City and town officials involved in responding to requests for information under the SC Freedom of Information Act are often familiar with the deadlines required by the law — generally, 10 days to respond with an answer about whether it will release the material, and 30 days after that to release the material.
However, there are some specific instances where the FOIA law requires that the local government provide records “for public inspection and copying” immediately upon request during business hours. This means that there is no waiting period, and the law further specifies that requestors do not have to make a written request in these cases, which is common in other types of FOIA requests — they can simply ask for it verbally.
The law makes one stipulation for the requestors: they must appear “in person” to make the request.
Here are the types of information identified by SC Code Section 30-4-30(D) for immediate release:
- The minutes of a meeting of a public body for the preceding six months.
- Police reports for the preceding 14 days. The law defines these types of reports in Section 30-4-50(A)(8), indicating that these are those “reports which disclose the nature, substance, and location of any crime or alleged crime reported as having been committed.” These often take the form of the incident reports that officers file immediately after responding to a call or making an arrest. There are exemptions for information that would constitute an unreasonable invasion of privacy, so some of the common redactions on incident reports include information about victims or juveniles.
- Information on who has been held in jail or prison during the previous three months.
- Documents distributed to a public body for review during a public meeting during the previous six months. These often take the form of “agenda packets,” which are the supplemental materials distributed to councilmembers, board members or committee members ahead of a meeting to provide greater details on the meeting’s agenda items.
Because FOIA requires governmental entities to make all of these information types available immediately, many local governments will proactively provide the information on their website. This can take the form of online archives of council meeting minutes and agenda packets for recent years, or ongoing posts about bookings and releases at a jail.
However, FOIA states that posting the materials online does not remove the responsibility to provide the documents immediately when someone appears in person to ask for it.
FOIA deadlines in other cases
Aside from the specific cases where FOIA requires no waiting period for information releases, it otherwise establishes deadlines, requires requests to be in writing, and does not indicate that requestors must appear in person.
The deadline rules appear in SC Code Section 30-4-30(C). The local government must respond within 10 business days of receiving the request with a determination on whether the information will be provided — including their reasoning if they find that the information is exempt from FOIA. The “business days” requirement means that Saturdays, Sundays and legal public holidays do not count toward the 10-day deadline. The deadline extends to 20 business days in cases where the requested information is more than 24 months old.
Beginning at the time that the municipality has issued this determination — or at the time it receives a deposit from a requestor, in cases where it requires payment — it has 30 calendar days to provide the material. Weekends and holidays count toward the 30-day deadline.
Learn more about FOIA in the SC Press Association’s publication, Public Official’s Guide to Compliance With South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act.