New York Consolidated Laws

N.Y. Public Officers Law § 84 (2026)

Legislative declaration

✓ current as of May 2026

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§ 84. Legislative declaration. The legislature hereby finds that a
free society is maintained when government is responsive and responsible
to the public, and when the public is aware of governmental actions. The
more open a government is with its citizenry, the greater the
understanding and participation of the public in government.
  As state and local government services increase and public problems
become more sophisticated and complex and therefore harder to solve, and
with the resultant increase in revenues and expenditures, it is
incumbent upon the state and its localities to extend public
accountability wherever and whenever feasible.
  The people's right to know the process of governmental decision-making
and to review the documents and statistics leading to determinations is
basic to our society. Access to such information should not be thwarted
by shrouding it with the cloak of secrecy or confidentiality.
  The legislature therefore declares that government is the public's
business and that the public, individually and collectively and
represented by a free press, should have access to the records of
government in accordance with the provisions of this article.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 262 cases (51 in the last 5 years), 1980–2026 · leading case: Gould v. New York City Police Dep't, 675 N.E.2d 808 (NY 1996).

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Gould v. New York City Police Dep't, 675 N.E.2d 808 (NY 1996). · cites it 6× “To promote open government and public accountability, the FOIL imposes a broad duty on government to make its records available to the public ( see , Public Officers Law § 84 [legislative declaration]).”

Abdur-Rashid v. N.Y.C. Police Dep't, 100 N.E.3d 799 (2018). · cites it 4× “*801 **462 The issue presented is whether an agency may decline to acknowledge that requested records exist in response to a Freedom of Information Law request ( Public Officers Law § 84 et seq. [FOIL] ) when necessary to safeguard statutorily exempted information.”

Matter of New York Civ. Liberties Union v. New York City Police Dept., 32 N.Y.3d 556 (NY 2018). · cites it 6× “"The legislature therefore declares that government is the public's business and that the public, individually and collectively and represented by a free press, should have access to the records of government in accordance with the provisions of this article" (Public Officers…”

Matter of Livson v. Town of Greenburgh, 141 A.D.3d 658 (N.Y. App. Div. 2016). · cites it 2× “, 89 NY2d 267, 274 [1996]; see Public Officers Law § 84; Matter of Town of Waterford v New York State Dept.”

New York Times Co. v. New York State Exec. Chamber, 57 Misc. 3d 405 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2017). · cites it 2× “The petitioners commenced this CPLR article 78 proceeding to compel the respondents to disclose, pursuant to FOIL (Public Officers Law § 84 et seq.), the aforementioned information.”

Friedman v. Rice, 90 N.E.3d 800 (2017). “2d 10 [2007], quoting Public Officers Law §§ 84, 87[2] ; 89[3] ).”

Matter of Hepps v. New York State Dept. of Health, 2020 NY Slip Op 2517 (N.Y. App. Div. 2020). · cites it 3× “, 79 NY2d 106, 109 [1992] [citations omitted], citing Public Officers Law §§ 84, 87 [2]; see Matter of Gould v New York City Police Dept.”

Bahnken v. New York City Fire Dep't, 17 A.D.3d 228 (N.Y. App. Div. 2005). “at Farmingdale, 87 NY2d 410, 416 [1995], citing, inter alia, Public Officers Law § 84). Our analysis should not be affected by the hospitals’ not-for-profit status.”

Data Tree, LLC v. Romaine, 880 N.E.2d 10 (NY 2007). “FOIL provides the public with broad “access to the records of government” (Public Officers Law § 84). The term “record” is defined to include: “[A]ny information kept, held, filed, produced or reproduced by, with or for an agency or the state legislature, in any physical form…”

Malta Town Centre I, Ltd. v. Town of Malta Bd. of Assessment Review, 822 N.E.2d 331 (NY 2004). “In response to Town Centre’s requests under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) (Public Officers Law § 84 et seq.) the Town of Malta submitted documents indicating that the Assessor may *567 have relied upon outdated information to ascertain the 2002 assessment value—the same…”

Capital Newspapers Div. of the Hearst Corp. v. Burns, 496 N.E.2d 665 (NY 1986). “day-to-day functioning of State and local government thus providing the electorate with sufficient information to "make intelligent, informed choices with respect to both the direction and scope of governmental activities” and with an effective tool for exposing waste,…”

Lesher v. Hynes, 968 N.E.2d 451 (NY 2012). “On August 4, 1998, he made a request to the District Attorney of Kings County pursuant to New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) (Public Officers Law § 84 et seq.) for documents relating to Mondrowitz.”

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