North Dakota | Open Records Statute | NDCC §§ 44-04-18 to 44-04-32 | 1957 | Any person |
| Ohio | Ohio Open Records Law | Ohio Rev. Code §§ 149.43 to 149.45; 2743.75 | 1963 | Any person |
| Oklahoma | Oklahoma Open Records Act | Title 51 Oklahoma Statutes §§ 24A.1 to 24A.32 | 1999 | Any person |
| Oregon | Oregon Public Records Law | O.R.S. §§ 192.311 to 192.513 | 1973 | Any person |
| Pennsylvania | Right-to-Know Law | 65 Pennsylvania Statute §§ 67.101 to 67.1310 | 1957 | Any legal resident of the United States |
| Rhode Island | Rhode Island Access to Public Records Act | P.L. §§ 38-2-1 to 38-2-16 | 1979 | Any person |
| South Carolina | South Carolina Freedom of Information Act | S.C. Code Ann. §§ 30-4-10 to 30-4-165 | 1974 | Any person |
| South Dakota | South Dakota Sunshine Law | SDCL Chapter 1-27-1 to 1-27-48 | 2009 | Any person |
| Tennessee | Tennessee Open Records Act | Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 10-7-503 to 10-7-508 | 1957 | Citizens of the state/commonwealth |
| Texas | Texas Public Information Act | Gov't §§ 552.001 to 552.376 | 1973 | Any person |
| Utah | Government Records Access and Management Act | Utah Code Title 63G-2-101 to 63G-2-804 | 1991 | Any person |
| Vermont | Vermont Open Records Law | Vermont Statute Tit. 1, §§ 315 to 320 | 1976 | Any person |
| Virginia | Virginia Freedom of Information Act | Code of Virginia §§ 2.2-3700 to 2.2-3715 | 1968 | Citizens of the state/commonwealth |
| Washington | Washington Public Records Act | RCW §§ 42.56.001 to 42.56.904 | 1972 | Any person |
| West Virginia | West Virginia Freedom of Information Act | W.Va. Code §§ 29B-1-1 to 29B-1-7 | 1977 | Any person |
| Wisconsin | Wisconsin Open Records Law | Wisconsin Statute §§ 19.21 to 19.39 | 1981 | Any person |
| Wyoming | Wyoming Sunshine Law | Wyo. Stat. §§ 16-4-201 to 16-4-205 | 1983 | Any person |
| District of Columbia | Freedom of Information Act | DC Official Code §§ 2–531 to 2-540 | 1974 | Any person |
* ↑ Originally Gov't Code §§ 6250 to 6276.48 until January 1, 2023.