FOIA March Madness 2019 - FOIA funding, staffing, and activities (Federal Election Commission)
| Multi Request | FOIA March Madness 2019 - FOIA funding, staffing, and activities |
| Submitted | March 22, 2019 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Beryl Lipton
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
The following materials related to the funding, staffing, and activities of this FOIA office:
***Budget materials***
- - - > > > for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019, all budget materials or plans applicable to offices responsible for processing and response to FOIA requests and appeals submitted to this Bureau and its offices.
***Staffing orders/reports/contacts***
- - - > > > for the years 2017 and 2018, staffing reports and plans, including the count of employee numbers and for offices responsible for processing and responses to FOIA requests and appeals submitted to this Bureau and its offices.
- If this report is available in a form that includes the total number of hours worked for FOIA personnel, that version would be preferred.
- If reports are available for each month, that version is preferred.
- According to this agency’s “About Us” website (https://www.doi.gov/foia/About-Us):
“The Department has decentralized its FOIA operations among 13 bureaus and offices, each of which has a Bureau/Office FOIA Officer leading its separately managed and resourced FOIA Program. Secretarial Order 3244 (November 12, 2002) anchored Bureau/Office FOIA Offices within their respective CIOs' Offices. That order was superseded by Secretarial Order 3309 (December 14, 2010), which replaced Bureau/Office CIOs with Assistant Directors for Information Resources and initiated a series of significant ongoing organizational changes as part of the Department's IT Transformation.
Bureau/office FOIA Officers are responsible for tracking, managing and responding to FOIA requests for records in their organization's possession and control, and administering their organization's FOIA programs. In addition to Bureau/Office FOIA Officers, some bureaus/offices also have Regional FOIA Coordinators and Field Offices that process requests. Some bureaus/offices have their program offices (i.e., the offices whose records are the subject of the requests) prepare the responses to FOIA requests. These responses are reviewed by the FOIA Officer or Regional FOIA Coordinator and the appropriate FOIA attorney (when the decision is to withhold information, make a discretionary release, or deny a fee waiver).”
- - - > > > all staffing reports and plans for the year 2019
- If reports are available for each month, such a version is preferred.
- - - > > > contact information, including email addresses and phone numbers (if available), for each FOIA officer currently tasked with an open public records request
***FOIA requester categories***
- - - > > > for the years 2017 and 2018, the designated category of each requester of a FOIA request to this office, including those assigned to the following categories:
* commercial;
* educational and noncommercial scientific institutions;
* representative of news media requester;
* all other requesters
- If this information is kept in an aggregate form including the number of requesters by fee category by year, a copy of this report will suffice to fulfill this element of the request.
***FOIA fee waivers***
- - - > > > for the years 2017 and 2018, the number of fee waivers granted by this office and, if available, the tracking numbers for the FOIA requests to which waivers were granted
***FOIA fee collection***
- - - > > > for the years 2017 and 2018, any report capturing the following information:
* total estimated processing and copy fees quoted to FOIA requesters
* total processing and copy fees collected by this Bureau from each fee category
- If this information is kept in an aggregate form, such as a FOIA log, that material would be sufficient to satisfy the bullet points “FOIA requester categories” and “FOIA fee collection” if it captures the following information:
* FOIA tracking number
* requester fee category
* amount processing and copy fees associated with the request
* the status of the requester’s payment for the request
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Beryl Lipton
From: Federal Election Commission
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
Re: Your Freedom of Information Act Request to the Federal Election Commission FOIA (2019-052)
Dear Mrs. Lipton,
This email acknowledges receipt of your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated March 22, 2019. Specifically, you requested the following:
“The following materials related to the funding, staffing, and activities of this FOIA office.”
We received your request on March 25, 2019.
We will soon be initiating our search for records responsive to your request. If we determine that you have requested a voluminous amount of records that require extensive searching and examination, we will contact you to discuss your willingness to modify your request.
Any questions regarding the status of this request should be directed to our office at foia@fec.gov or 202-694-1650. Please cite the following unique tracking number in all future correspondence regarding this matter: FOIA Request 2019-052.
Thank you for contacting the Federal Election Commission.
Sincerely,
Christopher Mealy
FEC FOIA Requester Service Center
-
~WRD000
From: Beryl Lipton
Hello Mr. Mealy,
Thanks so much for your message. Please let me know if you have any questions for me.
Best,
Beryl
From: Federal Election Commission
April 22, 2019
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
Beryl Lipton
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 70849
441A Highland Avenue
Somerville, MA 02144-2516
requests@muckrock.com
Re: Your Freedom of Information Act Request to the Federal Election Commission FOIA 2019-052
Dear Ms. Lipton,
This email is in response to the request you filed for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) dated March 22, 2019 and received by the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) FOIA Requester Service Center on March 25, 2019. You have requested the following:
1. Budget materials
for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019, all budget materials or plans applicable to offices responsible for processing and response to FOIA requests and appeals submitted to this Bureau and its offices.
2. Staffing orders/reports/contacts
for the years 2017 and 2018, staffing reports and plans, including the count of employee numbers and for offices responsible for processing and responses to FOIA requests and appeals submitted to this Bureau and its offices.
- If this report is available in a form that includes the total number of hours worked for FOIA personnel, that version would be preferred.
- If reports are available for each month, that version is preferred.
3. According to this agency’s “About Us” website (https://www.doi.gov/foia/About-Us):
“The Department has decentralized its FOIA operations among 13 bureaus and offices, each of which has a Bureau/Office FOIA Officer leading its separately managed and resourced FOIA Program. Secretarial Order 3244 (November 12, 2002) anchored Bureau/Office FOIA Offices within their respective CIOs' Offices. That order was superseded by Secretarial Order 3309 (December 14, 2010), which replaced Bureau/Office CIOs with Assistant Directors for Information Resources and initiated a series of significant ongoing organizational changes as part of the Department's IT Transformation. Bureau/office FOIA Officers are responsible for tracking, managing and responding to FOIA requests for records in their organization's possession and control, and administering their organization's FOIA programs. In addition to Bureau/Office FOIA Officers, some bureaus/offices also have Regional FOIA Coordinators and Field Offices that process requests. Some bureaus/offices have their program offices (i.e., the offices whose records are the subject of the requests) prepare the responses to FOIA requests. These responses are reviewed by the FOIA Officer or Regional FOIA Coordinator and the appropriate FOIA attorney (when the decision is to withhold information, make a discretionary release, or deny a fee waiver).”
4. all staffing reports and plans for the year 2019
- If reports are available for each month, such a version is preferred.
5. contact information, including email addresses and phone numbers (if available), for
each FOIA officer currently tasked with an open public records request
6. FOIA requester categories
for the years 2017 and 2018, the designated category of each requester of a FOIA request to this office, including those assigned to the following categories:
commercial;
educational and noncommercial scientific institutions;
representative of news media requester;
all other requesters
- If this information is kept in an aggregate form including the number of requesters by fee category by year, a copy of this report will suffice to fulfill this element of the request.
7. FOIA fee waivers
for the years 2017 and 2018, the number of fee waivers granted by this office and, if available, the tracking numbers for the FOIA requests to which waivers were granted
8. FOIA fee collection
for the years 2017 and 2018, any report capturing the following information:
total estimated processing and copy fees quoted to FOIA requesters
total processing and copy fees collected by this Bureau from each fee category
- If this information is kept in an aggregate form, such as a FOIA log, that material would be sufficient to satisfy the bullet points “FOIA requester categories” and “FOIA fee collection” if it captures the following information:
FOIA tracking number
requester fee category
amount processing and copy fees associated with the request
the status of the requester’s payment for the request
We have searched our records and determined that any records responsive to your request are already publicly available on the FEC’s website. As a courtesy, we have divided your request into eight parts for response.
Parts 1, 2, and 4. The Commission’s budget materials for processing and responding to FOIA requests and appeals; and staffing reports are addressed in section IX of our FY 2017 and FY 2018 Annual FOIA reports which can be found on our website at these links:
https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/FOIA_Annual_Report_for_Fiscal_Year_2017.pdf
https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/FOIA_annual_report_fiscal_year_2018.pdf
Part 3 of your request appears to concern the U.S. Department of the Interior. You can locate information about their FOIA processes at this link: https://www.doi.gov/foia
Part 5. The Commission’s Chief FOIA Officer is Gregory R. Baker, Deputy General Counsel – Administration. The Commission’s Acting FOIA Public Liaison is Robert Kahn, Acting Assistant General Counsel – Administrative Law. Their contact information is: email address – foia@fec.gov<mailto:rkahn@fec.gov>; phone number – (202) 694-1650.
Part 6. Our FOIA Requester Service Center does not track the categories that you are seeking.
Part 7. The number of fee waivers granted by our office and the tracking numbers for the FOIA requests to which waivers were granted are captured in Comma Separated Value (CSV) files posted on our website.
https://www.fec.gov/about/reports-about-fec/foia-reports/
Search for FOIA annual report, FY 2017 (CSV)
Search for FOIA annual report, FY 2018 (CSV)
Part 8. FOIA fee collection is addressed in section X of our FY 2017 and FY 2018 Annual FOIA reports which can be found on our website at these links:
https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/FOIA_Annual_Report_for_Fiscal_Year_2017.pdf
https://www.fec.gov/resources/cms-content/documents/FOIA_annual_report_fiscal_year_2018.pdf
The FOIA Requester Service Center generally refers requests for publicly available documents to the FEC Public Records Branch. We encourage you to contact the Public Records Branch for assistance in locating and retrieving the requested information from the FEC’s website. The Public Records Branch is located at 1050 First Street, NE, Washington, DC and may be contacted directly at (202) 694-1120 or pubrec@fec.gov<mailto:pubrec@fec.gov>. Therefore, we are granting your request in part and are referring you to our Public Records Branch for any further assistance.
You may contact our Acting FOIA Public Liaison, Robert M. Kahn, at (202) 694-1650 for any further assistance and to discuss any aspect of your request. Additionally, you may contact the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) at the National Archives and Records Administration to inquire about the FOIA mediation services they offer. The contact information for OGIS is as follows: Office of Government Information Services, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS, College Park, Maryland 20740-6001, e-mail at ogis@nara.gov<mailto:ogis@nara.gov>; telephone at 202-741-5770; toll free at 1-877-684-6448; or facsimile at 202-741-5769.
You may appeal any adverse FOIA determination. Any such appeal must be filed in writing and should follow the guidelines set forth in 11 C.F.R. § 4.8. If you have any questions, please contact the FOIA Requester Service Center at FOIA@fec.gov<mailto:FOIA@fec.gov>, or (202) 694-1650.
Sincerely,
Candace J. Salley
FEC FOIA Requester Service Center