POGO and others urge passage of H.R. 5811, the Electronic Message Preservation Act
To:
- The Honorable Henry Waxman
- Chair, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
- U.S. House of Representatives
- 2157 Rayburn House Office Building
- Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Waxman:
We are writing to support the passage of H.R. 5811, the Electronic Message Preservation Act.
Investigations and reports by your Committee and by several nonprofits document the significant deficiencies in the preservation of email by the federal government. H.R. 5811 directs the Archivist of the United States to establish standards for the capture, management, and preservation of White House e-mails and other electronic communications and to issue regulations requiring agencies to preserve electronic communications in an electronic format. This legislation demonstrates that Congress paying attention to this serious issue, and taking steps to begin addressing the systemic problems with electronic records in general and electronic communications records that the federal agencies and the White House have failed for too long to address.
Thank you for your leadership on this critical aspect of government management and accountability. We look forward to working with you on this and other issues in the future.
Signed by:
- American Association of Law Libraries
- American Library Association
- Association of Research Libraries
- Common Cause
- Essential Information
- Freedom of Information, Oklahoma
- Government Accountability Project (GAP)
- iSolon.org
- Liberty Coalition
- Mine Safety and Health News
- Minnesota Coalition on Government Information
- Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information
- National Coalition Against Censorship
- National Coalition for History
- National Freedom of Information Coalition
- National Security Archives
- National Press Club
- 9/11 Research Project
- OpenTheGovernment.org
- Peacefire
- People For the American Way
- Project On Government Oversight (POGO)
- ReadtheBill.org Foundation
- Society of Professional Journalists
- Washington Coalition for Open Government
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