jCC7;?2-r-i'S007l.S-iLo1)ic3tu-inrytyBlvd. ItimriTs. MarytenrI 21244 110thcongress 2488 1stSession S. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATRrES December17,2007 BeferredtotheCommitteeonOversightandGovernmentReform AN ACT To promote accessibility, accountability, and openness in Government by streng:thening' section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the Free- domofInformationAct), andforotherpurposes. 1 BeitenactedhytlieSenateandHouseofRepresenta- 2 tivesoftJie UnitedStatesofAmericainCongressassembled, — — 2 1 SECTION1.SHORTTITLE. 2 This Act may be cited as the ''Openness Promotes 3 Effectiveness in our National Government Act of2007" 4 orthe"OPENGovernmentActof2007". 5 SEC.2.FINDINGS. 6 Congressfindsthat 7 (1) theFreedomofInformationActwassigned 8 intolawonJuly4, 1966,becausetheAmericanpeo- 9 piebehevethat 10 (A) our constitutional democracy, our sys- 11 ternofself-government, andourcommitmentto 12 popular sovereignty depends upon the consent 13 ofthegoverned; 14 (B) such consent is not meaningful unless 15 itisinformedconsent;and 16 (C) as Justice Black noted in his concur- 17 ring opinion in Barrv. Matteo (360 U.S. 564 18 (1959)), "The effective fimctioning of a free 19 govermnent like ours depends largely on the 20 force ofan informed public opinion. This calls 21 for the ^\idest possible understanding of the 22 quahty of government senice rendered by all 23 elective or appointed pubUc officials or employ- 24 ees."; S2488RFH 3 1 (2) theAmerican peoplefirnilybelievethat our 2 system of government mnst itselfbe governed by a 3 presumptionofopenness; 4 (3) the Freedom ofInformationAct estabhshes 5 a "strong presumption in favor of disclosure" as 6 noted by the United States Supreme Court in 7 UnitedStatesDepartmentofStatev.Ray(502U.S. 8 164 (1991)), a presumptionthat apphesto all agen- 9 ciesgovernedbythatAct; 10 (4) "disclosure, not secrecy,isthedominantob- 11 jective ofthe Act," as noted by the United States 12 Supreme Court in Department ofAirForcev. Rose 13 (425U.S. 352 (1976)); 14 (5) inpractice,theFreedomofInformationAct 15 hasnotalwayshveduptotheidealsofthatAct;and 16 (6) Congress should regularly review section 17 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly re- 18 ferred to as the Freedom of Information Act), in 19 orderto determinewhetherfurtherchanges andim- 20 provementsarenecessars^toensurethattheGovern- 21 ment remains open and accessible to the American 22 people and is always based not upon the "need to 23 know" but upon the fundamental "right to know". S2488RFH 4 1 SEC.3.PROTECTIONOFFEESTATUSFORNEWSMEDIA. 2 Section 552(a)(4)(A)(ii) of title 5, United States 3 Code,isamendedbyaddingattheendthefollo"wing:: 4 ''Inthisclause,theterm'arepresentativeofthenews 5 media' means anyperson orentitythat gathersinforma- 6 tionofpotentialinterestto a segment ofthepublic,uses 7 itseditorialskillstoturntherawmaterialsintoadistinct 8 work, and distributes that work to an audience. In this 9 clause, the term 'news' means information that is about 10 currenteventsorthatwouldbeofcurrentinteresttothe 11 public. Examples ofnews-media entities are tele^dsion or 12 radiostationsbroadcastingtothepubhcatlargeandpub- 13 Ushers ofperiodicals (but only ifsuch entities quahfyas 14 disseminatorsof'news')whomaketheirproductsavailable 15 forpurchasebyorsubscriptionbyorfreedistribution to 16 the general pubhc. These examples are not aU-inclusive. 17 Moreover,asmethodsofnewsdeliver^'evolve(forexample, 18 theadoptionoftheelectronicdisseminationofnewspapers 19 through telecoimnunications sendees), such alternative 20 media shall be considered to be news-media entities. A 21 freelance journalist shall be regarded as working for a 22 news-mediaentityifthejournahstcandemonstrateasolid 23 basisforexj^ectingpublicationthroughthatentit^^,wheth- 24 erornotthejournahstisactuallyemployedbytheentity. 25 Apublicationcontractwouldpresentasohdbasisforsuch 26 an exjoectation; the Government may also consider the S2488RFH —— 5 1 past publication record ofthe requester in making such 2 adetermination.". 3 SEC. 4. RECOVERYOFATTORNEY FEES AND LITIGATION 4 COSTS. — 5 (a) In General. Section 552(a)(4)(E) of title 5, 6 UnitedStatesCode,isamended 7 (1)byinserting''(i)" after"(E)";and 8 (2)byaddingattheendthefolkming: 9 "(ii) For purj30ses of tliis subpara- 10 gimph, a comjilainant has substantially 11 prevailed if the complainant has obtained 12 rehefthrougheither 13 "(I) a judicial order, or an enforceable 14 writtenagreementorconsentdecree;or 15 "(II) a voluntary" or unilateral change in 16 position by the agency, if the complainant's 17 claimisnotinsubstantial.". — 18 (b) Limitation. Not\dthstanding section 1304 of 19 title31,UnitedStatesCode,noamountsmaybeobligated 20 orexpendedfromthe Claims andJudgmentFundofthe 21 United States Treasury^ to pay the costs resulting from 22 feesassessedundersection552(a)(4)(E)oftitle5,United 23 States Code. Any such amounts shall be paid onlyfrom 24 funds annually appropriated for any authorized purpose S2488RFH — — . 6 1 fortheFederalagencyagainstwhichaclaimorjudgment 2 hasbeenrendered. 3 SEC.5.DISCIPLINARYACTIONSFORARBITRARYANDCA- 4 PRICIOUSREJECTIONSOFREQUESTS. 5 Section 552(a)(4)(F) oftitle 5, United States Code, 6 isamended 7 (1)bymserting''(i)" after"(F)"; and 8 (2) byaddingattheendthefoUo\dng: 9 ''(ii)TheAttorneyGeneralshall 10 "(I) notifythe Special Counsel ofeach civil ac- 11 tion describedunderthe first sentence ofclause (i); 12 and 13 ''(11) annuall}' submit a report to Congress on 14 the number of such ci^dl actions in the preceding 15 year. 16 "(iii) TheSpecialCounselshallannuallysubmitare- 17 porttoCongressontheactionstakenbytheSpecialCoun- 18 selunderclause(i)." 19 SEC.6.TIMELIMITSFORAGENCIESTOACTONREQUESTS. — 20 (a)TimeLbots. — 21 (1) In general. Section 552(a)(6)(A) oftitle 22 5,UnitedStatesCode, isamendedbyinsertingafter 23 clause(ii)thefollowing: 24 "The 20-dayperiodunder clause (i) shaU com- 25 mence on the date on wliich the request is first re- S2488RFH — - 7 1 ceived bythe appropriate component ofthe agency, 2 but in anv event not later than ten davs after the 3 request is first received by am^ component of the 4 agencythatisdesignatedintheagency'sregulations 5 underthis sectiontoreceiverequestsunderthissee- 6 tion. The 20-day period shall not be tolled by the 7 agencyexcept 8 "(I) that the agency may make one 9 request to the requester for information 10 andtoUthe20-dayperiodwhileitisawait 11 ingsuchinformationthatithasreasonably 12 requested from the requester under this 13 section;or 14 "(II) if necessary to clarify "with the 15 requester issues regarding fee assessment. 16 In either case, the agency's receipt ofthe 17 requester's response to the agency's re- 18 quest for information or clarification ends 19 thetoUingperiod.". — 20 (2) Effectr^ date. The amendment made 21 bytliis subsection shall take effect 1 year after the 22 dateofenactmentoftliisAct. — 23 (b)ComplianceWithTimeLimts. — 24 (1)Ingeneral. S2488RFH 8 — 1 (A) Search fees. Section 552(a)(4)(A) 2 oftitle 5, United States Code, is amended by 3 addingattheendthefollo\\'ino-: 4 "(\iii) An agency shall not assess 5 search fees (or in the case of a requester 6 described under clause (ii)(II), duphcation 7 fees) underthis subparagraph ifthe agen- 8 cy fails to comply with any time hmit 9 under paragraph (6), ifno unusual or ex- 10 ceptional circumstances (as those terms 11 are defined for purposes of paragraphs 12 (6)(B) and (C), respectively) apply to the 13 processingoftherequest.". — 14 (B) Public LmsoN. Section 15 552(a)(6)(B)(h) oftitle 5, United States Code, 16 is amendedbyinsertingafterthefirst sentence 17 thefollowing: "To aidtherequester, eachagen- 18 cv shall make available its FOLV Pubhc Liai- 19 son, who shall assist in the resolution of anv 20 disputes between the requester and the agen- 21 cy.". — 22 (2) Effective date and application. The 23 amendmentmadebvthissubsectionshalltakeeffect 24 1 year after the date ofenactment oftliis Act and 25 applyto requests forinformationunder section 552 S2488RFH — — 9 1 oftitle 5, United States Code, filed on orafterthat 2 effectivedate. 3 SEC. 7. INDIVIDUALIZED TRACKING NUMBERS FOR RE- 4 QUESTSANDSTATUSINFORMATION. — 5 (a) In General. Section 552(a) oftitle 5, United 6 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 7 lo^^^ng: 8 "(7)Eachagencyshall 9 "(A) estabhshasystemtoassignanindi\idual- 10 ized trackingnumber for each request receivedthat 11 willtakelongerthantendaystoprocessandprovide 12 to each person makinga request the trackingnum- 13 berassignedtotherequest;and 14 "(B) establishatelephonehueorInternetserv- 15 ice that provides information about the status of a 16 request to the person makingthe request usingthe 17 assignedtrackingnumber,including 18 "(i) the date on which the agency origi- 19 nallyreceivedtherequest;and 20 "(ii) anestimateddateonwhich the agen- 21 cywiUcompleteactionontherequest.". — 22 (b) Effective Date and Application. The 23 amendment madebytliis section shahtake effect 1 year 24 afterthe date ofenactment ofthisAct and applyto re- S2488KFH — 10 1 questsforinformationundersection552oftitle5,United 2 StatesCode,filedonorafterthateffectivedate. 3 SEC.8.REPORTINGREQUIREMENTS. — 4 (a) In General. Section 552(e)(1) of title 5, 5 UnitedStatesCode,isamended 6 (1) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by inserting after 7 the first comma "the numberofoccasions onwhich 8 eachstatutewasrehedupon,"; 9 (2) in subparagraph (C), byinserting "and av- 10 erage"after"median"; 11 (3) insubparagraph(E),byinsertingbeforethe 12 semicolon",basedonthedateonwhichtherequests 13 werereceivedbytheagency"; 14 (4) by redesignating subparagraphs (F) and 15 (G) assubparagraphs (N) and (O), respectively; and 16 (5) byinsertingaftersubparagraph (E) thefol- 17 loAdng: 18 "(F) the average number of days for the 19 agencytorespondtoarequestbeginningonthe 20 date on which the request was received bythe 21 agency, the median number of days for the 22 agency to respond to such requests, and the 23 range in number ofdays for the agencyto re- 24 spondtosuchrequests; S2488RFH