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handle is hein.crs/goveerz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: $ Santa Fw~ kPla~ & en ~?14 October26, 2021 Freedom of Information Act Requests in FY2020: By the Numbers The Freedomof Information Act (FOIA; 5 U.S.C. §552) establishes a presumption that agency records in the possession of the executive branch and departments of the federal government are accessible to the public. Under FOIA, the burden of proof to access government information shifted froma requester's need to know to a right to know doctrine, wherethe federalgovernmenthas to show a need to keep the information secret (H.Rept. 109- 226). Government-wide information on the administration of FOIA is provided by the Department of Justice (DOJ) at http://www.foia.gov. This In Focus provides and discusses information from agencies on thevolume of FOIA requests during FY2020 and FY2019 that were received, processed, and backlogged. About the Data Data in this In Focus were drawn fromFOIA.gov. Please note the site's dataare self-reported fromfederal agencies. Additionally, the number of agencies that p articip ate and submit data may vary fromyear to year. Thus, CRS cannot certify all agencies are included in this data set. More information is available on datacollection andreporting from the DOJ, Office of Information Policy, at https://www.justice.gov/oip/guidance-agency-foia- adminis tration-light-covid-19-imp acts. FOA in FY2020 During FY2020, the COVID-19 pandemic affected the processing and release ofinformationin response to FOIA requests. For example, * requests relatedto thepandemic were prioritized and expedited, which may have delayed responses to other requests; * changes to staffing schedules may have disrupted employees' availability to participate in the coordinated efforts neededto comply with some requests; and * remote work may have resulted in employees being unable to locate and access responsive information to comply with requestswhenthatinformationwas only available in physical formats. For more information on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on FOIA processing, please see CRS Report R46292, Freedom ofInformation Act (FOIA)Processing Changes Due to COVID-19: In Brief, by Kathleen E. Marchsteiner and MeghanM. Stuessy. https://crsrepc Requests Received Government-wide, agencies reported that the number of FOIA requests submitted in FY2020 fell 7.95% from the previous year (790,688 requests in FY2020 from 858,952 in FY2019). In both FY2020 and FY2019, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and DOJ reported receiving themost and second mostFOIA requests of any agency. In FY2020, the Department of Defense reported the third most requests. The National Archives and Records Administration reported the third mostrequests in FY2019. Within DHS and DOJ, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at DHS and the Executive Office for Immigration Review at DOJ led their departments in the number ofrequests received in FY2019 and FY2020. Requests Processed Under 5 U.S.C. §552(a)(6), upon receipt of a FOIA request, each agency is to determine, in most cases within 20 businessdays, whether it will comply with such a request and notify the requester ofthe agency's determination. After the initial notification, the time it takes to process a FOIA request depends on the nature and scope of the material requested. A simple FOIA request is one that an agency anticipates will involve a smallvolume of material or which will be able to be processed relatively quickly. Complex reques ts typically seek a high volume of material or require additional steps to process, such as the need to search for records in multiple locations. FOIA requests can be expedited in cases wherethe requester demonstrates a compelling need for the information (5 U.S.C. §552(a)(6)(E)). Whereas agencies air expected to initially respond to mostFOIA requests within 20 days, agencies must determine within 10 days whether they will grant expedited processing. Processed Requests Processing a FOIA requestinvolves locating and transmitting relevant information to requesters, and sometimes requires a variety of employees or offices to respond. Federal agencies reported that they processed 772,869 FOIA requests in FY2020, a decrease from877,964 processedrequests in FY2019. In FY2020, on average (mean), simple requests were processed in 30 days (down from 39 days in FY2019) and complex requests took 181 days (up from 156 days in FY2019); see Figure 1. Expedited requests were processed, on average, in 116 days (17 more days than in FY2019). In total, it took an average .conress.qov

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