Freedom of Information (FOIA)
The Delaware Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Chapter 100, Title 29 of the Delaware Code, provides Delawareans with the opportunity to observe the performance of public officials and to monitor decisions made by them through access to public records and public meetings of public bodies, including the General Assembly.
You may submit a FOIA request to the General Assembly’s FOIA Coordinator, Mark Cutrona, by using the State’s online FOIA request form or any of the following methods:
E-mail:
|
Leghall_FOIA_Requests@delaware.gov
|
Fax:
|
(302) 739-7553
|
U.S.Mail:
|
Mark Cutrona, FOIA Coordinator
Division of Research
Legislative Hall
411 Legislative Avenue
Dover, DE 19901
|
FOIA requests must be in writing and, therefore, it is highly recommended you use either the State’s online FOIA request form or email, fax, mail, or hand deliver the State’s PDF FOIA request form.
When submitting a FOIA request, you must be as specific as possible to enable the FOIA Coordinator to reasonably locate the requested public record. The FOIA Coordinator may request that you provide additional details to enable the public record to be located. Therefore, when submitting your request please describe the subject matter of the record in as much detail as possible, the type of record you are requesting, the date the record was produced (or a reasonable timeframe when the record was produced), and any individuals or offices you believe produced, sent, or received the record.
Please note, the General Assembly provides many of its public records on this website. Types of records available on this website include the following:
- Legislation from this General Assembly and previous General Assemblies back to the 140th General Assembly (1998 to 2000), available on the All Legislation page.
- Delaware laws, such as the Delaware Code, available under the “Delaware Laws” tab on the General Assembly website.
- Records for the General Assembly’s House, Senate, and Joint Committees, available from the Committees page.
- Records for task forces created by the General Assembly back to the 140th General Assembly (1998 to 2000), available on the Task Forces page.
- Live streaming and archived recordings of the following proceedings are available under the Meetings and Archives tab on the General Assembly website:
- Senate Chamber Sessions.
- House Chamber Sessions.
- Joint Finance Committee Meetings and meetings of other legislative bodies held in the Joint Finance Committee hearing room.
- Live streaming and archived recordings of the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee, which are located under the Meetings and Archives tab on the General Assembly website: Committee Meetings: Recordings.
Beginning January 2022, archived recordings of House and Senate Committee meetings will be available within 10 business days of the meeting. Recordings are located under the Meetings and Archives tab on the General Assembly website: Committee Meetings: Recordings.
Please keep in mind that there are 19 exceptions to the “public record” definition and, therefore, the General Assembly may deny your request for those types of records. The 19 exceptions are found in § 10002(o), Title 29 of the Delaware Code. Types of records of the General Assembly that are often not provided to a requester based on these exceptions are as follows:
- Records specifically exempted from public disclosure by statute or common law.
- Emails received or sent by members of the General Assembly or their staff.
- Communications between a member of the General Assembly and that General Assembly member’s constituent.
- Communications by a member of the General Assembly on behalf of that member’s constituent.
- Communications between members of the General Assembly.
For additional information, please contact Mark Cutrona, FOIA Coordinator, at Leghall_FOIA_Requests@delaware.gov or (302) 744-4114.