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Audit Newport News | Selected publication copy | Reviewed October 31, 2026
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PUBLIC RECORD / nnps-arrest-notification-advisory-2026-10-13
FOIA Council: advisory role and limits on deciding the
notice dispute
Source: Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council. Message date: 2026-10-13.
Two selected paragraphs from the Council鈥檚 response to the school-employer-notification inquiry. General statutory quotations,
requester details and the rest of the chain are omitted. Original preserved privately.
The Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council (FOIA Council) which is a
state legislative branch council that was created to issue opinions on the
operation and application of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA)(Va. Code 搂 2.2-3700 et seq.), to publish educational materials, and to
provide training about FOIA. The FOIA Council does not possess the authority
to investigate complaints or compel compliance with FOIA. FOIA contains no
provision for appeal or subsequent review by the FOIA Council. The opinions of
this office are advisory, not legally binding, and do not carry enforcement
authority. Only a court may enforce the provisions of FOIA. (Freedom of
Information Advisory Opinion 17 (2002)).
In general, this office is unable to tell whether the cited exemptions would
apply to the records you requested because we are not the custodian and do not
know what information is in the records. A determination on whether an
exemption applies to specific records is a mixed determination of law and
fact. This office may expound on the applicable law and previously issued
Virginia court precedent. The courts of Virginia are determiners of fact as
they possess the authority to hear testimony and review records to determine
whether an exemption applies to such records. If there is a factual dispute
regarding whether an exemption applies in any given instance, only a court has
the authority to resolve it. Va. Code 搂 2.2-3713(E) states that in any action
to enforce the provisions of FOIA, "the public body shall bear the burden of
proof to establish an exclusion by a preponderance of the evidence."Jump to an indexed page (1 of 1)