Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board

Freedom of Information Act

Freedom of Information Act

The Rights of Requesters and the Responsibilities of the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

The Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), located in § 2.2-3700 et. seq. of the Code of Virginia, guarantees citizens of the Commonwealth and representatives of the media access to public records held by public bodies, public officials, and public employees.

A public record is any writing or recording – regardless of whether it is a paper record, an electronic file, an audio or video recording, or any other format – that is prepared or owned by, or in the possession of a public body or its officers, employees or agents in the transaction of public business. All public records are presumed to be open, and may only be withheld if a specific, statutory exemption applies.

The policy of FOIA states that the purpose of FOIA is to promote an increased awareness by all persons of governmental activities. In furthering this policy, FOIA requires that the law be interpreted liberally, in favor of access, and that any exemption allowing public records to be withheld must be interpreted narrowly.

Your FOIA Rights

Making a Request for Records from the CTB

To request records from VDOT, you may direct your request to Holly Jones at:

Holly Jones
VDOT Annex Bldg.
1401 E. Broad Street, 11th floor
Richmond, Virginia 23219
telephone: (804) 371-8696
fax: (804) 225-4700
e-mail: holly.jones@VDOT.Virginia.gov

You may also contact her with questions you have concerning requesting records from VDOT. 

In addition, the Freedom of Information Advisory Council is available to answer any questions you may have about FOIA. The Council was created to issue opinions on the operation and application of FOIA, to publish educational materials, and to provide training about FOIA. However, please be aware that the Council is not a records repository and does not process records requests on behalf of other public bodies.

The Council may be contacted by e-mail at foiacouncil@dls.virginia.gov, or by phone at (804) 698-1810 or [toll free] 1-866-448-4100.

CTB Responsibilities in Responding to Your Request

The CTB must respond to your request within five working days of receiving it. “Day One” is considered the day after your request is received. The five-day period does not include weekends or holidays.

    1. We provide you with the records that you have requested in their entirety.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. If it is practically impossible for the CTB to respond to your request within the five-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.
    5. We inform you in writing that the requested records cannot be found or do not exist (we do not have the records you requested). 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.

Costs

A public body may make reasonable charges not to exceed its actual cost incurred in accessing, duplicating, supplying, or searching for the requested records and shall make all reasonable efforts to supply the requested records at the lowest possible cost. No public body shall impose any extraneous, intermediary, or surplus fees or expenses to recoup the general costs associated with creating or maintaining records or transacting the general business of the public body. Any duplicating fee charged by a public body shall not exceed the actual cost of duplication.

Subsection F of § 2.2-3704 of the Code of Virginia provides that, prior to conducting a search for records, the public body shall notify the requester in writing that the public body may make reasonable charges not to exceed its actual cost incurred in accessing, duplicating, supplying, or searching for requested records and inquire of the requester whether they would like to request a cost estimate in advance of the supplying of the requested records. The public body shall provide the requester with a cost estimate if requested.

Commonly used exemptions

The Code of Virginia allows any public body to withhold certain records from public disclosure. The CTB commonly withholds records subject to the following exemptions:

Public Comment Form

To provide feedback to the Freedom of Information Advisory Council regarding the quality of assistance you received from a public body in regard to your request for public records, here are links to the FOIA Council website and their online public comment form.

http://foiacouncil.dls.virginia.gov/

http://foiacouncil.dls.virginia.gov/sample%20letters/welcome.htm