FOIA Requests

This resource is maintained by

Policy and Projects Office

To ensure a timely response to your FOIA request, please utilize one of the methods listed below:

Method One: Submit your Request Online

Request a Public Record Online

Method Two: Contact our FOIA Officer
Caitlin Barbieri
foiaofficer@vdem.virginia.gov
(804) 543-6854 (Office)
9711 Farrar Court, Suite 200, North Chesterfield, VA 23236

The Virginia Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, located § 2.2-3700 et. seq. of the Code of Virginia, guarantees access by Virginia citizens and members of the media to public records

In general, a public record is any writing or recording created or maintained by a public body in the transaction of public business. All public records are presumed to be open, and may be withheld only when a specific, statutory exemption applies. FOIA’s purpose is to increase the transparency of government. Therefore, FOIA laws should be interpreted in favor of access. A withholding exemption should be interpreted narrowly.

Your FOIA Rights

Making a FOIA Request for records from VDEM

VDEM’s responsibilities in responding to your request

We provide you with the records that you have requested in their entirety.

We withhold all of the records that you have requested, because all of the records are subject to a specific statutory exemption. If all of the records are being withheld, we must send you a response in writing. That writing must identify the volume and subject matter of the records being withheld, and state the specific section of the Code of Virginia that allows us to withhold the records.

We provide some of the records that you have requested, but withhold other records. We cannot withhold an entire record if only a portion of it is subject to an exemption. In that instance, we may redact the portion of the record that may be withheld, and must provide you with the remainder of the record. We must provide you with a written response stating the specific section of the Code of Virginia that allows portions of the requested records to be withheld.

If it is practically impossible for VDEM to respond to your request within the five working-day period, we must state this in writing, explaining the conditions that make the response impossible. This will allow us seven additional working days to respond to your request, giving us a total of 12 working days to respond to your request.

We inform you in writing that the requested records cannot be found or do not exist; however, if we know that another public body has the requested records, we must include contact information for the other public body in our response to you.

If you make a request for a very large number of records, and we feel that we cannot provide the records to you within 12 working days without disrupting our other organizational responsibilities, we may petition the court for additional time to respond to your request. However, FOIA requires that we make a reasonable effort to reach an agreement with you concerning the production or the records before we go to court to ask for more time.

Costs

Types of Public Records Maintained by VDEM

Commonly used exemptions:

VDEM commonly withholds records subject to the following exemptions:

For a listing of additional exemptions that may be used by VDEM, please refer to the FOIA Council’s website.

The Federal Freedom of Information Act only applies to federal agencies and not to the Department or other state agencies.

The Freedom of Information Advisory Council’s online public comment form

Attachments