January 8, 1996

 

 

Mr. Francis Castagna
406 Rutgers Road
N. Babylon, NY 11704

The staff of the Committee on Open Government is authorized to issue advisory opinions. The ensuing staff advisory opinion is based solely upon the information presented in your correspondence.

Dear Mr. Castagna:

I have received your letter of December 12. You have complained that an agency of Suffolk County, apparently the Police Department, has failed to respond to your request for a record. Moreover, although you indicated that you were informed that you could fax your request to the Department, you were later told that such a request would not be accepted.

In this regard, I offer the following comments.

First, §89(3) of the Freedom of Information Law provides direction concerning the time and manner in which an agency must respond to requests. Specifically, §89(3) of that statute states in part that:

"Each entity subject to the provisions of this article, within five business days of the receipt of a written request for a record reasonably described, shall make such record available to the person requesting it, deny such request in writing or furnish a written acknowledgement of the receipt of such request and a statement of the approximate date when such request will be granted or denied..."

If neither a response to a request nor an acknowledgement of the receipt of a request is given within five business days, or if an agency delays responding for an unreasonable time after it acknowledges that a request has been received, a request may, in my opinion, be considered to have been constructively denied. In such a circumstance, I believe that the denial may be appealed in accordance with §89(4)(a) of the Freedom of Information Law. That provision states in relevant part that:

"any person denied access to a record may within thirty days appeal in writing such denial to the head, chief executive, or governing body, who shall within ten business days of the receipt of such appeal fully explain in writing to the person requesting the record the reasons for further denial, or provide access to the record sought."

In addition, it has been held that when an appeal is made but a determination is not rendered within ten business days of the receipt of the appeal as required under §89(4)(a) of the Freedom of Information Law, the appellant has exhausted his or her administrative remedies and may initiate a challenge to a constructive denial of access under Article 78 of the Civil Practice Rules [Floyd v. McGuire, 87 AD 2d 388, appeal dismissed 57 NY 2d 774 (1982)].

In a related vein, I do not believe that an agency can require that a request be made in or on a prescribed form. To reiterate, the Freedom of Information Law, §89(3), as well as the regulations promulgated by the Committee (21 NYCRR 1401.5), which have the force of law and govern the procedural aspects of the Law, require that an agency respond to a request that reasonably describes the record sought within five business days of the receipt of a request. Further, the regulations indicate that "an agency may require that a request be made in writing or may make records available upon oral request" [21 NYCRR 1401.5(a)]. As such, neither the Law nor the regulations refer to, require or authorize the use of standard forms. Accordingly, it has consistently been advised that any written request that reasonably describes the records sought should suffice.

It has also been advised that a failure to complete a form prescribed by an agency cannot serve to delay a response or deny a request for records. A delay due to a failure to use a prescribed form might result in an inconsistency with the time limitations imposed by the Freedom of Information Law. For example, assume that an individual requests a record in writing from an agency and that the agency responds by directing that a standard form must be submitted. By the time the individual submits the form, and the agency possesses and responds to the request, it is probable that more than five business days would have elapsed, particularly if a form is sent by mail and returned to the agency by mail. Therefore, to the extent that an agency's response granting, denying or acknowledging the receipt of a request is given more than five business days following the initial receipt of the written request, the agency, in my opinion, would have failed to comply with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Law.

While the Law does not preclude an agency from developing a standard form, as suggested earlier, I do not believe that a failure to use such a form can be used to delay a response to a written request for records reasonably described beyond the statutory period. However, a standard form may, in my opinion, be utilized so long as it does not prolong the time limitations discussed above. For instance, a standard form could be completed by a requester while his or her written request is timely processed by the agency. In addition, an individual who appears at a government office and makes an oral request for records could be asked to complete the standard form as his or her written request.

Second, there are no judicial decisions of which I am aware that deal with the use of fax transmissions to request records under the Freedom of Information Law. Absent a judicial determination to the contrary and assuming that such a request is directed to the appropriate person, i.e., the records access officer, I am unaware of any basis for refusing to accept a request made by means of a fax transmission.

Lastly, in my view, a claim that the agency can refuse to accept a request made by fax based on §2103 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules would be misplaced. That provision deals with the service of papers in a legal proceeding; it does not pertain or refer to a request made to a governmental entity under the Freedom of Information Law.

I hope that I have been of assistance.

Sincerely,

 

Robert J. Freeman
Executive Director

RJF:pb

cc: Captain Vincent Fitzgerald, Senior Records Officer