National Indian Gaming Commission

2006 Annual FOIA Report

 I. Basic Information Regarding Report

A. Any questions concerning this report should be directed to: 

Regina Ann McCoy 

FOIA/PA Officer 

National Indian Gaming Commission 

1441 L Street, N.W., Suite 9100 

Washington, D.C. 20005 

Telephone number: (202) 632-7003 

Fax number: (202) 632-7066 

B. This report is available on the NIGC Web site: 

http://www.nigc.gov/FOIA/FOIAAnnualReports/tabid/129/Default.aspx 

C. To obtain a copy of the report in paper form contact: 

Regina Ann McCoy 

FOIA/PA Officer 

National Indian Gaming Commission 

1441 L Street, N.W., Suite 9100 

Washington, D.C. 20005 

Telephone number: (202) 632-7003 

Fax number: (202) 632-7066 

II. How to Make a FOIA Request

For basic information on how to make a FOIA request, visit our Web site at: 

http://www.nigc.gov/FOIA/FreedomofInformationActFinal/tabid/535/Default.aspx#

MR 

A. Address of office that receives FOIA requests: 

FOIA requests are centralized and written requests should be addressed 

to: 

Regina Ann McCoy 

FOIA/PA Officer 

National Indian Gaming Commission 

1441 L Street, N.W., Suite 9100 
Washington, D.C. 20005 

 

Fax number: (202) 632-7066 

B. Agency's response-time ranges: 

Response times vary from one day to more than one year depending on 

complexity of the request. 

C. Brief description of why some requests are not granted. 

Requests for information are not granted if the information sought falls 

within one of the FOIA exemptions; the information requested falls under 

the jurisdiction of another authority; or no responsive records are located. 

III. Definitions of Terms and Acronyms Used in the Report (to be 

included in each report)

A. Agency-specific acronyms or other terms. 

NIGC National Indian Gaming Commission 

B. Basic terms, expressed in common terminology. 

1. FOIA/PA request -- Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act 

request. A FOIA request is generally a request for access to 

records concerning a third party, an organization, or particular topic 

of interest. A Privacy Act request is a request for records 

concerning oneself; such requests are also treated as FOIA 

requests. (All requests for access to records, regardless of which 

law is cited by the requester, are included in this report.) 

2. Initial Request -- a request to a federal agency for access to 

records under the Freedom of Information Act. 

3. Appeal -- a request to a federal agency asking that it review 

at a higher administrative level a full denial or partial denial of 

access to records under the Freedom of Information Act, or any 

other FOIA determination such as a matter pertaining to fees. 

4. Processed Request or Appeal -- a request or appeal for 

which an agency has taken a final action on the request or the 

appeal in all respects. 

5. Multi-track processing -- a system in which simple requests 

requiring relatively minimal review are placed in one processing 
track and more voluminous and complex requests are placed in 

one or more other tracks. Requests in each track are processed on 

a first-in/first out basis. A requester who has an urgent need for 

records may request expedited processing (see below). 

6. Expedited processing -- an agency will process a FOIA 

request on an expedited basis when a requester has shown an 

exceptional need or urgency for the records which warrants 

prioritization of his or her request over other requests that were 

made earlier. 

7. Simple request -- a FOIA request that an agency using multitrack processing places in its fastest (non-expedited) track based 

on the volume and/or simplicity of records requested. 

8. Complex request -- a FOIA request that an agency using 

multi-track processing places in a slower track based on the 

volume and/or complexity of records requested. 

9. Full Grant -- an agency decision to disclose all records in full 

in response to a FOIA request. 

10. Partial grant -- an agency decision to disclose a record in 

part in response to a FOIA request, deleting information determined 

to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA's exemptions; or a 

decision to disclose some records in their entirety, but to withhold 

others in whole or in part. 

11. Denial -- an agency decision not to release any part of a 

record or records in response to a FOIA request because all the 

information in the requested records is determined by the agency to 

be exempt under one or more of the FOIA's exemptions, or for 

some procedural reason (such as no responsive records are 

located). 

12. Time limits -- the time period in the Freedom of Information 

Act for an agency to respond to a FOIA request (ordinarily 20 

working days from proper receipt of a "perfected" FOIA request). 

13. "Perfected" request -- a FOIA request for records which 

adequately describes the records sought, which has been received 

by the FOIA office of the agency or agency component in 

possession of the records, and for which there is no remaining 

question about the payment of applicable fees. 
14. Exemption 3 statute -- a separate federal statute prohibiting 

the disclosure of a certain type of information and authorizing its 

withholding under FOIA subsection (b)(3). 

15. Median number -- the middle, not average, number. For 

example, of 3, 7, and 14, the median number is 7. 

16. Average number -- the number obtained by dividing the sum 

of a group of numbers by the quantity of numbers in the group. 

 

IV. Exemption 3 Statutes 

A. List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on by agency during current 

fiscal year. 

 

1. Brief description of type(s) of information withheld under each 

statute. 

Exemption 3 was not cited in any of the releases. 

 

2. Statement of whether a court has upheld the use of each 

statute. If so, then cite example. 

N/A 

 V. Initial FOIA Requests 

A. Numbers of initial requests. 

Number of requests pending as of end of 

preceding fiscal year 

 10 

Number of requests received during current 

fiscal year 

103 

Number of requests processed during current 

fiscal year 

103 

Number of requests pending as of end of 

current fiscal year 

 10 

B. Disposition of initial requests. 
Number of total grants 21 

Number of partial grants 60 

Number of denials 3 

 

a. number of times each FOIA exemption used (counting 

each exemption once per request) 

Exemption 1 0 

Exemption 2 0 

Exemption 3 0 

Exemption 4 51 

Exemption 5 29 

Exemption 6 44 

Exemption 7A 4 

Exemption 7B 0 

Exemption 7C 6 

Exemption 7D 2 

Exemption 7E 6 

Exemption 7F 0 

Exemption 8 0 

Exemption 9 0 

 

2. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) 19 

No records 15 

Referrals 0 

Request withdrawn 2 

Fee-related reason 1 

Records not reasonably described 0 

Not a proper FOIA request for some other 

reason 

1 

Not an agency record 0 

Duplicate request 0 

Other (specify) 0 

VI. Appeals of Initial Denials of FOIA Requests

A. Number of appeals. 

Number of appeals received during fiscal year 4 

Number of appeals processed during fiscal year 5 
B. Disposition of appeals. 

Number completely upheld 0 

Number partially reversed 2 

Number completely reversed 1 

 

a. number of times each FOIA exemption used (counting 

each exemption once per appeal) 

Exemption 1 0 

Exemption 2 0 

Exemption 3 0 

Exemption 4 0 

Exemption 5 2 

Exemption 6 0 

Exemption 7A 0 

Exemption 7B 0 

Exemption 7C 1 

Exemption 7D 0 

Exemption 7E 0 

Exemption 7F 0 

Exemption 8 0 

Exemption 9 0 

2. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) 2 

No records 1 

Referrals 0 

Request withdrawn 1 

Fee-related reason 0 

Records not reasonable described 0 

Not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 0 

Not an agency record 0 

Duplicate request 0 

Other (specify) 0 

VII. Compliance with Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests 

A. Median processing time for requests processed during the year. 

Type of Requests Number of request 

processed 

Median number of 

days to process 

Simple Requests 100 30 
Complex Requests 2 70 

Expedited Processing 

Requests 

 1 10 

B. Status of pending requests. 

Number of request pending as of end of current 

fiscal year 

10 

Median number of days requests were pending 31 

VIII. Comparisons with Previous Year(s) (Optional) 

The NIGC received three requests for expedited processing and determined only 

one met the criteria for expedited processing outlined in 25 C.F.R. § 517.6(f). 

IX. Costs/FOIA Staffing 

A. Staffing levels. 

Number of full time FOIA personnel 2 

Number of personnel with part-time of occasional 

FOIA duties (in total work years) 

 .25 

Total number of personnel (in work years) 2.25 

B. Total costs (including staff and all resources). 

FOIA processing (including appeals) $ 163,657 

Litigation related activities (estimated) $ 5,280 

Total costs $ 168,937 

C. Statement of additional resources needed for FOIA compliance 

(optional) 

 

 X. Fees 

Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests $ 3,376.15 

Percentage of total costs 2% 

XI. FOIA Regulations (Including Fee Schedule) 

NIGC FOIA regulations and fee schedule can be found in 25 CFR § 517. A 

paper copy of this regulation can be obtained by contacting the FOIA Officer (see

section I(A) of this report) or electronically at: 
http://www.nigc.gov/Portals/0/NIGC%20Uploads/foia/nigcfoiaregs51906.pdf

 

XII. Report on FOIA Executive Order Implementation 

A. Description of supplemental/modification of agency improvement plan. 

N/A 

B. Report on agency implementation of its plan, including performance 

meeting milestones, with respect to each improvement area. 

The NIGC focused on improving two components of its FOIA program – 

the FOIA website and backlog reduction. The NIGC redesigned its 

website to include a FOIA reading room. Included in the reading room are 

frequently requested documents to include: copies of enforcement 

actions; game classification opinions; Indian lands determinations; 

bulletins issued by the NIGC; approved management contracts; and 

approved gaming ordinances and amendments, for a total of 1084 

documents published. 

The agency has also stepped up efforts to be more pro-active by 

publishing information related to current issues on the website. An 

example of this is the publishing of information related to the Class II 

Game Classification Standards. Available documents include: meeting 

agendas; comment letters received from Indian tribes and other entities 

with an interest in the issue; hearing transcripts and statements; reports 

submitted by outside entities; and notices previously published in the 

Federal Register. 

The second component addressed in the implementation plan was to 

reduce the agency backlog by 50% from the previous year. FY2006 

ended with 10 pending FOIA requests, the same number of requests 

pending in FY2005. This is somewhat misleading as four of the pending 

requests were received less than 20 business days prior to the end of the 

fiscal year, and not true backlog cases. The actual backlog reflects a 

decrease of 40% from the previous year. 

 

C. Identification and discussion of any deficiency in meeting plan milestones. 

While the goal of the agency was to reduce the backlog by 50%, only a 

40% decrease was achieved. In reviewing the true backlog cases it is 

noted that all cases are Track 3 cases, which are cases that involve 

voluminous material, consultations with other entities, or involve other 
unusual circumstances. Two of the cases involve material that has been 

placed under seal by a Federal judge and have been placed in suspension 

at the request of the requesters. The remaining cases involve voluminous 

pages that contains proprietary and financial information and require the 

agency to provide the submitters of the information with notification of the 

FOIA requests so the entities can review the information and advise the 

agency of the release ability of the information. See 25 C.F.R. § 517.7. 

The process itself routinely exceeds the 20 business day requirement for 

responding to FOIA requests. At the time this report was drafted, 66% of 

these backlog cases had been closed. 

D. Additional narrative statement regarding other executive order-related 

activities (optional). 

N/A 

E. Concise descriptions of FOIA exemptions. 

The following are the exemptions and explanations used in processing 

FOIA requests: 

(1)(A) specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive 

order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy 

and (B) are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order; 

(2) related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an 

agency; 

(3) specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other than section 

552b of this title), provided that such statute (A) requires that the matters 

be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion on 

the issue, or (B) establishes particular criteria for withholding or refers to 

particular types of matters to be withheld; 

(4) trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a 

person and privileged or confidential; 

(5) inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not 

be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the 

agency; 

(6) personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which 

would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy; 

(7) records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but 

only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or 
information (A) could reasonably be expected to interfere with 

enforcement proceedings, (B) would deprive a person of a right to a fair 

trial or an impartial adjudication, (C) could reasonably be expected to 

constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, (D) could 

reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source, 

including a State, local, or foreign agency or authority or any private 

institution which furnished information on a confidential basis, and, in the 

case of a record or information compiled by a criminal law enforcement 

authority in the course of a criminal investigation or by an agency 

conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, information 

furnished by a confidential source, (E) would disclose techniques and 

procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would 

disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if 

such disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the 

law, or (F) could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical 

safety of any individual; 

(8) contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports 

prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the 

regulation or supervision of financial institutions; or 

(9) geological and geophysical information and data, including maps, 

concerning wells. 

F. Additional statistics: 

1. Time range of requests pending, by date of request 

The date ranges of the pending requests are February 14, 2003 

through January 26, 2007. 

2. Time range of consultations pending with other agencies, by date of 

initial interagency communication 

N/A 

G. Attachment: Agency improvement plan 

A paper copy of the improvement plan can be obtained by contacting the FOIA 

Officer (see section I(A) of this report) or electronically at: 

http://www.nigc.gov/Portals/0/NIGC%20Uploads/foia/signedeo13392.pdf