Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised May 19, 2026

Freedom of information in the United States

Freedom of information in the United States relates to the public's ability to access government records, meetings, and other information. In the United States, freedom of information legislation exists at all levels of government: federal level, state level, and local level.

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Freedom of information in the United States relates to the public's ability to access government records, meetings, and other information. In the United States, freedom of information legislation exists at all levels of government: federal level, state level, and local level.

Federal level

Since the founding of the United States, the public's right to know the affairs of their government has been foundational to democracy. James Madison wrote during the United States Constitutional Convention, "The right of freely examining public characters and measures and free communication, is the only effective guardian of every other right."12

Several federal laws have strengthened the public's ability to access public records.

Federal legislation

The most important was the Freedom of Information Act, signed into law on July 4, 1966, by President Lyndon Johnson.

Proposed legislation

Miscellaneous Authoritative Federal Sources

U.S. Attorney General Memoranda

History

The Holder Memo is part of series of policy memos on how federal agencies should apply FOIA exemptions. Beginning in 1977 with Attorney General Griffin Bell, and continued by Attorney General William French Smith in 1981 and Attorney General Janet Reno in 1993, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced how the executive branch should approach FOIA, its application, and DOJ's defense of agency's actions. In other words, DOJ's position on when they would defend in a FOIA suit has seesawed for about the last three decades.

Reno Memo

The Reno Memo6 established a "presumption" in favor of disclosure by providing that "it shall be the policy of the Department of Justice to defend the assertion of a FOIA exemption only in those cases where the agency reasonably foresees that disclosure would be harmful to an interest protected by that exemption". It encouraged all government agencies to review FOIA requests in a manner most favorable to openness and to release information, even though it might fall within one of the nine exemption categories, if no "foreseeable harm" would result from the disclosure. The goal was to achieve the "maximum responsible disclosure".

Ashcroft Memo

On October 12, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a policy memorandum on FOIA to all federal executive agencies. The AG declared the Department of Justice (DOJ) would defend agencies' decisions to withhold documents from a FOIA requester under one of the statute's exemptions "unless they lack a sound legal basis or present an unwarranted risk of adverse impact on the ability of other agencies to protect other important records".

The Ashcroft Memorandum reversed the Reno standard. Agencies were told that in making discretionary FOIA decisions they should carefully consider the fundamental values behind the exemptions—national security, privacy, government's interests, etc.—and to lean in their favor whenever possible. The Ashcroft Memo7 with its "sound legal basis" standard encouraged (or at least seemed to support) greater use of FOIA exemptions by federal agency personnel.

AG Holder Memo

The Ashcroft Memo was rescinded by Attorney General Eric Holder on March 14, 2009. The AG Holder Memo8 appears to have reinstated the Reno Memo standard and extends the policy. The policy of the executive branch is to be open, responsive, transparent, and accountable. The current memo encourages the maximum disclosure possible in discretionary exemptions and to, whenever possible, reasonably segregate exempt information and release the rest.

State legislation

All fifty U.S. states and the District of Columbia also have freedom of information laws that govern the public's access to government records at state and local levels.9 These laws go by many different names including Sunshine Laws, Public Records Laws, Open Records Laws, etc. Additionally, Open Meeting Laws govern the public's access to meetings of public officials or appointed boards.10

All Freedom of Information style laws supports the ideal that in a democracy, people have the right to know the business of their government. However, the laws vary in scope and strength among jurisdictions.1 For example, Florida's Sunshine Law creates both a statutory and constitutional right to access whereas many states only provide the statutory right.2 Additionally, while a state may have strong legislation the state's compliance with its own laws may negatively impact the public's ability to access records.11

Freedom of Information laws by state and territory

State Freedom of Information Law Code Section12 First Enacted Who May Request Records12
Alabama Alabama Public Records Law Al. Code §§ 36-12-40; 36-12-41 192313 Any citizen
Alaska Alaska Public Records Act A.S. §§ 40.25.110 to 40.25.125; 40.25.151 190014 Any person
American Samoa American Samoa Public Records Act A.S.C.A. §§ 2.0101 et seq. 198415 Any person
Arizona Arizona Public Records Law A.R.S. §§ 39–121.01 to 39–121.03 190116 Any person
Arkansas Arkansas Freedom of Information Act Ark. Code Ann. §§ 25-19-101 to 25-19-111 196717 Citizens of the state/commonwealth
California California Public Records Act Gov't Code §§ 7920.000 to 7931.000a 196818 Any person
Colorado Colorado Open Records Act C.R.S. §§ 24-72-200.1 to 24-72-205.5 196919 Any person
Connecticut Connecticut Freedom of Information Act Connecticut General Statutes Chapter 14 §§ 1–200 to 1-242 197520 Any person
Delaware Delaware Freedom of Information Act Tit. 29, §§ 10001 to 10007; 10112 197721 Citizens of the state/commonwealth
District of Columbia Freedom of Information Act22 DC Official Code §§ 2–531 to 2-540 197423 Any person
Florida Florida Sunshine Law Fla. Stat. §§ 119.01 to 119.19 196724 Any person
Georgia Georgia Open Records Act O.C.G.A. §§ 50-18-70 to 50-18-103 195925 Citizens of the state/commonwealth
Guam Guam Sunshine Reform Act of 1999 5 GCA §§ 10101 to 10125 199926 Any person
Hawaii Uniform Information Practices Act (Modified) Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 92F-1 to 92F-43 197527 Any person
Idaho Idaho Public Records Act Idaho Code §§ 74–101 to 74-126 199028 Any person
Illinois Illinois Freedom of Information Act ILCS 5 §§ 140/1 to 140/11.6 198429 Any person
Indiana Access to Public Records Act IN Code §§ 5-14-3-1 to 5-14-3-10 198330 Any person
Iowa Iowa Open Records Law Iowa Code §§ 22.1 to 22.16 196731 Any person
Kansas Kansas Open Records Act KSA §§ 45–215 to 45-524 198432 Any person
Kentucky Kentucky Open Records Act Kentucky Revised Statute Chapter §§ 61.870 to 61.884 197633 From Kentucky: "an individual residing in Kentucky, a domestic business with a location in Kentucky (or an out-of-state business registered with the Secretary of State), a person who works in Kentucky, a person or business that owns real property within Kentucky, a person or business authorized to act on behalf of a Kentucky resident, or a news-gathering organization"; inmates have some restrictions; non-Kentucky people may request records, but their requests can be denied
Louisiana Louisiana Public Records Law La.R.S. §§ 44:31 to 44:41 194034 Any person 18 or older
Maine Maine Freedom of Access Act Tit. 1, §§ 400 to 434 195935 Any person
Maryland Maryland Public Information Act Gen. Provis. §§ 4–101 to 4-601 197036 Any person
Massachusetts Massachusetts Public Records Law Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 66, §§ 1 to 21 189737 Any person
Michigan Michigan Freedom of Information Act Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §§ 15.231 to 15.246 197738 Any person
Minnesota Minnesota Data Practices Act Minn. Statutes §§ 13.01 to 13.99 Ch. 13 Appendix 197439 Any person
Mississippi Mississippi Public Records Act Miss. Code Ann. §§ 25-61-1 to 25-61-19 198340 Any person
Missouri Missouri Public Records Act Mo. Code §§ 109.180; 610.010 to 610.225 196141 Citizens of the state/commonwealth
Montana Montana Public Records Act Montana Code §§ 2-6-101 to 2-6-1020 189542 Any person
Nebraska Nebraska Public Records Law Nebraska Statutes §§ 84–712 to 84-712.09 186643 Any person
Nevada Nevada Open Records Act N.R.S. §§ 239.010-239.340 191144 Any person
New Hampshire Right to Know Law R.S.A. Ch. 91-A:1 to 91-A:10 196745 Any citizen
New Jersey New Jersey Open Public Records Act N.J.S.A. §§ 47:1A-1 to 47:1A-13 200246 Citizens of the state/commonwealth
New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act NMSA §§ 14-2-1 to 14-2-12 199347 Any person
New York New York Freedom of Information Law Pub. Off. §§ 84 to 90 197448 Any person
North Carolina North Carolina Public Records Law NCGS Chapter 132–1 to 132-11 199549 Any person
North Dakota Open Records Statute NDCC §§ 44-04-18 to 44-04-32 195750 Any person
Northern Mariana Islands Open Government Act of 1992 1 CMC §§ 9901 to 9910 199251 Any person
Ohio Ohio Open Records Law Ohio Rev. Code §§ 149.43 to 149.45; 2743.75 196352 Any person
Oklahoma Oklahoma Open Records Act Title 51 Oklahoma Statutes §§ 24A.1 to 24A.32 199953 Any person
Oregon Oregon Public Records Law O.R.S. §§ 192.311 to 192.513 197354 Any person
Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law 65 Pennsylvania Statute §§ 67.101 to 67.1310 195755 Any legal resident of the United States
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico Transparency and Access to Public Information Act Law No. 141-2019 201956 Any person
Rhode Island Rhode Island Access to Public Records Act P.L. §§ 38-2-1 to 38-2-16 197957 Any person
South Carolina South Carolina Freedom of Information Act S.C. Code Ann. §§ 30-4-10 to 30-4-165 197458 Any person
South Dakota South Dakota Sunshine Law SDCL Chapter 1-27-1 to 1-27-48 200959 Any person
Tennessee Tennessee Open Records Act Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 10-7-503 to 10-7-508 195760 Citizens of the state/commonwealth
Texas Texas Public Information Act Gov't §§ 552.001 to 552.376 197361 Any person
Utah Government Records Access and Management Act Utah Code Title 63G-2-101 to 63G-2-804 199162 Any person
Vermont Vermont Open Records Law Vermont Statute Tit. 1, §§ 315 to 320 197663 Any person
Virginia Virginia Freedom of Information Act Code of Virginia §§ 2.2-3700 to 2.2-3715 196864 Citizens of the state/commonwealth
Virgin Islands Virgin Islands Sunshine Act V.I. Code tit. 3, §§ 881–884 197665 Any person
Washington Washington Public Records Act RCW §§ 42.56.001 to 42.56.904 197266 Any person
West Virginia West Virginia Freedom of Information Act W.Va. Code §§ 29B-1-1 to 29B-1-7 197767 Any person
Wisconsin Wisconsin Open Records Law Wisconsin Statute §§ 19.21 to 19.39 198168 Any person
Wyoming Wyoming Sunshine Law Wyo. Stat. §§ 16-4-201 to 16-4-205 198369 Any person
  1. Originally Gov't Code §§ 6250 to 6276.48 until January 1, 2023.
See also

See also

Individuals

U.S.

References

References

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External links