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Portland committee opposes proposal to require 30-day FOAA responses, cites staffing and cost burdens
Summary
City legal staff and the communications director told the committee that a proposed change to the Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) requiring a concrete 30-day response deadline would be infeasible for the city without new staffing and would create significant workload and redaction burdens; the committee voted to oppose the bill.
Portland's legislative committee voted to oppose a bill that would amend the Freedom of Access Act to require public bodies to respond to requests within a concrete 30 days.
Nicole Albert, attorney in the city legal office, said the current statute requires responses "within a reasonable period of time," and the proposed bill would change that to "a concrete 30 days." Albert gave the committee a conservative tally of the city's FOAA workload: roughly 250 portal requests last year addressed by the communications office, another ~100 routed to the communications director, and approximately 200 handled by the police legal advisor and the legal office.
Albert and other staff told the committee that a 30-day fixed deadline would mean the city would likely need a full-time staff person dedicated solely to FOAA compliance. She said many requests require extensive legal review and redaction before release and that the current workload is already demanding given existing staffing and competing legal priorities.
Councilors speaking at the meeting supported opposing the bill and noted frequent misuse of FOAA requests as discovery proxies in pending litigation. One councilor said the proposal had been a "hobby horse" for some advocates but that municipalities need capacity and protection from abusive requests.
Ending: The committee unanimously adopted an opposition stance and authorized staff and counsel to testify against the bill. Staff were directed to coordinate opposition testimony and to work with municipal associations as needed.
