Reinvent Albany's Rachel Fauss urges records-retention law and FOIL hearing

Ben and I were talking about who should go first, and we were both being too polite, but I'll start.

Thank you, Chair Brewer.

My name is Rachel Foss.

I'm the Senior Policy Advisor for Reinvent Albany.

Reinvent Albany advocates for transparent and accountable government in New York.

We're here today to ask...

the council to do five things.

First, pass legislation clarifying that electronic communications that create a public record must be archived and thus easily retrievable by agency FOIL officers.

And we presented a draft bill in conjunction with Citizens Union at last month's hearing.

While we appreciate that this hearing provides another opportunity to discuss instant messaging retention policies, we do not think creation of a working group in your pre-considered bill is necessary.

We know that the working group would dissolve after issuing a report.

It's in line with the council's goals of limiting reporting requirements like the other bills on today's agenda.

But we do believe our bill to clearly define substantive instant messages and retention rules in the city charter is the best path forward.

We are concerned that further delay in clarifying these requirements risks losing additional important government communications that should be preserved.

Second, we asked the council to hold a separate hearing on the Freedom of Information Law compliance and our proposed records retention bill.

The Department of Records and Information Services told the city reporter this week that their implementation report for Local Law 199, your bill, Chair Brewer, that codifies and expands the open records portal will be released in mid-November.

Topics are synergistic given that one important goal of records retention is ensuring the public can access records about government decision-making through FOIL.

We also support and