Federal FOIA, Tracking Your Requests and the Big Picture

Idaho is full of federal land and federal offices. The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service manage much of the state's land, the Department of Energy runs the Idaho National Laboratory site, and the FBI, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Aviation Administration all keep records about Idaho places and people. When the record you want sits in one of those offices, Idaho's Public Records Act does not reach it. This lesson sets the two systems side by side, then turns to the habits that make any request succeed: tracking, calendaring, filing and publishing. It closes with the Attorney General's manual, the mistakes worth avoiding, a final checklist, and the federal numbers.

Which law applies

The test turns on who holds the record. FOIA's definition in 552(f)(1) reaches "any executive department, military department, Government corporation, Government controlled corporation, or other establishment in the executive branch," including independent regulatory agencies. State and local governments are outside it. So are Idaho state agencies, even when they spend federal money; their records fall under Idaho Code Title 74, Chapter 1, covered in lesson 01.

Many subjects leave records in both systems. A grazing permit dispute may produce BLM files (FOIA) and Idaho Department of Lands or county files (Idaho law). A federal grant to a city produces the federal agency's grant file (FOIA) and the city's application, reports and invoices (Idaho law). Asking both sides is often faster, and comparing the two releases shows whether either side withheld something.

Who holds the record	Law	Where to send it
BLM state or field office in Idaho	FOIA	BLM's FOIA office; see blm.gov FOIA page
Forest Service national forest or ranger district	FOIA	USDA Forest Service FOIA office; see fs.usda.gov FOIA page
Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office or INL records held by DOE	FOIA	DOE's FOIA office, found through the FOIA.gov agency search
FBI field office, Army Corps of Engineers, FAA, other federal offices	FOIA	Each agency's FOIA office through FOIA.gov
Idaho state agencies, universities, counties, cities, school and special districts, sheriffs	Idaho Public Records Act	The agency's custodian, listed on its website under 74-119
Idaho courts	Idaho Court Administrative Rule 32	The clerk of the district court; see lesson 08

Federal FOIA in brief

The federal rules, all in 5 U.S.C. 552:

• The request. It must reasonably describe the records and follow the agency's published rules (552(a)(3)(A)). FOIA.gov says it "simply must be in writing," no special form is required, and most agencies accept requests by web form or email. Any person may ask, citizen or not.
• The clock. The agency must decide within 20 days "excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays" (552(a)(6)(A)(i)). It may pause the clock once to ask you for information, and again to clarify fee questions. In "unusual circumstances" it may extend by written notice, but not by more than 10 working days without offering you a chance to narrow the request or agree to another time frame (552(a)(6)(B)).
• Expedited processing. Agencies must expedite when a requester shows a "compelling need," and must decide whether to expedite within 10 days (552(a)(6)(E)).
• Fees. Commercial requesters pay search, duplication and review. Educational and noncommercial scientific institutions and news media pay duplication only. Everyone else pays search and duplication. Noncommercial requesters get the first two hours of search and the first 100 pages free. An agency may require advance payment only if you failed to pay before or the fee will exceed $250 (552(a)(4)(A)).
• Fee waiver. Records are furnished free or at reduced charge when disclosure "is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester" (552(a)(4)(A)(iii)).
• Exemptions. Nine, in 552(b): (1) classified national security information; (2) internal personnel rules and practices; (3) information exempted by another statute; (4) trade secrets and confidential commercial or financial information; (5) privileged inter-agency or intra-agency memos, with the deliberative process privilege ending for records 25 years old or more; (6) personnel, medical and similar files where release would be a "clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy"; (7) law enforcement records, limited to six listed harms; (8) financial institution examination reports; (9) geological and geophysical information about wells. Any "reasonably segregable portion" must be released.
• Appeal. A denial must tell you of your right to appeal to the agency head within a period of not less than 90 days, and of your right to seek help from the agency's FOIA Public Liaison or OGIS. The agency must decide the appeal within 20 working days (552(a)(6)(A)).
• Mediation. The Office of Government Information Services at the National Archives "shall offer mediation services" as a nonexclusive alternative to litigation (552(h)).
• Court. Suit goes to the federal district court where you live or work, where the records are, or in the District of Columbia (552(a)(4)(B)). A requester who "substantially prevailed" may recover reasonable attorney fees (552(a)(4)(E)).

Idaho and federal, side by side

Feature	Idaho Public Records Act	Federal FOIA
Who must answer	State and local agencies, including the Legislature (with its own request route) and courts (through I.C.A.R. 32)	Federal executive branch agencies
First deadline	Residents: 3 working days. Nonresidents: 21 days (74-103(2))	20 working days
Extension	Residents: to 10 working days after the request, with written notice. Nonresidents: 35 days	Up to 10 more working days in unusual circumstances; longer only by agreement
Silence	Deemed denied (74-103(3))	Requester may go to court once deadlines pass (552(a)(6)(C))
Free labor and copies	Residents: first 2 hours of labor and first 100 paper pages (74-102(10)(a))	Noncommercial requesters: first 2 hours of search and first 100 pages
Fee waiver test	Resident shows public understanding, not primarily own interest, and inability to pay; all three required (74-102(10)(f))	Public understanding and not primarily commercial interest; no inability-to-pay test
Fee categories	Residents and nonresidents	Commercial; educational, scientific and news media; all others
Expedited processing	None in the statute	Yes, for compelling need
Exemptions	Dozens, in 74-104 to 74-111 and 74-124	Nine, in 552(b)
Administrative appeal	None required; court is the "sole remedy"	Appeal to the agency head, at least 90 days to file
Mediation	None	OGIS
Court deadline and speed	Petition within 180 calendar days of the denial's mailing; hearing within 28 days of filing (74-115)	General federal limits apply; no built-in hearing deadline
Attorney fees	To the prevailing party only for a frivolously pursued request or refusal (74-116(2)), with other sections allowing discretionary awards	To a requester who substantially prevailed

Tracking requests: the log

Requests fail more often from lost dates than from exemptions. A log fixes that. It can be a spreadsheet, a notebook or a database. What matters is one row per request and a column for every date that starts a clock.

Column	Why	Example entry
Request ID	Your own number, used in file names and emails	2026-014
Agency and custodian	Who must answer, and how to reach them	Cedar Bluff County Clerk, records@cedarbluff.example
Law	Idaho Act, I.C.A.R. 32 or federal FOIA	Idaho 74-102
Records sought (short)	So you can scan the log	Commissioners' emails re: landfill contract, Jan to Mar 2026
Date sent and method	Starts the clock; method proves receipt	Mon 4/6/2026, email, read receipt
First deadline	3 working days (Idaho resident) or 20 working days (FOIA)	Thu 4/9/2026
Extension notice and new deadline	Written notice moves the date	Notice 4/9; due Mon 4/20/2026
Fee estimate and paid	Itemized under 74-102(10)(h)	$42.50 estimate; waiver requested
Response date and type	Full, partial, denial, deemed denial	Partial, 4/17
Exemptions cited	What to challenge	74-104(1), attorney-client
Appeal or petition deadline	180 calendar days (Idaho) or the appeal date in the federal letter	Mon 10/14/2026
Next action and date	Keeps the request moving	Reconsideration letter by 4/22
Files	Where the records and letters are saved	/records/2026-014/

Check the dates in that example against the rules. A request sent Monday, April 6, 2026 has a 3-working-day deadline of Thursday, April 9. The 10-working-day outside date is Monday, April 20. And a partial denial mailed Friday, April 17 has a 180th day of Wednesday, October 14, 2026. Count every one yourself. Lessons 04 and 09 walk through counting rules.

The Attorney General's manual

The Idaho Public Records Law Manual on the AG's public records page is dated July 2026 and covers Idaho Code 74-101 through 74-127. Its introduction notes the law was enacted in 1990 and recodified in 2015. It has four parts worth knowing:

• Questions and answers. Forty-two questions in plain language. The most useful for requesters: Question 5 (law enforcement), 11 and 12 (how to ask), 13 to 17 (fees), 19 and 20 (personnel records), 26 to 30 (deadlines and denials), and 33 to 36 (court and fees).
• The statute. The full text of the chapter, handy offline, though the legislature's site is the current version.
• Summary of decisions. Ten reported Idaho decisions, a list of unreported district court decisions, and older AG analyses, each with a one-line holding.
• Sample letters. Email requests for a resident (with a residency declaration) and a nonresident, extension letters, and a denial letter.

Use the manual as a guide and the statute as the rule. In a few places the two read differently. Question 26 says nonresidents get "thirty-five (35) working days" for an extended response; 74-103(2) says 35 "days," while it uses "working days" for residents. Question 29 says a request "is deemed denied after 10 days," which fits only an extended resident request; 74-103(3) says deemed denied when the agency "fails to respond within the time allotted," whatever that period is. And the case summaries are short; the list gives the 2014 Hymas decision without noting that it came from the Court of Appeals, not the Supreme Court. When you cite a rule in a letter, cite the statute section, and check any case against the opinion itself.

Common mistakes that sink requests

• No date range. 74-102(4) lets agencies require one. "All records about the road project" invites a narrowing letter and a delay.
• Not saying it is a records request. 74-103(1) says an agency has no obligation to answer a request that does not "clearly indicate that it is a public records request."
• Splitting one request into many to avoid fees. 74-102(11) lets the agency combine them.
• Asking for answers instead of records. FOIA.gov says the federal law does not require agencies to create new records or answer questions, and Idaho's Act gives a right to examine and copy public records (74-102(1)), not a right to answers. Ask for the documents that would contain the answer.
• Sending it to the wrong person. Idaho requests go to the designated custodian (74-103(1)); federal requests go to the FOIA office, not the program staff.
• Losing the 180th day. The Idaho court route closes 180 calendar days after the denial is mailed.
• Arguing motive. Your reasons are not the agency's business in Idaho (74-102(5)), and explaining them rarely helps. Keep the request about records.
• Skipping the fee estimate. A large video or email request can produce a large bill. Ask for an estimate first; see lesson 05.

Pictures, Numbers and Infographics

The federal numbers come from the Justice Department's 2025 Annual FOIA Report Summary, published July 1, 2026, which compiles the reports of 117 agencies for fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 through September 2025). The Idaho numbers are the statutory clocks in 74-103 and 74-115. Idaho publishes no statewide count of records requests, so there is no Idaho request total to set beside the federal one.

Figure	Value	Source
Federal FOIA requests received, FY 2025	1,707,197 (a record; up 13.7 percent, or 205,765, from FY 2024)	DOJ OIP summary, p. 3
Requests processed, FY 2025	1,635,055	DOJ OIP summary, p. 6
Share of processed requests released in full	9.54 percent; 37.74 percent partial; 29.73 percent closed for no records	DOJ OIP summary, p. 8
Of requests reviewed for exemptions, share with some release	93.72 percent (18.9 percent full, 74.82 percent partial)	DOJ OIP summary, p. 9
Most cited exemptions	Exemption 6, personal privacy (36.02 percent); 7(C), law enforcement privacy (25.07 percent); 7(E), law enforcement techniques (23.45 percent)	DOJ OIP summary, p. 10
Backlog at end of FY 2025	339,671 requests, up 27 percent from FY 2024	DOJ OIP summary, p. 11
Average processing time, simple track	48.96 days (44 in FY 2024)	DOJ OIP summary, p. 14
Administrative appeals received	32,059 (20,115 in FY 2024)	DOJ OIP summary, p. 17
Total cost of FOIA activities and fees collected	$661,394,858.43 spent; $2,511,193.04 collected in fees, about 0.38 percent of cost	DOJ OIP summary, p. 21
Idaho response clock, residents	3 working days; 10 working days with written notice	Idaho Code 74-103(2)
Idaho response clock, nonresidents	21 days; 35 days with written notice	Idaho Code 74-103(2)
Idaho court route	Petition within 180 calendar days of the denial's mailing; hearing within 28 calendar days of filing	Idaho Code 74-115(1)

Two things stand out. The federal average for a simple request, 48.96 days, is far past the statute's 20 working days, which is why federal requesters live by expedited requests, narrowing and follow-up. And federal fees recover less than half a cent of every dollar spent, which matters to anyone who thinks fees are what drive agencies' processing decisions.