                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

POSTING OF NOTICE OF RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES BY STATE AND LOCAL PUBLIC
BODIES; ASSISTANCE BY THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ADVISORY COUNCIL (§
2.2-3704.1)

A. All state public bodies subject to the provisions of this chapter, any county
or city, any town with a population of more than 250, and any school board shall
make available the following information to the public upon request and shall
post a link to such information on the homepage of their respective official
public government websites:

   1. A plain English explanation of the rights of a requester under this
   chapter, the procedures to obtain public records from the public body, and the
   responsibilities of the public body in complying with this chapter. For
   purposes of this section, &#8220;plain English&#8221; means written in
   nontechnical, readily understandable language using words of common everyday
   usage and avoiding legal terms and phrases or other terms and words of art
   whose usage or special meaning primarily is limited to a particular field or
   profession;

   2. Contact information for the FOIA officer designated by the public body
   pursuant to &#xA7; 2.2-3704.2 to (i) assist a requester in making a request
   for records or (ii) respond to requests for public records;

   3. A general description, summary, list, or index of the types of public
   records maintained by such public body;

   4. A general description, summary, list, or index of any exemptions in law
   that permit or require such public records to be withheld from release;

   5. Any policy the public body has concerning the type of public records it
   routinely withholds from release as permitted by this chapter or other law;

   6. The following statement: &#8220;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.
   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 he would
   like to request a cost estimate in advance of the supplying of the requested
   records as set forth in subsection F of &#xA7; 2.2-3704 of the Code of
   Virginia.&#8221;; and

   7. A written policy (i) explaining how the public body assesses charges for
   accessing or searching for requested records and (ii) noting the current fee
   charged, if any, for accessing and searching for such requested records.

B. Any state public body subject to the provisions of this chapter and any
county or city, and any town with a population of more than 250, shall post a
link on its official public government website to the online public comment form
on the Freedom of Information Advisory Council&#8217;s website to enable any
requester to comment on the quality of assistance provided to the requester by
the public body.

C. The Freedom of Information Advisory Council, created pursuant to &#xA7;
30-178, shall assist in the development and implementation of the provisions of
subsection A, upon request.

HISTORY: 2004, c. 730; 2009, c. 626; 2014, c. 421; 2016, c. 748; 2017, cc. 645,
778; 2022, c. 756; 2023, c. 599.