“Restore FOIA” Legislation
Introduced by Senate Democrats
Senate Democrats introduced legislation March 12 that would fix what Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) called the “extraordinarily broad exemptions” to the Freedom of Information Act written into the law setting up the Homeland Security Department.
The Restore Freedom of Information Act (S. 609) would replace the broad FOIA exemption for “critical infrastructure information”—voluntarily submitted documents provided by privately operated power plants, dams, ports, or chemical plants—included in the charter for the new department, enacted last November. Leahy called the exemption the single most destructive blow to FOIA in its 36-year history, the Associated Press reported March 13.
The bill also rescinds provisions shielding such information from use in civil litigation, restricting some whistle-blowing activity, and preempting state or local disclosure laws.
The bill embodies the compromise language the Senate reached with the White House during work on the homeland security bill. This bipartisan compromise was stripped out of the underlying bill last November and the House language was enacted.
The bill was introduced four days before the March 16 celebration of Freedom of Information Day.
Posted March 17, 2003.
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