New Legislation Would Reform the Freedom of Information Act

Morrison & Foerster LLP
Contact

On December 18, 2007, Congress approved a bill that would make the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) more formidable by increasing pressure on federal agencies to comply with meaningful deadlines for responses to FOIA requests and imposing consequences for late responses. The bill, known as the “OPEN Government Act of 2007,” was delivered to the President on December 19, 2007. It is expected to pass into law during the congressional recess. Prompted by the Government’s movement toward greater secrecy after 9/11, the new reporting requirements and

penalties introduced by the bill will pressure agencies to release more records, more quickly than in the past.

In introducing the bill, Congress cites the words of Justice Black in his concurring opinion in Barr v.

Matteo, 360 U.S. § 564 (1959), “The effective functioning of a free government like ours depends largely on the force of an informed public opinion. This calls for the widest possible understanding of all quality of government service rendered by all elective or appointed public officials or employees.”

To this end, the bill would require agencies to assign individual tracking numbers to requests and establish a telephone or Internet service by which individuals could track the status of their requests. The bill would introduce a number of other changes as well, including increased agency reporting requirements.

Please see full publication below for more information.

LOADING PDF: If there are any problems, click here to download the file.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations. Attorney Advertising.

© Morrison & Foerster LLP

Written by:

Morrison & Foerster LLP
Contact
more
less

PUBLISH YOUR CONTENT ON JD SUPRA NOW

  • Increased visibility
  • Actionable analytics
  • Ongoing guidance

Morrison & Foerster LLP on:

Reporters on Deadline

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
Custom Email Digest
- hide
- hide