A bill was introduced in New Jersey that would ban all commercial public record requests. New Jersey Senator James Beach proposed the same change in the 2024-2025 legislative session, but it didn’t make it past introduction.

The bill defines “commercial purpose” as “the direct or indirect use of any part of a government record for sale, resale, solicitation, rent or lease of a service, or any use by which the user expects a profit either through commission, salary, or fee.”

It specifically excludes any news media, educational, governmental or research organization from this definition. Two other legislators proposed a companion bill that died in committee.

The reality, according to research, is that the majority of public record requests are submitted by commercial interests, and have been for decades. Ohio State legal scholar Margaret Kwoka noted the dominance of commercial interests in federal FOIA requests in her study, FOIA, Inc., and others have found similar results.

The fact is, government information greases our economic machine, so while the primary purpose of FOIA is to show what our government is up to, it plays an important role in businesses operating more efficiently. See, for example, the white papers written by the Coalition for Sensible Public Records Access, which represents commercial interests.

Posted: October 5, 2026
Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: Secrecy Tracker