FOR
I.
BASIC
INFORMATION:
A. Point of Contact:
Martha A. Diaz-Ortiz
FOIA
and Privacy Act Officer
Phone: (202) 260-4404
Fax: (202) 260-4394
B. Electronic Address for Report:
Governors (BBG) will be available on the Agency’s website,
at: www.BBG.gov
C. Paper Copies of Report:
Paper copies can be requested from
the person/address listed
above.
II.
HOW
TO MAKE THE FOIA REQUEST:
A. Requirements:
There are four basic agency
requirements for making a FOIA request:
1. Request
must be in writing (mailed correspondence, fax) and
include the requester's
mailing address;
2. The
envelope and letter content must identify the request as
a FOIA request;
3. The
request must provide enough detail to allow
identification of the
requested records; and
4. The
request must include agreement to pay fees chargeable
under the BBG's fee
schedule.
C. Agency Components:
Freedom of Information Act
requests must be made in writing
and submitted by
mail or facsimile transmission to the
Broadcasting
Board of Governors, FOIA Officer at the address
listed above.
D.
The agency generally manages to
respond to FOIA requests
within three to four
weeks for records that can be found at the
agency. Response times over 20 working days are
generally the
result of the need to track and retrieve documents from
off-site
storage at the
agency components.
E. Why some requests are not granted:
Requests
for records may not be granted if the documents have
been transferred to
the ownership of the National Archives and
Records
Administration, if the requested records contain
Pre-decisional
information that if released would cause harm to
the agency
decision-making processes; for portions of records
that contain
personal and/or proprietary information; for records
containing information
compiled for law enforcement purposes;
or if the
requester asked for information specifically
prohibited from disclosure
by other statutes.
III.
DEFINITION
OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS USED IN THE
REPORT:
A. Agency-specific terms and acronyms:
B. Basic terms:
Basic terms, expressed in common
terminology.
1.
FOIA/PA
request -- Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act request. A FOIA request
is generally a request for
access to records
concerning a third party, an
organization, or a
particular topic of interest. A Privacy
Act request is a
request for records concerning oneself;
such requests are
also treated as FOIA requests. (All
requests for access to
records, regardless of which law is
cited by the
requester, are included in this report.)
2.
Initial
Request -- a request to a federal agency for access
to records under
the Freedom of Information Act.
3.
Appeal -- a request to
a federal agency asking that it review at
a higher administrative level a full denial or partial denial of access
to records under the Freedom of Information Act, or any other FOIA
determination such as a matter pertaining to fees.
4.
Processed
Request or Appeal -- a request or appeal for
which an agency has
taken a final action on the request or the appeal in all respects.
5.
Multi-track
Processing -- a system in which simple requests requiring relatively
minimal review are placed in one processing track and more voluminous and
complex requests are placed in one or more other tracks. Requests in each track
are processed on a first-in/first-out basis. A requester who has an urgent need
for records may request expedited processing (see below).
6.
Expedited
Processing -- an agency will process a FOIA request on an expedited
basis when a requester has shown an exceptional need or urgency for the records
which warrants prioritization of his or her request over other requests
that were made earlier.
7.
Simple
Request -- a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing
places in its fastest (non-expedited) track based on the volume and/or
simplicity of records requested.
8.
Complex
Request -- a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing
places in a slower track based on the volume and/or complexity of records
requested.
9.
Grant -- an agency
decision to disclose all records in full in response to a FOIA request.
10.
Partial
Grant -- an agency decision to disclose a record in part in response to
a FOIA request, deleting information determined to be exempt under one or more
of the FOIA's exemptions; or a decision to disclose
some records in their entireties, but to withhold others in whole or in part.
11.
Denial -- an agency
decision not to release any part of a record or records in response to a FOIA
request because all the information in the requested records is determined by
the agency to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA's
exemptions, or for some procedural reason (such as because no record is located
in response to a FOIA request).
12.
Time
Limits -- the time period in the Freedom of Information Act for an
agency to respond to a FOIA request (ordinarily 20 working days from proper
receipt of a "perfected" FOIA request).
13.
"Perfected"
Request -- a FOIA request for records which adequately describes the
records sought, which has been received by the FOIA office of the agency or
agency component in possession of the records, and for which there is no
remaining question about the payment of applicable fees.
14.
Exemption
3 Statute -- a separate federal statute prohibiting the disclosure
of a certain type of information and authorizing its
withholding under FOIA
subsection (b)(3).
15.
Median
Number -- the middle, not average, number. For example, of 3, 7, and 14,
the median number is 7.
16.
Average
Number -- the number obtained by dividing the sum of a group of numbers
by the quantity of numbers in the group. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the
average number is 8.
17.
Days -- the number
of calendar days used to compute calculations.
IV.
EXEMPTION
3 STATUTES:
A.
Exemption 3 statutes relied on by the
agency during current
fiscal year:
During Fiscal Year 2003 the BBG did not use Exemption 3.
V. INITIAL FOIA/PA ACCESS REQUESTS:
A.
Numbers of initial requests:
1. Number
of requests pending as of end of preceding fiscal year: 2
2. Number
of requests received during current fiscal year: 61
3. Number
of requests processed during current fiscal year: 52
4. Number
of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year: 11
B. Disposition
of initial requests:
1. Number
of total grants (records released in full): 28
2. Number
of partial grants (records released in part): 10
3. Number
of denials (total withholding of records): 0
a. Number of times each FOIA exemption
was used: 0
(1) Exemption 1: 0
(2) Exemption 2: 0
(3) Exemption 3: 0
(4) Exemption 4: 0
(5) Exemption 5: 1
(6) Exemption 6: 6
(7) Exemption 7(A): 0
(8) Exemption 7(B): 0
(9) Exemption 7(C): 0
(10) Exemption 7(D): 0
(11) Exemption 7(E): 0
(12)
Exemption 7(F): 0
(13) Exemption 8: 0
(14) Exemption 9: 0
4. Other reasons for nondisclosure
(total): 14
a. No records: 10
b. Referrals: 0
c. Request withdrawn: 3
d. Fee-related reason: 0
e. Records not reasonably described: 0
f. Not a proper FOIA request for some
other reason: 0
g. Not an agency record: 1
h.
Duplicate request: 0
i. Other (specify): 0
A. Numbers
of appeals
1.
Number of appeals received during fiscal year: 1
2.
Number of appeals processed during fiscal year: 1
B. Disposition
of appeals
1.
Number completely upheld: 1
2.
Number partially reversed: 0
3.
Number completely reversed: 0
4. Number
of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each
exemption once per
appeal):
(1) Exemption 1: 0
(2) Exemption 2: 0
(3) Exemption 3: 0
(4) Exemption 4: 0
(5) Exemption 5: 0
(6) Exemption 6: 1
(7) Exemption 7(A): 0
(8) Exemption 7(B): 0
(9) Exemption 7(C): 0
(10) Exemption 7(D): 0
(11) Exemption 7(E): 0
(12) Exemption 7(F): 0
(13) Exemption 8: 0
(14) Exemption 9: 0
4. Other reasons for nondisclosure
(total):
a. no records: 0
b. referrals: 0
c. request withdrawn: 0
d. fee-related reason: 0
e. records not reasonably described: 0
f. not a proper FOIA request for some
other reason: 0
g. not an agency record: 0
h. duplicate request: 0
i. other (specify): 0
VII.
COMPLIANCE
WITH TIME LIMITS/STATUS OF PENDING
REQUESTS
A. Median
processing time for requests processed during the year:
NOTE: BBG uses a single first-in,
first-out method of
processing requests. The
agency did not receive requests for
expedited access during
fiscal year 2003.
1.
Number of requests processed: 52
2.
Median number of days to process: 20
3.
Complex requests (specify for any and all tracks used).
a. number of requests
processed: 0
b. median number of days to process: 0
4.
Requests accorded expedited processing.
a. number of requests processed: 0
b. median number of
days to process: 0
B. Status
of pending requests:
1.
Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year: 11
2. Median
number of days that such requests were pending as
of that date: 20
Did not receive request for expedited
process. None granted.
A. Staffing
levels:
1. Number
of full-time FOIA personnel: 0
2. Number
of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA
duties: .30 work years
3. Total number of personnel (in work
years): .30 work years
B. Total
costs (including staff and all resources)
1. FOIA
processing (including appeals): $25,000
2. Litigation-related
activities (estimated): No litigation in FY
2002
3.
Total costs: $25,000
A.
Total amount of fees collected by the
agency for processing
requests: $333.70
B.
Percentage of total costs: .01
X1. FOIA REGULATIONS (INCLUDING FEE SCHEDULE)
BBG FOIA regulations are published at
BBG.gov.