§ 2.2-3700 Short title; policy
§ 2.2-3701 Definitions
§ 2.2-3702 Notice of chapter
§ 2.2-3703 (Effective until July 1, 2024) Public bodies and records to which chapter inapplicable; voter registration and election records; access by persons incarcerated in a state, local, or federal co
§ 2.2-3703.1 Disclosure pursuant to court order or subpoena
§ 2.2-3704 Public records to be open to inspection; procedure for requesting records and responding to request; charges; transfer of records for storage, etc.
§ 2.2-3704.01 Records containing both excluded and nonexcluded information; duty to redact
§ 2.2-3704.1 Posting of notice of rights and responsibilities by state and local public bodies; assistance by the Freedom of Information Advisory Council
§ 2.2-3704.2 Public bodies to designate FOIA officer
§ 2.2-3704.3 Training for local officials
§ 2.2-3705.1 Exclusions to application of chapter; exclusions of general application to public bodies
§ 2.2-3705.2 Exclusions to application of chapter; records relating to public safety
§ 2.2-3705.3 Exclusions to application of chapter; records relating to administrative investigations
§ 2.2-3705.4 (Effective until date pursuant to Acts 2023, cc. 756 and 778, cl. 5) Exclusions to application of chapter; educational records and certain records of educational institutions
§ 2.2-3705.4 v2 (Effective pursuant to Acts 2023, cc. 756 and 778, cl. 5) Exclusions to application of chapter; educational records and certain records of educational institutions
§ 2.2-3705.5 (Effective until January 1, 2024) Exclusions to application of chapter; health and social services records
§ 2.2-3705.5 v2 (Effective January 1, 2024) Exclusions to application of chapter; health and social services records
§ 2.2-3705.6 Exclusions to application of chapter; proprietary records and trade secrets
§ 2.2-3705.7 Exclusions to application of chapter; records of specific public bodies and certain other limited exclusions
§ 2.2-3705.8 Limitation on record exclusions
§ 2.2-3706 Disclosure of law-enforcement and criminal records; limitations
§ 2.2-3706.1 Disclosure of law-enforcement records; criminal incident information and certain criminal investigative files; limitations
§ 2.2-3707 Meetings to be public; notice of meetings; recordings; minutes
§ 2.2-3707.01 Meetings of the General Assembly
§ 2.2-3707.2 Posting of minutes for local public bodies
§ 2.2-3707.1 Posting of minutes for state boards and commissions
§ 2.2-3708.2 Meetings held through electronic communication means during declared states of emergency
§ 2.2-3708.3 Meetings held through electronic communication means; situations other than declared states of emergency
§ 2.2-3710 Transaction of public business other than by votes at meetings prohibited
§ 2.2-3711 (Effective until date pursuant to Acts 2023, cc. 756 and 778, cl. 5) Closed meetings authorized for certain limited purposes
§ 2.2-3711 v2 (Effective pursuant to Acts 2023, cc. 756 and 778, cl. 5) Closed meetings authorized for certain limited purposes
§ 2.2-3712 Closed meetings procedures; certification of proceedings
§ 2.2-3713 Proceedings for enforcement of chapter
§ 2.2-3714 Violations and penalties
§ 2.2-3715 Effect of advisory opinions from the Freedom of Information Advisory Council on liability for willful and knowing violations

Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 2.2 > Subtitle II > Part B > Chapter 37 - Virginia Freedom of Information Act

  • AAPFCO: means the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
  • Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
  • Agricultural liming material: means any limestone with calcium and magnesium compounds that has the capacity, and whose intended purpose is, to neutralize soil acidity. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • All-virtual public meeting: means a public meeting (i) conducted by a public body, other than those excepted pursuant to subsection C of § 2. See Virginia Code 2.2-3701
  • Allegation: something that someone says happened.
  • Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
  • Applicant: means the person who applies for, or requests, a license, or applies for registration of any liming material; or applies to become a contractor. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Apprentice: means a person at least 16 years of age who is covered by a written agreement with an employer and approved by the Director. See Virginia Code 2.2-2043
  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
  • Authority: means the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority. See Virginia Code 2.2-2201
  • Authority: means the respective political subdivisions of the Commonwealth created in this subpart. See Virginia Code 2.2-2200
  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Board: means the board of directors of the Authority. See Virginia Code 2.2-2201
  • Board: means the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
  • Bonds: means any bonds, refunding bonds, notes, debentures, interim certificates, or any bond, grant, revenue anticipation notes or any other evidences of indebtedness or obligation of an authority, whether in temporary or definitive form and whether the interest thereon is exempt from federal income taxation. See Virginia Code 2.2-2200
  • Brand: means a term, design, trademark or product name under which a regulated product is distributed. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Brand: means the term, designation, trademark, product name or other specific designation under which any liming material is offered for sale. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Bulk: means in nonpackaged form. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Bulk: means materials in nonpackaged form. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Burnt: means any agricultural liming material with calcium and magnesium compounds capable of neutralizing soil acidity, and that consists essentially of calcium oxide, or a combination of calcium oxide and magnesium oxide. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Calcium carbonate equivalent: means the acid neutralizing capacity of any liming material, expressed as weight percentage of calcium carbonate. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Closed meeting: means a meeting from which the public is excluded. See Virginia Code 2.2-3701
  • Commercial fertilizer: means a fertilizer distributed for farm use, or for any other use, other than any specialty fertilizer use. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Compost: means a biologically stable material derived from the composting process. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Contractor: means any person required to hold a permit to sell any bulk liming material to the consumer pursuant to § 3. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Council: means the Apprenticeship Council. See Virginia Code 2.2-2036
  • Courts of record: means the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and the circuit courts. See Virginia Code 1-212
  • Dealer: means any person that acquires nursery stock for the purpose of resale and distribution who is not a grower of nursery stock. See Virginia Code 3.2-3800
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
  • Deficiency: means the amount of nutrient found by analysis to be less than that guaranteed, which may result from a lack of nutrient ingredients, or from lack of uniformity. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Department: means the Department of Workforce Development and Advancement. See Virginia Code 2.2-2036
  • Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
  • Devise: To gift property by will.
  • Digestate: means a biologically stable material derived from the process of anaerobic digestion. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Director: means the Director of Workforce Development and Advancement. See Virginia Code 2.2-2036
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Distribute: means to import, consign, manufacture, produce, compound, mix, blend, or in any way alter, the chemical or physical characteristics of a regulated product, or to offer for sale, sell, barter, warehouse or otherwise supply regulated product in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Distributor: means any person who distributes. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Distributor: means any person who imports or consigns, manufactures, produces, compounds, mixes, or blends any liming material, or who offers for sale, sells, barters or otherwise supplies any liming material. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
  • Donor: The person who makes a gift.
  • Electronic communication: means the use of technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities to transmit or receive information. See Virginia Code 2.2-3701
  • Emergency: means an unforeseen circumstance rendering the notice required by this chapter impossible or impracticable and which circumstance requires immediate action. See Virginia Code 2.2-3701
  • Employer: means any person or organization employing a registered apprentice, whether or not such person or organization is a party to an apprenticeship agreement with a sponsor. See Virginia Code 2.2-2043
  • ENV: means a relative value using the calcium oxide content, magnesium oxide content and fineness to express the effectiveness of an agricultural liming material in neutralizing soil acidity. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • farm: means any person that obtains at least 51 percent of its annual gross income from agricultural operations and produces the agricultural waste used as feedstock for the waste-to-energy technology, (ii) "agricultural waste" means biomass waste materials capable of decomposition that are produced from the raising of plants and animals during agricultural operations, including animal manures, bedding, plant stalks, hulls, and vegetable matter, and (iii) "waste-to-energy technology" means any technology, including but not limited to a methane digester, that converts agricultural waste into gas, steam, or heat that is used to generate electricity on-site. See Virginia Code 1-222.1
  • Federal agency: means the United States; the President of the United States; and any department, corporation, agency, or instrumentality heretofore or hereafter created, designated, or established by the United States. See Virginia Code 2.2-2200
  • Fertilizer: means any substance containing one or more recognized plant nutrients, which is used for its plant nutrient content, and which is designed for use, or claimed to have value, in promoting plant growth. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Fineness: means the percentage by weight of the material that will pass through United States Standards sieves of specified sizes. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. Source: OCC
  • Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. Source: Federal Reserve
  • Grade: means the percentage of total nitrogen (N), available phosphate (P205) and soluble potash (K20), stated in whole numbers in the same terms, order, and percentages as in the guaranteed analysis, except that fertilizer materials, specialty fertilizers, bone meal, manures and similar raw materials may be guaranteed in fractional units. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Guaranteed analysis: means the minimum percentage of plant nutrients claimed as required by this chapter to be displayed on the label of a regulated product. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. Source: OCC
  • Guarantor: means the person whose name appears on the label of a regulated product. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
  • in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
  • Industrial co-product: means any industrial waste or byproduct, including exceptional quality biosolids and waste treatment residuals, that can be beneficially recycled for its plant nutrient content or soil amendment characteristics, that meets the definition of fertilizer, soil amendment, or horticultural growing medium. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Industrial co-product used to neutralize soil acid: means a waste or by-product of an industrial process that contains any compound not normally found in limestone that has the capacity, and whose intended purpose is, to neutralize soil acidity. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
  • Inspection certificate: means a document in any form issued by the Commissioner, or the appropriate official from another state, declaring an item or location to be apparently free from plant pests. See Virginia Code 3.2-3800
  • Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
  • Joint apprenticeship committee: means a group equally representative of management and labor representatives that works under a bargaining agreement and is established to carry out the administration of an apprenticeship training program. See Virginia Code 2.2-2043
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Kind: means one of the two classes of liming material. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Label: means the display of all written, printed, or graphic matter, upon the immediate container, or a statement accompanying a regulated product, including an invoice. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Label: means any written or printed matter on, or attached to, the package, or on the delivery ticket that accompanies bulk shipments, of any liming material. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Labeling: means all written, printed, or graphic matter, upon or accompanying any regulated product, including invoices, advertisements, brochures, posters, television and radio announcements, and internet content used in promoting the sale of the regulated product. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Lawn maintenance fertilizer: means any fertilizer intended for the nonagricultural routine maintenance of turf. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Licensee: means the person who receives a license to distribute any regulated product under the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • licensee: means the person issued a license to distribute any liming material in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Limestone: means a material consisting essentially of calcium carbonate, or a combination of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate, capable of neutralizing soil acidity. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Liming material: means any agricultural liming material and any industrial co-product used to neutralize soil acid. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • Lot: means an identifiable quantity of produced material that can be sampled officially according to AOAC International procedures, up to and including a freight car load or 50 tons maximum, or that amount contained in a single vehicle, or that amount delivered under a single invoice. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Manufacturer: means any person who manufactures, produces, compounds, mixes, blends, or in any way alters the chemical or physical characteristics of any regulated product. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Manufacturer: means any person who manufactures, produces, compounds, mixes, blends, imports or consigns liming material, or who offers for sale, sells, barters or otherwise supplies liming material. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • meetings: means the meetings including work sessions, when sitting physically, or through electronic communication means pursuant to § 2. See Virginia Code 2.2-3701
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. Source: OCC
  • Nursery: means any premises where nursery stock is propagated, grown, fumigated, treated, packed, stored, or otherwise prepared for sale or distribution. See Virginia Code 3.2-3800
  • Nursery stock: means all trees, shrubs, woody vines (including ornamentals), bush fruits, grapevines, fruit trees, and nut trees offered for sale and distribution; all buds, grafts, scions, and cuttings from such plants; and any container, soil, and other packing material with such plants or plant products. See Virginia Code 3.2-3800
  • Nurseryman: means any person that produces nursery stock for sale or distribution. See Virginia Code 3.2-3800
  • Official analysis: means the analysis of an official sample, made by the Commissioner. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Official public government website: means any Internet site controlled by a public body and used, among any other purposes, to post required notices and other content pursuant to this chapter on behalf of the public body. See Virginia Code 2.2-3701
  • Official sample: means the sample of regulated product taken by the Commissioner. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • percentage: means the percentage by weight. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • percentage: means by weight. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Person: means the term as defined in § 1-230. See Virginia Code 3.2-3800
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Personal representative: includes the executor of a will or the administrator of the estate of a decedent, the administrator of such estate with the will annexed, the administrator of such estate unadministered by a former representative, whether there is a will or not, any person who is under the order of a circuit court to take into his possession the estate of a decedent for administration, and every other curator of a decedent's estate, for or against whom suits may be brought for causes of action that accrued to or against the decedent. See Virginia Code 1-234
  • Plant pest: means any living stage of insects, mites, nematodes, slugs, snails, protozoa, other invertebrate animals, bacteria, fungi, other parasitic plants, parasitic plant parts, viruses, any other similar organism, or any infectious substances that can injure, infect, or damage any plants or plant products. See Virginia Code 3.2-3800
  • Plants or plant products: means any trees, shrubs, vines, forage, fiber, cereal, and all other plants; cuttings, grafts, scions, buds, and all other plant parts; fruit, vegetables, roots, bulbs, seeds, wood, lumber, and all other plant products; or any container, soil, and packing material with plants or plant products. See Virginia Code 3.2-3800
  • Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
  • Pro se: A Latin term meaning "on one's own behalf"; in courts, it refers to persons who present their own cases without lawyers.
  • Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
  • Project: means the construction, improvement, furnishing, maintenance, acquisition or operation of any facility or the provision for or funding of any activity that will further the purposes described in § 2. See Virginia Code 2.2-2201
  • public meeting: means a meeting at which the public may be present. See Virginia Code 2.2-3701
  • Public records: means all writings and recordings that consist of letters, words, or numbers, or their equivalent, set down by handwriting, typewriting, printing, photostatting, photography, magnetic impulse, optical or magneto-optical form, mechanical or electronic recording, or other form of data compilation, however stored, and regardless of physical form or characteristics, prepared or owned by, or in the possession of a public body or its officers, employees, or agents in the transaction of public business. See Virginia Code 2.2-3701
  • Quantity statement: means the net weight (mass), net volume (liquid or dry), count or other form of measurement of a commodity. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Quantity statement: means the net weight (mass), net volume (liquid or dry), count or other form of measurement of a commodity. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
  • Regional public body: means a unit of government organized as provided by law within defined boundaries, as determined by the General Assembly, which unit includes two or more localities. See Virginia Code 2.2-3701
  • Registrant: means the person who registers regulated products, under the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Registrant: means the person registering any liming material pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Regulated product: means any product governed by this chapter, including any fertilizer, specialty fertilizer, soil amendment, digestate, and horticultural growing medium. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Remote participation: means participation by an individual member of a public body by electronic communication means in a public meeting where a quorum of the public body is otherwise physically assembled. See Virginia Code 2.2-3701
  • Scholastic records: means those records containing information directly related to a student or an applicant for admission and maintained by a public body that is an educational agency or institution or by a person acting for such agency or institution. See Virginia Code 2.2-3701
  • Sponsor: means either an individual employer, a group of employers, or an association or organization operating an apprenticeship program and in whose name the program is registered. See Virginia Code 2.2-2043
  • Standard liming ton: means a ton of agricultural liming material with a calcium carbonate equivalent of 90 percent. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • state: means the Commonwealth of Virginia or any of its agencies or departments. See Virginia Code 2.2-2200
  • sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • Ton: means a unit of 2000 pounds avoirdupois weight. See Virginia Code 3.2-3600
  • Ton: means a unit of 2,000 pounds avoirdupois weight. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700
  • Trade secret: means the same as that term is defined in the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (§ 59. See Virginia Code 2.2-3701
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. Source: OCC
  • Type: means the identification of the agricultural liming material as follows:

    1. See Virginia Code 3.2-3700

  • Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.