A bill to promote accessibility, accountability, and openness in Government by strengthening section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act), and for other purposes

2007·0.84 MB·English

by  United States. Congress. House

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ItimriTs. MarytenrI 21244
110thcongress 2488
1stSession S.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATRrES
December17,2007
BeferredtotheCommitteeonOversightandGovernmentReform
AN ACT
To promote accessibility, accountability, and openness in
Government by streng:thening' section 552 of title 5,
United States Code (commonly referred to as the Free-
domofInformationAct), andforotherpurposes.
1 BeitenactedhytlieSenateandHouseofRepresenta-
2 tivesoftJie UnitedStatesofAmericainCongressassembled,
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2
1 SECTION1.SHORTTITLE.
2 This Act may be cited as the ''Openness Promotes
3 Effectiveness in our National Government Act of2007"
4 orthe"OPENGovernmentActof2007".
5 SEC.2.FINDINGS.
6 Congressfindsthat
7 (1) theFreedomofInformationActwassigned
8 intolawonJuly4, 1966,becausetheAmericanpeo-
9 piebehevethat
10 (A) our constitutional democracy, our sys-
11 ternofself-government, andourcommitmentto
12 popular sovereignty depends upon the consent
13 ofthegoverned;
14 (B) such consent is not meaningful unless
15 itisinformedconsent;and
16 (C) as Justice Black noted in his concur-
17 ring opinion in Barrv. Matteo (360 U.S. 564
18 (1959)), "The effective fimctioning of a free
19 govermnent like ours depends largely on the
20 force ofan informed public opinion. This calls
21 for the ^\idest possible understanding of the
22 quahty of government senice rendered by all
23 elective or appointed pubUc officials or employ-
24 ees.";
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1 (2) theAmerican peoplefirnilybelievethat our
2 system of government mnst itselfbe governed by a
3 presumptionofopenness;
4 (3) the Freedom ofInformationAct estabhshes
5 a "strong presumption in favor of disclosure" as
6 noted by the United States Supreme Court in
7 UnitedStatesDepartmentofStatev.Ray(502U.S.
8 164 (1991)), a presumptionthat apphesto all agen-
9 ciesgovernedbythatAct;
10 (4) "disclosure, not secrecy,isthedominantob-
11 jective ofthe Act," as noted by the United States
12 Supreme Court in Department ofAirForcev. Rose
13 (425U.S. 352 (1976));
14 (5) inpractice,theFreedomofInformationAct
15 hasnotalwayshveduptotheidealsofthatAct;and
16 (6) Congress should regularly review section
17 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly re-
18 ferred to as the Freedom of Information Act), in
19 orderto determinewhetherfurtherchanges andim-
20 provementsarenecessars^toensurethattheGovern-
21 ment remains open and accessible to the American
22 people and is always based not upon the "need to
23 know" but upon the fundamental "right to know".
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1 SEC.3.PROTECTIONOFFEESTATUSFORNEWSMEDIA.
2 Section 552(a)(4)(A)(ii) of title 5, United States
3 Code,isamendedbyaddingattheendthefollo"wing::
4 ''Inthisclause,theterm'arepresentativeofthenews
5 media' means anyperson orentitythat gathersinforma-
6 tionofpotentialinterestto a segment ofthepublic,uses
7 itseditorialskillstoturntherawmaterialsintoadistinct
8 work, and distributes that work to an audience. In this
9 clause, the term 'news' means information that is about
10 currenteventsorthatwouldbeofcurrentinteresttothe
11 public. Examples ofnews-media entities are tele^dsion or
12 radiostationsbroadcastingtothepubhcatlargeandpub-
13 Ushers ofperiodicals (but only ifsuch entities quahfyas
14 disseminatorsof'news')whomaketheirproductsavailable
15 forpurchasebyorsubscriptionbyorfreedistribution to
16 the general pubhc. These examples are not aU-inclusive.
17 Moreover,asmethodsofnewsdeliver^'evolve(forexample,
18 theadoptionoftheelectronicdisseminationofnewspapers
19 through telecoimnunications sendees), such alternative
20 media shall be considered to be news-media entities. A
21 freelance journalist shall be regarded as working for a
22 news-mediaentityifthejournahstcandemonstrateasolid
23 basisforexj^ectingpublicationthroughthatentit^^,wheth-
24 erornotthejournahstisactuallyemployedbytheentity.
25 Apublicationcontractwouldpresentasohdbasisforsuch
26 an exjoectation; the Government may also consider the
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1 past publication record ofthe requester in making such
2 adetermination.".
3 SEC. 4. RECOVERYOFATTORNEY FEES AND LITIGATION
4 COSTS.
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5 (a) In General. Section 552(a)(4)(E) of title 5,
6 UnitedStatesCode,isamended
7 (1)byinserting''(i)" after"(E)";and
8 (2)byaddingattheendthefolkming:
9 "(ii) For purj30ses of tliis subpara-
10 gimph, a comjilainant has substantially
11 prevailed if the complainant has obtained
12 rehefthrougheither
13 "(I) a judicial order, or an enforceable
14 writtenagreementorconsentdecree;or
15 "(II) a voluntary" or unilateral change in
16 position by the agency, if the complainant's
17 claimisnotinsubstantial.".
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18 (b) Limitation. Not\dthstanding section 1304 of
19 title31,UnitedStatesCode,noamountsmaybeobligated
20 orexpendedfromthe Claims andJudgmentFundofthe
21 United States Treasury^ to pay the costs resulting from
22 feesassessedundersection552(a)(4)(E)oftitle5,United
23 States Code. Any such amounts shall be paid onlyfrom
24 funds annually appropriated for any authorized purpose
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1 fortheFederalagencyagainstwhichaclaimorjudgment
2 hasbeenrendered.
3 SEC.5.DISCIPLINARYACTIONSFORARBITRARYANDCA-
4 PRICIOUSREJECTIONSOFREQUESTS.
5 Section 552(a)(4)(F) oftitle 5, United States Code,
6 isamended
7 (1)bymserting''(i)" after"(F)"; and
8 (2) byaddingattheendthefoUo\dng:
9 ''(ii)TheAttorneyGeneralshall
10 "(I) notifythe Special Counsel ofeach civil ac-
11 tion describedunderthe first sentence ofclause (i);
12 and
13 ''(11) annuall}' submit a report to Congress on
14 the number of such ci^dl actions in the preceding
15 year.
16 "(iii) TheSpecialCounselshallannuallysubmitare-
17 porttoCongressontheactionstakenbytheSpecialCoun-
18 selunderclause(i)."
19 SEC.6.TIMELIMITSFORAGENCIESTOACTONREQUESTS.
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20 (a)TimeLbots.
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21 (1) In general. Section 552(a)(6)(A) oftitle
22 5,UnitedStatesCode, isamendedbyinsertingafter
23 clause(ii)thefollowing:
24 "The 20-dayperiodunder clause (i) shaU com-
25 mence on the date on wliich the request is first re-
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1 ceived bythe appropriate component ofthe agency,
2 but in anv event not later than ten davs after the
3 request is first received by am^ component of the
4 agencythatisdesignatedintheagency'sregulations
5 underthis sectiontoreceiverequestsunderthissee-
6 tion. The 20-day period shall not be tolled by the
7 agencyexcept
8 "(I) that the agency may make one
9 request to the requester for information
10 andtoUthe20-dayperiodwhileitisawait
11 ingsuchinformationthatithasreasonably
12 requested from the requester under this
13 section;or
14 "(II) if necessary to clarify "with the
15 requester issues regarding fee assessment.
16 In either case, the agency's receipt ofthe
17 requester's response to the agency's re-
18 quest for information or clarification ends
19 thetoUingperiod.".
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20 (2) Effectr^ date. The amendment made
21 bytliis subsection shall take effect 1 year after the
22 dateofenactmentoftliisAct.
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23 (b)ComplianceWithTimeLimts.
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24 (1)Ingeneral.
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1 (A) Search fees. Section 552(a)(4)(A)
2 oftitle 5, United States Code, is amended by
3 addingattheendthefollo\\'ino-:
4 "(\iii) An agency shall not assess
5 search fees (or in the case of a requester
6 described under clause (ii)(II), duphcation
7 fees) underthis subparagraph ifthe agen-
8 cy fails to comply with any time hmit
9 under paragraph (6), ifno unusual or ex-
10 ceptional circumstances (as those terms
11 are defined for purposes of paragraphs
12 (6)(B) and (C), respectively) apply to the
13 processingoftherequest.".
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14 (B) Public LmsoN. Section
15 552(a)(6)(B)(h) oftitle 5, United States Code,
16 is amendedbyinsertingafterthefirst sentence
17 thefollowing: "To aidtherequester, eachagen-
18 cv shall make available its FOLV Pubhc Liai-
19 son, who shall assist in the resolution of anv
20 disputes between the requester and the agen-
21 cy.".
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22 (2) Effective date and application. The
23 amendmentmadebvthissubsectionshalltakeeffect
24 1 year after the date ofenactment oftliis Act and
25 applyto requests forinformationunder section 552
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1 oftitle 5, United States Code, filed on orafterthat
2 effectivedate.
3 SEC. 7. INDIVIDUALIZED TRACKING NUMBERS FOR RE-
4 QUESTSANDSTATUSINFORMATION.
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5 (a) In General. Section 552(a) oftitle 5, United
6 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
7 lo^^^ng:
8 "(7)Eachagencyshall
9 "(A) estabhshasystemtoassignanindi\idual-
10 ized trackingnumber for each request receivedthat
11 willtakelongerthantendaystoprocessandprovide
12 to each person makinga request the trackingnum-
13 berassignedtotherequest;and
14 "(B) establishatelephonehueorInternetserv-
15 ice that provides information about the status of a
16 request to the person makingthe request usingthe
17 assignedtrackingnumber,including
18 "(i) the date on which the agency origi-
19 nallyreceivedtherequest;and
20 "(ii) anestimateddateonwhich the agen-
21 cywiUcompleteactionontherequest.".
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22 (b) Effective Date and Application. The
23 amendment madebytliis section shahtake effect 1 year
24 afterthe date ofenactment ofthisAct and applyto re-
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1 questsforinformationundersection552oftitle5,United
2 StatesCode,filedonorafterthateffectivedate.
3 SEC.8.REPORTINGREQUIREMENTS.
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4 (a) In General. Section 552(e)(1) of title 5,
5 UnitedStatesCode,isamended
6 (1) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by inserting after
7 the first comma "the numberofoccasions onwhich
8 eachstatutewasrehedupon,";
9 (2) in subparagraph (C), byinserting "and av-
10 erage"after"median";
11 (3) insubparagraph(E),byinsertingbeforethe
12 semicolon",basedonthedateonwhichtherequests
13 werereceivedbytheagency";
14 (4) by redesignating subparagraphs (F) and
15 (G) assubparagraphs (N) and (O), respectively; and
16 (5) byinsertingaftersubparagraph (E) thefol-
17 loAdng:
18 "(F) the average number of days for the
19 agencytorespondtoarequestbeginningonthe
20 date on which the request was received bythe
21 agency, the median number of days for the
22 agency to respond to such requests, and the
23 range in number ofdays for the agencyto re-
24 spondtosuchrequests;
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