Why Should Delaware Care?
The Delaware Freedom of Information Act and its corresponding statute at the federal level provide the rules that require government officials to release records to the public, when requested. But for years, Delaware’s law has been rated as among the least accommodative to public transparancy in the country.
A leading Democrat in the Delaware Senate wants to reform the state’s Freedom of Information Act by opening broad sections of government business to scrutiny, while also giving officials the ability to deny records requests they deem abusive.
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend (D-Newark/Glasgow) introduced what he called an “omnibus” Freedom of Information Act bill that contains dozens of new provisions for the statute that became law 50 years ago with the goal of making government more transparent.
Among the most notable of the provisions within Senate Bill 355 is one that would broadly subject the University of Delaware and Delaware State University to the state’s FOIA requirements.
For years, transparency at the state’s universities, particularly UD, has been a widely discussed topic in Dover and among members of the media. The institutions’ exemption from FOIA also led to the highest profile open records dispute in Delaware in recent years.
In 2021, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that UD had the right to deny a records request made by two conservative organizations seeking documents held by the university that had originated with then-President Joe Biden’s previous office in the U.S. Senate.
In their ruling, justices cited a provision within the state open records law that Townsend’s bill would eliminate.
Other notable provisions within Townsend’s bill would end the prohibition around records requests by non-residents, prohibit the state from imposing fees on FOIA requests made by certain individuals, including reporters and academics; and prohibit government officials from automatically shielding “investigative” documents from FOIA.
That last provision expands widely beyond traditional criminal investigatory files and includes a range of records that public officials deem were an “investigation.” It is among the most widely cited exemption used by officials to deny records requests.
Asked about the removal of the FOIA exemption for investigative records, Townsend said he has heard of requests involving records that would benefit the public that have been stonewalled because of “the idea of the investigatory shield.”
“I think we really need to strike a different balance with that,” he said.
While much of the bill requires officials to release more records than under current rules, certain provisions would make the statute less expansive. The legislation would codify into the FOIA statute an exemption to open records law for requests that state officials deem unreasonably broad, unduly burdensome, disruptive or abusive to government officials.
Among the criteria to determine the abusiveness of a request is the number of FOIAs a requestor has filed in the past. The provision drew rebukes from several individuals on Facebook Thursday after the news site First State Update referenced it in a post. One user questioned, “So they set limits as to what is reasonable?”
In his interview with Spotlight Delaware, Townsend asserted that individuals who file frequent or voluminous requests impose a steep cost on government operations.
While Townsend’s bill is an ambitious set of changes, it will not become law in its current form. Townsend introduced the legislation just before the formal end of Delaware’s two-year legislative cycle this fall — meaning it will expire before lawmakers reconvene for the 2027 legislative session in January.
Rather than passing into law immediately, Townsend said the purpose of filing the bill now is to spark comments and feedback from citizens, including those who file or process open records requests.
“I want to have this conversation, collect this input, and see how we might modify this legislation when we refile it in 2027,” he said.
Editor’s Note: Spotlight Delaware spoke with Sen. Bryan Townsend in early 2026 about Delaware’s FOIA law and how certain provisions can impede the work of journalism.
