FOIA Fee Survey For Requesters: Fill Out and Help Circulate to Improve the FOIA Fees Debate

OGIS fee chart.

More than 400 federal FOIA processors filled out a recent FOIA fees survey distributed by the FOIA Advisory Committee. Respondents indicated that, among other things, they believe roughly 20 percent of all FOIA requests are charged fees, and that using fees never or rarely results in requesters narrowing their requests.

This important survey, however, was only given to government agencies (ostensibly because “logistical problems, problems about doing polls and publishing results” made it impractical to distribute a similar poll to the public).

In an attempt to provide a broader picture of FOIA fees as they affect all sides of the FOIA process, the National Security Archive and the Project on Government Oversight are distributing a similar, independent, unofficial survey to non-government FOIA stakeholders so that their views on FOIA fees can be cataloged and documented.

Please take a moment to fill out the five-minute survey and help us circulate it as widely as possible so we can provide the Committee with a more representative view of FOIA fees.

FOIA fees survey for requesters.

The survey parallels the FOIA Advisory Committee survey, and will remain open until January 14, 2016. The results will be made available in advance of the Committee’s next meeting – which will be held on January 19.

The survey can be found here: http://goo.gl/forms/kWNissAaC6.