Lo and behold, federal lawmakers stopped their infighting long enough last week to bestow a holiday gift on the American public.
With little fanfare, Congress overwhelmingly approved a measure that toughens the federal Freedom of Information Act.
It’s the first significant modification of the act in the last decade, and it’s a step toward breaching the walls of secrecy that the Bush administration has built around government.
To this, we say: Hallelujah.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is the 1966 landmark federal law that provides access to federal agency records.
The bill passed last week would strengthen penalties for federal agencies that don’t respond to a request for information within 20 days. If they don’t meet the deadline, they will have to refund the requester’s search and copy fees, and the money would come out of their agency budgets.
Considering that it’s not unusual for federal agencies to delay requests for months or even years, this modification has the potential to vastly improve the system.
Along with delays, it’s also not uncommon to make a FOIA request and receive document copies with large portions blacked out or redacted. The bill would require federal officials to explain the redactions by citing which exemption in law they are relying on to withhold information.
Government contractors holding nonproprietary information also would be subject to the law.
The legislation also sets up a system whereby the public and the media may track the status of their requests under FOIA. And it creates an ombudsman position within the National Archives to address inquiries.
These are good revisions to a well-used law. The government received 21.4 million FOIA requests last year, according to an Associated Press story.
And it’s not just journalists who turn to FOIA. A study by the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government, an alliance of more than 30 journalism-related organizations, found that businesses accounted for 60 percent of requests.
The second largest group using the law are private citizens who sought a diverse array of information, ranging from information about family members to UFO enthusiasts looking for proof of alien life.
According to the study, journalists accounted for 6 percent of requests.
The fate of the measure now lies with President Bush. The White House last week declined to say whether the president will sign the bill. We hope he does, or that it becomes law without his signature.
It’s encouraging to see that in passing this measure, a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers recognized the value of open government. We look forward to seeing the changes become law.
