Lawmakers eye more exemptions to target “abuse'” of FOIA

DOVER, Del. (AP) — Democratic lawmakers are proposing to give public officials more reasons to deny requests for public records under Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act and require people seeking public records to pay new fees.

A bill released by a Senate committee following a hearing Wednesday allows government workers to deny FOIA requests they consider to be “unreasonably broad, unduly burdensome, intended to disrupt the essential functions of the public body,” or “abusive.”

Representatives of the Delaware Coalition for Open Government, Common Cause and the American Civil Liberties Union spoke against the bill.

No member of the public spoke in favor of it.

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