7(1)(f)

FOIA

Preliminary drafts, notes, and deliberative materials

Preliminary drafts, notes, and deliberative materials (pre-decisional "draft" exemption)

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12 upheld (no violation found) · 35 rejected (violation found) · 8 partial violation · 3 closed / insufficient info / other, out of 58 documents.

Not legal advice, and not a per-exemption ruling — this reflects each document's overall disposition. See the FAQ disclaimer.

How the Public Access Counselor has treated 7(1)(f)

Section 7(1)(f) covers preliminary drafts, notes, recommendations and memoranda in which opinions are expressed or policies or actions are formulated, generally for pre-decisional, deliberative material. To apply, a record must be both created before a decision and reflect deliberation rather than purely factual information.

In these decisions, the Public Access Counselor has applied the exemption narrowly and most often found its use improper. Claims were rejected for factual data such as traffic counts, crime statistics and staffing calendars, for verbatim recordings, appointment calendars, resignation letters and communications with outside parties, and for materials that did not show pre-decisional deliberation. The Counselor upheld withholding in limited cases involving employee survey responses used for an evaluation and internal communications about program decisions.

At a glance: 58 documents from 2012 to 2025(19 binding opinions, 39 determination letters). Most often cited alongside: 7(1)(c) (Personal privacy) (20); 7(1)(b) (Private information) (15); 7(1)(m) (Attorney/auditor communications and litigation-preparation materials) (15); 7(1)(a) (Federal/State-law confidentiality — or public defender case files, for documents issued under the other amendment version) (8); 7(1)(d) (Law-enforcement/administrative-proceeding records) (3).

Recurring issues

Public bodies claimed purely factual data such as traffic counts, crime statistics, and staffing calendars were preliminary drafts. (Traffic count data from roadway monitoring, Monthly Uniform Crime Report statistics, A police department's monthly extradition calendar)
Public bodies claimed communications with outside parties or about pending third-party applications were internal deliberative material. (Communications about a zoning change with a private applicant, Email attachments between school board members, Contracts and correspondence for a concert at a public arena)
Public bodies claimed final, post-decisional, or verbatim records such as meeting audio, calendars, farewell emails, and resignation letters were pre-decisional. (Audio recordings of a housing authority board's public meetings, The Governor's calendar with meeting details, An outgoing police chief's email to staff on policies)
Withholding was upheld only where records reflected internal opinions used before a decision, such as survey responses for an evaluation or internal program discussions. (Employee survey responses for performance evaluations, Records on animal use in a medical residency program)

Practical points

A public body relying on section 7(1)(f) should identify the pending decision and explain how the record is both pre-decisional and deliberative.
Purely factual information should be separated and disclosed even if it appears alongside deliberative material.
A requester can explain why the requested record appears factual, final, or shared with outside parties rather than internal deliberation.

Summary drafted from the linked decisions and checked against them; read the decisions themselves before relying on it. Not legal advice.

7(1)(f)

How the Public Access Counselor has treated 7(1)(f)

Recurring issues

Practical points

All 58 documents citing 7(1)(f)