Request Records Through The New York State Freedom of Information Law (FOIL)

Overview

The Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”), Article 6 (Sections 84-90) of the NYS Public Officers Law, provides the public right to access records maintained by government agencies with certain exceptions.

“Record” means any information kept, held, filed, produced or reproduced by, with, or for this agency, in any physical form whatsoever including, but not limited to, reports, statements, examinations, memoranda, opinions, folders, files, books, manuals, pamphlets, forms, papers, designs, drawings, maps, photos, letters, microfilms, computer tapes or disks, rules, regulations or codes.

FOIL Process

Submit an online FOIL request to the Division of the Budget using the link below (note: you must create an account there first in order to submit a FOIL request):

Within five business days of the receipt of a written request for a record reasonably described, we will send you a letter either: making such record available; denying such request in writing; or furnishing a written acknowledgment of the receipt of such request. If you have not received a letter within five business days, please contact us through the FOIL Records Access Center.

An acknowledgment letter will provide you with an estimate of when the records you request will be available, which shall be reasonable under the circumstances of the request. This date is determined by the number of documents you request, their format, their availability, the time it takes to redact any information that cannot be disclosed pursuant to FOIL, the time it takes to assemble the documents, and other factors.

If the records you request require a fee to be paid, you will be notified prior to the records being released to you. Unless a different fee is otherwise prescribed by statute, Public Officers Law §87(1) authorizes an agency to charge a fee of 25¢ per copy for copies of records up 9"x 14", or the actual cost of reproducing a record. In determining the actual cost of producing a record, an agency may include only:

an amount equal to the hourly salary attributed to the lowest paid agency employee who has the necessary skill required to prepare the requested record(s), if at least two hours of agency employee time is needed to prepare a copy of the record(s) requested;
the actual cost of the storage devices or media provided to the person making the request in complying with such request; and
the actual cost to the agency of engaging an outside professional service to prepare a copy of a record, but only when an agency’s information technology equipment is inadequate to prepare a copy, if such service is used to prepare the copy.

Once the requested records are prepared, you will receive notification via the FOIL Records Access Center.

Submit a request for records in person or by mail:

Upon appointment, public records maintained by the Division of the Budget are available for inspection or copying on weekdays by appointment between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. at a location within the offices of the New York State Division of the Budget, Albany, NY. You may schedule an appointment for in-person inspection of records by calling (518) 473-3885.

Mail a written request for records to:

Records Access Officer
New York State Division of the Budget
Room 128, State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

Right to Appeal

Under provisions of the Public Officers Law you may appeal a FOIL determination. If you desire to submit such an appeal, you must do so within 30 days of the written response to your FOIL request. You may submit an appeal via the FOIL Records Access Center, to the attention of Blake G. Washington, Budget Director, New York State Division of the Budget.

You will be informed in writing of the decision within ten business days of our receipt of such an appeal.

Subject Matter List

The following is a current list of records, by subject matter, that are maintained by this agency. Some of the listed records may be exempt from disclosure pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law.

Division of the Budget Subject Matter List (PDF)

Locating Agency Budgets

The Budget process and contents are governed primarily by Article VII of the New York State Constitution and Articles 3 and 4 of the State Finance Law. Among other things, Article VII requires that “No money shall ever be paid out of the State Treasury or any of its funds, or any of the funds under its management, except in pursuance of an appropriation by law.” In other words, appropriations serve as the State’s legal authority to spend money, and an agency’s “budget” can be obtained by reviewing its Enacted Budget appropriations for a given fiscal year. The Division of the Budget provides historical Enacted Budget appropriation information on its website at https://www.budget.ny.gov/pubs/archive/index.html.

Historical FOIL Logs

Available below are logs of FOIL requests completed by the Division beginning with Calendar Year 2017. Effective January 1, 2022, the Division will update these logs on a quarterly basis. Information in the “Status” Column within the logs has the following meanings:

Response Sent: The Division of the Budget responded to the FOIL request by taking either of the following actions or a combination thereof:
- The Division of the Budget provided at least one record, which may or may not have included redactions to information in accordance with provisions of State and/or Federal Law; and/or
- The Division of the Budget withheld at least one record in accordance with provisions of State and/or Federal Law.
Link to Response Sent: Any records within the Division of the Budget’s possession were publicly available and the Division of the Budget provided the link to the publicly available information.
“No Records” Response Sent: The Division of the Budget did not have any records responsive to the FOIL request.

Logs of FOIL Requests

Note: FOIL Logs are in PDF format.

Helpful Tips

For more information about FOIL, please visit the New York State Committee on Open Government’s website.

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