What Virginia officials withheld or disclosed in March 2026
One of the less noticed features of the Virginia Way is the long-running tendency of the commonwealth’s leaders to conduct their decision-making behind closed doors. While the Virginia Freedom of Information Act presumes all government business is by default public and requires officials to justify why exceptions should be made, too many Virginia leaders in practice take the opposite stance, acting as if records are by default private and the public must prove they should be handled otherwise.
In this feature, we aim to highlight the frequency with which officials around Virginia are resisting public access to records on issues large and small — and note instances when the release of information under FOIA gave the public insight into how government bodies are operating.
Richmond withholds full spending data, seeks $5,732 fee for public records
Richmond officials have yet to comply with a local law requiring financial data to be posted online — and when The Richmonder requested the records, the city quoted a $5,732.40 fee to provide them.
A few hours before responding to the Freedom of Information Act request — weeks after it had been submitted — Mayor Danny Avula’s administration released a less detailed subset of the requested information. It did not include the names of companies receiving public funds or specifics on what the city has been purchasing
The payment register, required under a 2015 ordinance passed by the city council, is intended to give residents a clear idea of how tax payer dollars are spent by allowing them to track where money is going. The practice stopped during former Mayor Levar Stoney’s tenure.
Avula’s administration told The Richmonder that technical and staff challenges have made publishing the full data too burdensome, and pointed to the partial release as a step toward improving transparency in the meantime.
The Richmonder reporter Graham Moomaw told The Mercury that as of last week, he’d asked the city for suggestions or ideas on how the cost estimate could be lowered “since the breakdown they gave me was pretty bare bones.”
By the time of this publication, he’d yet to hear back so he does not have a follow-up FOIA planned just yet.
Public records requests draw steep fees in some Hampton Roads localities
The Virginian-Pilot asked seven local governments in the Hampton Roads region what types of FOIA requests residents submitted last year and whether those requests were fulfilled. The newsroom also sought copies of FOIA logs and descriptions of the information requested.
While some localities provided the records free of charge, others quoted fees that together approached $40,000.
The highest estimate came from Norfolk, where a local spokesperson defended the cost by pointing to efforts to work with The Pilot to amend the request.
Still, the wide range of responses illustrate how local governments vary in their capacity to handle requests, depending on staffing and technology, and how some may use flexibility in FOIA law to avoid fulfilling requests by attaching high cost estimates.
Sen. Danica Roem, D-Manassass, has for several years carried legislation aimed at reining in FOIA fees by capping what localities can charge based on staff salaries. A former journalist before entering office, Roem has advocated for the bill as it advanced through the legislative process each year, though it has not yet become law.
Virginia health department redacted details of billing error that affects medicine access for HIV/AIDS patients
After over-billing rebates for HIV/AIDS medication, the Virginia Department of Health now owes repayment to a pharmaceutical company and has applied for financial assistance to address the issue. But when WTVR sought additional details last month, the agency declined to elaborate.
A February 2025 letter from Gilead Sciences, the drug manufacturer, could shed light on the situation, but VDH released the information heavily redacted. The agency cited a discretionary FOIA exemption intended to protect economic development information when defending the redactions to WTVR.
However, a member of the Virginia FOIA Council said it is unclear whether that exemption applies, while the Virginia Coalition for Open Government said it does not.
As of last month, VDH told WTVR that it has not finalized the amount of rebates mistakenly paid in prior years and is continuing to work with Gilead to resolve matters.
The error comes as clinics and organizations serving low-income HIV/AIDS patients have also lost federal funding that supports medication access and wraparound services such as housing assistance.
Have you experienced local or state officials denying or delaying your FOIA request? Tell us about it: info@virginiamercury.com
