Bringing FOIA Into The On-Line Information Age: IN LEGISLATIVE HOME STRETCH, CONGRESS CLEARS, PRESIDENT SIGNS `ELECTRONIC FOIA' BILL

...User-Friendly Changes In Store For 30-Year-Old Data Access Law

October 15, 1996

Capping a five-year drive led by Sen. Patrick Leahy and cosponsored in the Senate by Sens. Hank Brown and John Kerry, President Clinton Oct. 2 signed into law the "EFOIA" bill, which updates the Freedom of Information Act by expanding the public's electronic access to federal government information. The bill targets the lengthy delays that Leahy says are the public's top complaint about FOIA.

Leahy says the reforms are a fitting addition as the law marks its 30th anniversary. "This is an electronic update of the public's right to know. These changes will make access to government information easier and faster in several ways."

Leahy, who also authored earlier FOIA reforms, has long been Congress's leading champion of the open-records law, which has become a key resource for citizens, reporters, businesses, scholars, attorneys and others interested in government actions and data. In 1955, when Congress held its first hearings leading to the law's 1966 enactment, only 45 computers were in the federal inventory. Since then, little has been done to adapt the FOIA compliance process to the national information infrastructure that has mushroomed in the meantime. EFOIA -- the Electronic Freedom of Information Improvement Act -- would tap these new tools to improve public access to federal records while maximizing their usefulness and improving agency compliance with FOIA requests.

Under the Leahy bill, today's FOIA applicants will see noticeable improvements, and new users will be attracted by the easier process and wider range of information. For instance, in federal rulemaking and regulatory processes, many documents now available only for in-person inspection in public reading rooms will be available electronically, saving citizens the time and expense of travel to Washington or other sites. The reforms also require agencies to post catalogues of previously released documents and to list -- and use -- new electronic information tools as they become available. The bill erases today's built-in incentives for the backlogging that can now excuse an agency from acting on a FOIA request. And it will enable FOIA applicants to ask for their information in the formats they prefer.