Joint Testimony to the NYC Council for Executive Budget Hearing, Public Comment on Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS)

Joint Testimony to the NYC Council for Executive Budget Hearing, Public Comment

Modest $255,000 investment in OpenRecords portal will encourage better NYC FOIL performance, fully implement Local Law 199 of 2025

Thank you for the opportunity to provide written testimony on the Executive Budget as relates to the budget of the Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS). Our organizations were strong supporters of Intro 1235 of 2025, which codifies the NYC OpenRecords portal for Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests, and requires all city agencies to use it. We thank the City Council for passing this transformative transparency legislation, and again urge you to ensure that it is fully funded.

We continue to support DORIS’s $255,000 funding request so that the agency can have the resources necessary to fully implement the law. This includes the following:

• $105,000 annually for a permanent new developer for DORIS;
• $110,000 in OTPS funding for a systems architect and UX designer, likely under the citywide Microsoft contract; and
• $40,000 annually for Azure cloud storage to support the OpenRecords portal.

This is an extremely modest amount in the context of a proposed $124.7 billion NYC budget, but will mean a great deal for DORIS as it implements Local Law 199 of 2025 while fulfilling its current responsibilities.

We ask that the City Council ensure that the final budget includes this important funding. 

Thank you for your consideration.