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Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 2007

To promote openness in Government by strengthening section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act), and for other purposes.

3/14/2007--Passed House amended. Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 2007 - Amends the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to revise requirements for federal agency disclosures of information requested under that Act.
(Sec. 3) Prohibits a federal agency, in setting document duplicat more...ion fees, from denying news media status to a news media representative solely on the absence of institutional associations of the requester and requires consideration of the requester's prior publication history. Requires such agency, if a requester has no prior publication history or current affiliation, to consider the requester's stated intent at the time the request is made to distribute information to a reasonably broad audience. (Sec. 4) Provides that, for purposes of awarding attorney fees and litigation costs, a FOIA complainant has substantially prevailed in a legal proceeding to compel disclosure if such complainant obtained relief through either: (1) a judicial order, administrative action, or an enforceable written agreement or consent decree; or (2) a voluntary or unilateral change in position by the opposing party in a case in which the complainant's claim or defense was not frivolous. (Sec. 5) Directs the Attorney General to: (1) notify the Special Counsel of civil actions taken for arbitrary and capricious rejections of requests for agency records; and (2) submit annual reports to Congress on the number of such civil actions in the preceding year. Directs the Special Counsel to submit an annual report to Congress on investigations of agency rejections of FOIA requests.
(Sec. 6) Requires the 20-day period during which an agency must determine whether to comply with a FOIA request to begin on the date on which the request is first received by such agency. Prohibits the tolling of the 20-day period without the consent of the FOIA requester.
Requires an agency to refund fees for a FOIA request if the agency fails to comply with the 20-day period (applies to requests made one year after the enactment of this Act).
(Sec. 7) Requires agencies to establish: (1) a system to assign an individualized tracking number for FOIA requests and provide requesters with such tracking number within 10 days after receiving a request; and (2) a telephone line or Internet service that provides information on the status of a request. Makes this requirement effective one year after the enactment of this Act. (Sec. 8) Requires any statutory exemption from disclosure under FOIA enacted after the date of enactment of this Act to cite directly to FOIA disclosure exemption provisions. (Sec. 9) Revises annual agency reporting requirements on compliance with FOIA to require information on: (1) compliance of each principal component of an agency and for the agency overall; (2) FOIA denials based upon particular statutes; and (3) agency response times.
Requires agencies to make the raw statistical data used in reports electronically available to the public upon request.
(Sec. 10) Redefines "record" under FOIA to include any information maintained by a contractor for a federal agency. (Sec. 11) Establishes in the National Archives an Office of Government Information Services under the supervision and direction of a National Information Advocate. Requires such Office to: (1) provide guidance to FOIA requesters; and (2) review agency FOIA policies and procedures and recommend policy changes to Congress. (Sec. 12) Requires the Comptroller General to report to Congress, not later than January 1 of each of the three years after the enactment of this Act, on the implementation and use of provisions for the protection of voluntarily shared critical infrastructure information under the Homeland Security Act of 2002. Requires such reports to be submitted in unclassified form, allowing a classified annex.
(Sec. 13) Requires the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to report to Congress on personnel policies related to FOIA.
(Sec. 14) Declares it to be the policy of the federal government to release information to the public in response to a FOIA request if the release is required by law or the release is allowed by law and the agency concerned does not reasonably foresee that disclosure would be harmful to an interest protected by an applicable exemption. (Sec. 15) Requires agencies making partial FOIA disclosures to note the exemption or exemptions used to withhold information and to indicate the exemption used to delete information at the place in the record where the deletion is made.
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Sponsor

• Rep. William Clay [D, MO-1]
• and 2 Co-Sponsors
  • Rep. Todd Platts [R, PA-19]
  • Rep. Henry Waxman [D, CA-30]
  close

Committees

• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
• 2 more
  • House Oversight and Government Reform
  • House Oversight and Government Reform
  close

Amendments

This bill has no amendments.

Amendments to H.R.1309

Number	Status	Purpose

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Bill Status

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Introduced		Voted on by House		Voted on by Senate		Considered By President		Bill Becomes Law
March 05, 2007		March 14, 2007

Related Bills:

• H.R.1326
• S.849
• S.2427
• S.2488

Related Issue Areas:

• Government information
• Actions and defenses
• Administrative fees
• Administrative procedure
• 50 more
• Administrative remedies
• Budgets
• Business
• Business records
• Civil liberties
• Communications
• Congress
• Congressional investigations
• Congressional reporting requirements
• Consent decrees
• Counterterrorism
• Data banks
• Disciplining of employees
• Electronic government information
• Employee training
• Executive departments
• Executive reorganization
• Federal employees
• Federal officials
• Freedom of information
• Government contractors
• Government employees
• Government paperwork
• Government publicity
• Government statistics
• Governmental investigations
• Identification devices
• Infrastructure
• Infrastructure (Economics)
• Internet
• Job training
• Judicial review
• Law
• Legal fees
• Legislation
• Mass media
• National Archives and Records Administration
• Performance measurement
• Personnel management
• Position classification
• Promotions
• Public contracts
• Public records
• Salaries
• Technology
• Telecommunication
• Telephone
• Terrorism
• User charges
• Web sites

In the News

July 06, 2007 Sunshine laws are not just for the press

This past March, the US House of Representatives, to its credit, moved to expand the FOIA by passing HR 1309, also known as the Open Government Act. The ...

Source: Ann Arbor News, MI
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July 03, 2007 Sunshine in government critical

This past March, the US House of Representatives, to its credit, moved to expand the FOIA by passing HR 1309, also known as the Open Government Act. ...

Source: Kalamazoo Gazette, MI
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July 02, 2007 Open government group says FOIA backlogs worse than reported

Five months ago, the House overwhelmingly passed sweeping legislation (HR 1309) to reform the FOIA system despite the Bush administration's contention the ...

Source: GovExec.com, DC
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Blog Coverage

December 19, 2007 FOIA Renewed!

In March, the House passed HR 1309, the OPEN Government Act, sponsored Reps. Todd Platts (R-Penn.), Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.). The Senate passed its version last week and yesterday the House accepted the ...

Source: The Peoples' Records
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December 18, 2007 TJC post at OpenCongress Blog

On March 14, 2007, the House of Representatives, by a vote of 308-117, approved HR 1309, the “Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 2007.†This legislation contains numerous provisions that will increase public access to ...

Source: Coast Guard Civil Rights Resource Blog
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December 17, 2007 SPJ leaders commend passage of amended FOIA bill in House

In March, the House of Representatives passed an earlier version of the bill, HR 1309, the OPEN Government Act, sponsored Reps. Todd Platts (R-Penn.), Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.). ...

Source: SPJ News
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