Bipartisan Bill Would Close FOIA Gaps

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2005abc/february2005a/foia.cfm

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Posted February 18, 2005.

Bipartisan Bill Would Close FOIA Gaps

U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced legislation February 16 that would close gaps in the Freedom of Information Act as well as expand the accessibility, accountability, and openness of federal government. “FOIA represents the foundation of our modern open government laws, and this bill builds on that by updating its protections to include new technologies and refining the process to reduce delays and encourage accessibility,” Leahy said in a statement on his website.

Backed by a coalition of 27 groups covering a wide political spectrum, the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act of 2005 (OPEN Government Act, S. 394) outlines four objectives: to strengthen FOIA and close loopholes, to help FOIA requestors obtain timely responses to their requests, to ensure that agencies have strong incentives to act on FOIA requests in a timely manner, and to provide FOIA officials with the tools necessary to ensure an open and accessible government.

“If records can be open, they should be open,” Cornyn said upon introducing the bill to the Senate. “If there is a good reason to keep something closed, it is the government that should bear the burden—not the other way around.”

The bill’s supporters include the American Association of Law Libraries, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Library Association, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Heritage Foundation, the National Security Archive, and the Project on Government Oversight.

Posted February 18, 2005.