House Passes FOIA Reform Bill During Sunshine Week

By a 308 to 116 vote, the House passed on March 14 important legislation to strengthen the way agencies respond to requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The bipartisan legislation, H.R. 1309 (Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 2007), is sponsored by Reps. William Lacey Clay (D-MO), Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Todd Platts (R-PA). Under Chairman Waxman’s leadership, the bill was favorably reported out of the full House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on March 8. The bill contains common sense reforms to update and strengthen FOIA, such as creating a tracking system and hotline for requesters. It would also create an ombudsman to help requesters navigate the FOIA process and impose consequences on agencies for missing statutory response deadlines.

On March 13, Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John Cornyn (R-TX) re-introduced the OPEN Government Act of 2007 (S. 849), a bill similar to H.R. 1309. The next day Chairman Leahy held a Judiciary Committee hearing on strengthening FOIA. Witnesses included Tom Curley, president and CEO of the Associated Press, representing the Sunshine in Government Initiative, (of which NAA is a member); Meredith Fuchs, general counsel at the National Security Archive; Sabina Haskell, editor of the Brattleboro Reformer in Brattleboro, Vt.; and Katherine Cary, general counsel in the Texas Office of the Attorney General.

First Published:
March 31, 2007