FOIA; procedure for responding to requests, charges, posting of notice of rights & responsibilities.
Summary
Virginia Freedom of Information Act; procedure for responding to requests; charges; posting of notice of rights and responsibilities. Limits the fees charged for producing public records to the median hourly rate of pay of employees of the public body or the actual hourly rate of pay of the person performing the work, whichever is less, and provides that a public body may petition a court for relief from this fee limit if there is no one who can process the request at the median hourly rate of pay or less. The bill makes corresponding amendments to the required statement on charges in the notice of rights and responsibilities that must be posted on a public body's website. The bill also amends existing law providing that a public body may petition a court for additional time to respond to a request for public records to allow such petitions to be heard in either general district or circuit court, to give such petitions priority on the court's docket, and to toll the response time while such a petition is pending before a court. The bill makes technical amendments, including moving provisions regarding charges for the production of public records into a separate section of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
Bill status
passed both
4 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Feb 2025
Senate Passage
Feb 2025
House of Delegates Passage
Feb 2025
Governor
Introduced Jan 7, 2025
Last action Feb 19, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison
What changed between versions
Introduced
→
Engrossed
·
5 edits
·
Feb 3, 2025
MODERATE
This bill amends Virginia's Freedom of Information Act to standardize how public bodies charge fees for public records requests, requiring charges to be based on actual costs rather than arbitrary fees. It establishes a median hourly rate cap for staff time charges and adds requirements for public bodies to post notices about FOIA rights and responsibilities on their websites.
Scope change
The bill applies to all state public bodies, counties, cities, towns with populations over 250, and school boards, with no change to the scope of applicability.
REQUIREMENT
Added requirement for public bodies to post FOIA rights and responsibilities notices on their official websites
Established median hourly rate caps for staff time charges on public records requests
Added requirements for public bodies to provide cost estimates before searching for records
Added requirements for electronic payment methods for public records fees
Added provisions for petitioning courts to exceed fee caps when no qualified staff is available at median rates
Floor votes · Senate Jan 30, 2025
How they voted
39–0
Passed · 1 other
Total votes 40
Jan 30, 2025
D
Democratic21
95% Yea
R
Republican19
100% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
26
Key actions
8
Committee
8
Amendments
3
Feb 19, 2025
Committee
Rereferred to General Laws
lower
Feb 18, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed by for the day
lower
Feb 13, 2025
Lower · Passed
Reported from General Laws (16-Y 3-N)
lower
Feb 11, 2025
Lower · Passed
Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 1-N)
lower
Feb 9, 2025
Committee
Assigned GL sub: Procurement/Open Government
lower
Feb 6, 2025
Committee
Referred to Committee on General Laws
lower
Feb 3, 2025
Upper · Passed
Read third time and passed Senate (38-Y 2-N)
upper
Jan 31, 2025
Introduced
Engrossed by Senate as amended
upper
Jan 31, 2025
Upper · Passed
Finance and Appropriations Amendment agreed to
upper
Jan 31, 2025
Introduced
Reading of amendment waived
upper
Jan 30, 2025
Upper · Passed
Passed by for the day
upper
Jan 29, 2025
Upper · Passed
Reported from Finance and Appropriations with amendments (14-Y 0-N)
upper
Jan 22, 2025
Upper · Passed
Reported from General Laws and Technology and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 1-N)
upper
Jan 7, 2025
Committee
Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Danica Roem
DDemocratic
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