Thursday, February 9, 2012

Leahy, Cornyn Introduce FOIA Reform Bill

March 17, 2009

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, reintroduced a bill Tuesday requiring Congress to explicitly state its intention when writing statutory Freedom of Information Act exemptions into new legislation. FOIA "is the power cord that connects the American people to their government," Leahy told a Washington College of Law "Sunshine Week" conference a day earlier. "The growing use of legislation to carve out new exemptions to FOIA poses a danger to the ideals of open government." See CongressDaily's coverage here. The Senate first passed similar legislation unanimously in 2006 but a bill they introduced last Congress did not clear Leahy's committee.

"Too often, legislative exemptions to FOIA are buried within a few lines of very complex and lengthy bills, and these new exemptions are never debated openly before becoming law," Leahy said in a statement. Cornyn added the measure "will ensure that Congress can't slip anti-transparency measures into legislation without someone noticing." The two partnered to author a 2007 bill -- which was signed by former President George W. Bush -- to make the first major reforms to FOIA in more than a decade. The bill restored deadlines for agency action under FOIA and created a FOIA ombudsman at the National Archives and Records Administration, which the fiscal year 2009 omnibus spending bill funded at $1 million.

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Juliana Gruenwald

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Juliana Gruenwald has been covering tech and telecom issues for more than a decade for National Journal, Interactive Week, BNA and Congressional Quarterly. This is her second stint with National Journal. She was recruited by NJ in 1998 to help launch its first tech policy publication, Technology Daily. She left in 2000 to cover international tech and telecom issues for Ziff Davis Media's Interactive Week magazine. She started her career at United Press International as the wire service's first Helen Thomas Intern. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota. A Minneapolis native, she misses the lakes but not the cold.


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Josh Smith covers technology policy as a staff reporter for National Journal. He previously interned at National Journal Daily, a Senate press office, and the Deseret News in Salt Lake City where he covered the state legislature, courts, and crime. In 2009 he graduated with honors from Southern Utah University after managing an award-winning student newspaper as editor-in-chief. Josh has received state, regional and national awards for his political and policy reporting, including first place in CapitolBeat’s 2009 Best of Statehouse Reporting college competition. A native of drop-dead-gorgeous Utah, Josh lives in Virginia with his wife, Amber.