Increased Government Transparency Pushed in FOIA Reform Legislation
To further establish an open and transparent government, Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and House Oversight Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., on Monday introduced legislation to strengthen U.S. Freedom of Information Act laws. The 2015 FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
would make frequently released information and information that is of interest to the public available online, strengthen oversight and review of FOIA compliance, and place the burden on agencies to explain why information should not be made publicly available instead of requiring the public to justify the release. “There should be a presumption of openness in this country, and agencies should have to justify their actions when they want to withhold information from the American people,” Cummings said in a joint news release with Issa. To ease the FOIA process for the public, the bill also would create a single website where the public can submit a request for records. “Requests through the Freedom of Information Act remain the best tool for the American people to hold their government accountable,” Issa said. “In this information technology driven era, it should be easier, not harder for citizens to have simpler and broader access to government information.”