A bill to reform the First State's Freedom of Information Act laws looks to revise multiple points related to access and procedure.
State Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend (D-Newark) and State Rep. Cyndie Romer (D-Newark) filed legislation this month.
ACLU of Delaware staff attorney Jared Silberglied said his organization has fought for open stronger records access, recently winning a case against the Department of Justice– where a Superior Court judge ruled it had to share invoices of special counsel it hired to represent its interests.
But as much as it's pursued litigation to increase records access, Silberglied said, "at the same time, there are a lot of things about FOIA that can't be fixed without legislation, and so we've really looked at this as a two-pronged approach."
One FOIA revision in the bill now would narrow exemptions law enforcement can apply to deny requests for investigation files it compiles for civil and law enforcement purposes. And a denial of records would have to explain what harm a file’s release would cause.
Silberglied said the exemption has previously applied broadly to deny police body cam footage. The bill will be considered in Delaware’s upcoming legislative session.
He added the ACLU of Delaware hasn't had time to go through the 1,300 word bill line by line to consider its different provisions individually. But since Delaware’s FOIA law was passed in 1976, access laws received shorter revisions on an as-needed basis.
"Some of these sections were written over 50 years ago" he said. "…So we really appreciate what appears to be the first real effort in 50 years to take that step to comprehensively reform a lot of the law."
The bill also removes the Attorney General’s review of FOIA appeals, gives Superior Court exclusive jurisdiction over most FOIA disputes.
State Sen.Townsend said he is seeking feedback on the measure to “strike the right balance” on FOIA reform in the next General Assembly.
