New FOIA Handbook now available

Now that changes to the state’s Freedom of Information Act have taken effect, the S.C.Press Association has updated its FOIA handbook. 

The Municipal Association shares this handbook on its website as a resource for local officials. The updated version is now available online, and copies will be available to officials attending the upcoming Annual Meeting.

Legislators introduced the bill with the intention of making public bodies more responsive to records requests. The bill gives the public faster access to an official ruling when a public body either rejects or otherwise fails to satisfy a FOIA request. The bill also establishes time frames for the public bodies receiving those requests. Get details in this earlier blog post. 

In May, the Association held a series of conference calls to outline the changes to FOIA. Two questions came up during the calls that prompted Association staff to do further research.

The first question focused on how to deal with FOIA requests for materials submitted to councilmembers from the public during a meeting. The second related to requests for records that include personal identifying information. Get details in this earlier blog post. 

This recent article in GSA BizWire also gives an overview of the changes.