The city's open records law is ten months old, and the rollout plan still isn't out

A law meant to make it easier to request and read New York City government records has not been fully put in place, ten months after it took effect, THE CITY reported Tuesday.

The law, which the Council passed last November and which became law without the mayor's signature on Dec. 25, 2025, requires every city agency to join the city's Open Records portal for Freedom of Information Law requests. It also covers requests to the City Council and the five borough presidents' offices. Agencies would have to post their responses publicly after a set period, giving the original requester 14 days before the records are shared more widely.

An implementation report was due in June and has not been released. A spokesperson for the Department of Records and Information Services told THE CITY that the plan would go to Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Speaker Julie Menin in mid-November, but did not explain the delay. Council Member Gale A. Brewer, who wrote the law, told the outlet "Nothing's happening," and said the Council plans a hearing on the delay in January.

Why it matters to residents: FOIL is how the public, not just reporters, gets records the city does not publish on its own, from inspection reports to contracts. THE CITY cited a 2025 Reinvent Albany analysis finding the city gets about 170,000 FOIL requests a year, and that 16% were still open a year later.

What our records add

Records officials told the Council in September that onboarding was under way. At the Sept. 22 Governmental Operations hearing on access to city government, a Department of Records and Information Services official testified that the department manages the city's Open Records FOIL portal, which was "in process of onboarding all agencies," including the City Council, which the official said was slated to join "within the month." That was five weeks ago.

Brewer chairs the committee that would hold the January hearing. Brewer opened the Sept. 22 hearing as chair of the Committee on Governmental Operations, State & Federal Legislation, calling the records department her "favorite agency." The committee has 92 pending items, 66 of them older than 180 days.

One FOIL bill this term targets the NYPD. Int. 718, from Council Member Yusef Salaam, would require reporting on the Police Department's compliance with FOIL requests. Its co-sponsors are Farah N. Louis, Jennifer Gutiérrez, Lincoln Restler, Sandy Nurse and Ty Hankerson. It was introduced Feb. 24 and sent to the Committee on Public Safety, where it has waited 245 days without a hearing. At a March 18 Public Safety hearing, a Civilian Complaint Review Board official said the board's records are governed by the state FOIL law and that it weighs each request against privacy exceptions.

People who testify say they rely on FOIL. At the Parks Committee's March 4 hearing, a witness said their organization had needed to file many FOIL requests and several lawsuits against the city to get information. Similar comments came up at a March 9 Housing and Buildings hearing.

The Council is also weighing how agencies report to it. Wednesday's Governmental Operations hearing (meeting) includes three bills on the reports agencies owe the Council: Int. 1127, which would amend or eliminate certain reporting requirements; Int. 1128, on due dates for agency reports; and Int. 1129, on how agencies transmit reports and attest to compliance.

What's next

The records department's implementation plan is expected at City Hall and the Council in mid-November, according to THE CITY. Brewer has said the Council plans an oversight hearing in January. Wednesday's Governmental Operations hearing starts at 10 a.m.