Private agency, public dollars

Contents Reading our definition key Facts and Figures

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When government agencies outsource basic services to third-party contractors, one consequence is that the public may lose its access to information about the service that the public would have retained, had a government agency carried out the service directly.

A concern that previously public information will become privatized and inaccessible to the public when a government agency moves to contract out services to third-party vendors arises whether the third-party vendor is a non-profit organization or a for-profit organization. However, a number of key court cases in this area have arisen when non-profits have rebuffed requests for information under a state's right-to-know laws.

Reading our definition key

There are a number of characteristics or traits that recur in laws and rulings across the country which may render a non-profit subject to public records requests in that state. We have developed the following box to indicate what requirements a particular state may have:

[[{{{act}}}|{{{state}}}]] Common Definition Themes These 5 characteristics tend to recur in most state definitions for private agencies which are subject to FOIA laws. 1.) Receive or dispense public funds: {{{funding}}} 2.) Created by a public agency: {{{creation}}} 3.) Present themselves as a public entity: {{{presentation}}} 4.) Perform a public function: {{{function}}} 5.) Controlled or managed by a public entity: {{{control}}} Key: f=The legal history does not mention this characteristic or it has rejected this characteristic as a potential defining aspect. p=This characteristic alone is sufficient to bring an organization under the FOIA. x=This is a part of a compound definition requiring multiple characteristics. The numbers after the symbol indicate the additional requirements. w=This is a characteristic that has been mentioned within the legal history and may aid in deciding whether or not the FOIA law applies to an organization but is not a part of a specific definition.

The key for this box indicates what definitional characteristics appear in the law for a particular state. The red "x", f, indicates that the law and legal history are silent on this characteristic or that it has rejected this characteristic as a potential defining aspect. The green check, p, indicates that this characteristic is a separate definition entirely and that this characteristic, by itself, renders the corporation or non-profit subject to the states FOIA laws. The yellow plus sign, x, indicates that the characteristic is a part of a compound definition where the corporation is required to meet multiple criteria to be considered a public body. Finally the blue plus sign, w indicates that the state has used this characteristic as an important criteria to aid in deciding if a corporation is a public body but the characteristic is not a part of a specific definition.

Facts and Figures

This is a small graph which quickly breaks down all of our criteria for the 50 states.

State	Funding	Creation	Presentation	Function	Control
Alabama	x 1, 2, 4, 5[1]	w[2], x 1, 2, 4, 5[3]	w[2]	p[4], x 1, 2, 4, 5[5]	w[2], x 1, 2, 4, 5[6]
Alaska	x[7]	f	f	x[7]	f
Arizona	p[8]	f	f	f	f
Arkansas	p[9]	f	f	p[10]	f
California	x 1, 5[11]	x 2, 4[12]	f	x 2, 4[12]	x 1, 5[11]
Colorado	x 2, 1[13]	x2, 4, 5 [14]; 2, 1[13]	f	x2, 4, 5[14]	x 2, 4, 5[14]
Connecticut	x 1, 2, 4, 5[15]	x 1, 2, 4, 5[15]	f	x 1, 2, 4, 5[15]	x 1, 2, 4, 5[15]
Delaware	x 1, 2[16]	x 1, 2: 2, 4 [16]	f	x 2, 4 [16]	f
Florida	w[17]	w[17]	w[17]	w[17]	w[17]
Georgia	p[18]	f	f	p[19]	f
Hawaii	f	f	f	f	p[20]
Idaho	f	p[21]	f	f	f
Illinois	f	f	f	f	f
Indiana	p[22]	f	f	f	f
Iowa	f	f	f	p[23]	f
Kansas	p[24]	f	f	f	f
Kentucky	p[25] x 1, 3, 4, 5[26]	x 2, 5[25]	x 1, 3, 4, 5[27]	x 1, 3, 4, 5[28]	x 2, 5[25]: 1, 3, 4, 5[29]
Louisiana	x 1, 4[30]	f	f	p [31] x 1, 4[30]	f
Maine	w 1, 2, 4, 5[32]	w1, 2, 4, 5[32]	f	x 4, 5[33], w 1, 2, 4, 5[32]	x 4, 5[33], w1, 2, 4, 5[32]
Maryland	f	p[34][35]	f	p[34]	p[34]
Massachusetts	w1, 4, 5 [36]	f[37]	f	w1, 4, 5 [36]	w 1, 4, 5 [36]
Michigan	p[38]	p[38]	x	x 4, 5 [39]	x 4, 5[39]
Minnesota	p[40][41]	f	f	p[42][41]	f
Mississippi	f	p[41]	f	f	f
Missouri	p[43]	f	f	p[43]	f
Montana	p[44]	f	f	p[45]	f
Nebraska	p[46]	p[47]	f	p[48]	f
Nevada	f	f	f	p[49]	f
New Hampshire	f	f	f	p[50]	p[51]
New Jersey	p [52]	p[53]	f	p[54]	p [55]
New Mexico	x 1, 2[56]	x 1, 2[57]	f	f	f
New York	f	f	f	p[58]	f
North Carolina	f	f	f	p[59]	f
North Dakota	p[60]	x2, 4[60]	x	p[61], x2, 4[60]	x
Ohio	p[62], x 1, 4[63]	x 2, 4[64]	f	x 2, 4 [64], x 1, 4[65], x 4, 5[66]	x 4, 5 [67]
Oklahoma	p[68]	f	f	p[69][68]	f
Oregon	w 1, 2, 4, 5 [70]	p[71], w1, 2, 4, 5 [70]	f	w1, 2, 4, 5 [70]	w1, 2, 4, 5 [70]
Pennsylvania	f	x 2, 4[72]	f	x 2, 4[72]	f
Rhode Island	f	f	f	p[73]	f
South Carolina	p[74]	f	f	p [75]	f
South Dakota	f, [76]	x[77]	f	x[78]	f
Tennessee	w[79]	w[79]	f	x[79]	w[79]
Texas	p [80]	f	f	f	p[81]
Utah	x 1, 4[82]	x 2, 4[82]	f	x 1, 4; 2, 4 [82]	f
Vermont	f	f	f	f	f
Virginia	p[83]	f	f	p[84]	f
Washington	w[85]	w[85]	f	w[85]	w[85]
West Virginia	p[86]	p[87]	f	f	f
Wisconsin	x 1, 4[88], w [89]	w[89]	w[89]	x 1, 4[90] w [89]	w[89]
Wyoming	f	p[91]	f	f	f

References