Public Records Requests

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and similar state laws give the public the right to access records from federal, state, and local government agencies. These laws promote transparency and accountability in the public sector. However, FOIA and public records requests often pose significant challenges for the agencies that must process and respond to them. For example, in 2021 agencies subject to FOIA received 838,164 FOIA requests. Responding to such requests can prove time-consuming and expensive, particularly if the records contain sensitive information that must be redacted. Large volumes of data spread across multiple platforms compound the problem. And not