House Oversight Committee Should Commemorate the 45th Anniversary of FOIA by Passing the Faster FOIA Act
To:
- The Honorable Darrell Issa
- U.S. House of Representatives
- House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
- 2157 Rayburn House Office Building
- Washington, DC 20515
- The Honorable Elijah Cummings
- U.S. House of Representatives
- House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
- B350A Rayburn House Office Building
- Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Issa and Ranking Member Cummings:
In recognition of the upcoming 45th anniversary on July 4th of the signing of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the undersigned organizations write to ask that you support and move forward the Faster FOIA Act, which would establish the Commission on Freedom of Information Act Processing Delays (the Commission). The Senate unanimously passed the legislation, co-authored by Senators Leahy (D-VT) and Cornyn (R-TX), earlier this year.
In our experience, agency backlogs impose one of the greatest impediments to access under the FOIA and create a disparity across the federal government in the administration of the FOIA. Moreover, while backlogs have presented a longstanding problem in agency implementation of the FOIA, we still do not understand fully the conditions and practices that create those backlogs. Particularly in light of President Obama’s directive to agencies to reduce significant backlogs of outstanding FOIA requests, it is imperative that we identify the root causes of FOIA processing delays.
Toward that end, the Commission established by the Faster FOIA Act would examine agency backlogs and recommend to Congress and the President steps that should be taken to reduce delays and make the administration of the FOIA equitable and efficient throughout the federal government. By including representatives of the FOIA requester community, the Commission would bring a fresh perspective to a persistent problem.
The Commission would also be tasked with examining the current FOIA system for charging fees and granting waiver fees. In our experience, an agency’s refusal to recognize a requester’s entitlement to a fee waiver all too often causes further processing delays and imposes yet another unreasonable bar to access under the FOIA. Additionally, the Commission will examine and determine why the Federal Government’s use of the exemptions under FOIA increased in Fiscal Year 2009, what efforts were made by Federal agencies to comply with the Administration’s guidelines and whether those efforts were successful, and the extent to which political appointees have been involved in the FOIA process.
We welcome the opportunity this legislation presents for meaningful study of this problem, specifically considering whether the current statutory provision should be reformed.
Thank you for your ongoing commitment to transparency and open government by strengthening the Freedom of Information Act.
Signed by:
- American Association of Law Libraries
- American Association of University Professors
- American Library Association
- Association of Research Libraries
- American Society of News Editors
- Californians Aware
- Center for Democracy and Technology
- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
- Defending Dissent Foundation
- DC Open Government Coalition
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Essential Information
- Fund for Constitutional Government
- Government Accountability Project
- iSolon.org
- Justice Through Music
- Liberty Coalition
- Minnesota Coalition on Open Government
- MuckRock
- The Multiracial Activist
- National Coalition for History
- National Freedom of Information Coalition
- National Security Archive
- North Carolina Open Government Coalition
- OMB Watch
- OpenTheGovernment.org
- Project On Government Oversight
- Public Citizen
- Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
- The Rutherford Institute
- Sage Information Services
- Society of Professional Journalists
- Special Libraries Association
- Sunlight Foundation
- U.S. PIRG
- Velvet Revolution
- Washington Coalition for Open Government
- Founded in 1981, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that champions good government reforms. POGO’s investigations into corruption, misconduct, and conflicts of interest achieve a more effective, accountable, open, and ethical federal government.
