Freedom of Information Bill, With Reforms, Passes Senate
Lynn Blumenstein -- Library Journal, 09/03/2007
On the fall agenda for Congress, which reconvenes September 4: reconciling House and Senate versions of the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act (OPEN Government Act), which was passed by unanimous consent the last day before the August recess. Intended to reform the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the new law will “mandate tracking numbers for FOIA requests that take longer than ten days to process so they will no longer fall through the cracks, require agencies to report more accurately to Congress on their FOIA programs, create a new ombuds office at the National Archives to mediate conflicts between agencies and requesters, clarify the purpose of FOIA to encourage dissemination of government information, and provide incentives to agencies to avoid litigation and processing delays,” according to a statement released by the National Security Archive (NSA), an independent research institute located at George Washington University.Authored by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John Cornyn (R-TX), the legislation overcame a hold placed by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) in April on behalf of the Justice Department, according to the NSA. In March, the House passed a related bill (H.R. 1309), the Freedom of Information Amendments Act of 2007, the House companion to the OPEN Government Act. The bill is currently before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
