Joseph Jacaruso, who implemented the policy five years ago, asserts the policy was designed to help manage processing FOI requests, not to restrict access to government information. However, according to Robert Freeman, executive director of New York's Committee on Open Government, "the Spring Valley policy was a failure to comply with the Freedom of Information Law." The Committee on Open Government, an organization in New York's Department of State, was created under the state's FOI law to oversee and advise state agencies with regard to the Freedom of Information, Open Meetings and Personal Privacy Protection Laws.

New York's state FOI law, passed in 1974, received a positive review from a recent audit by more than 50 New York reporters. For an event connected to Sunshine Week, the reporters submitted FOI requests to local government agencies throughout the state, and received requested information from 90 percent of the agencies. The New York state legislature is also considering legislation to strengthen its FOI law. The proposed bill would require state and local government agencies to reply to FOI requests within 25 days. Delayed responses and massive backlogs are common. Freeman believes the bill will pass because it has Republican support in the Senate and Democratic support in the Assembly.