Leahy And Cornyn Mark Sunshine Week
With Introduction Of OPEN Government Bill 

WASHINGTON (March 13) – Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) Tuesday introduced legislation to strengthen open government laws and enable Americans to gain access to government information faster and more easily.

Building on their efforts in the last Congress, Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Cornyn, a senior member of the panel, introduced the “Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act,” the OPEN Government Act of 2007.  The bill would enhance provisions of the Freedom of Information Act to increase accessibility of federal government records and information to the public.  The last major reform to the Freedom of Information Act was in 1996 when an earlier Leahy bill was enacted to update the law for the Internet age.

“At a time when government is collecting more and more information about every American, it only seems fair that the American people should also be able to find out what their government is up to,” said Leahy.

Last year, the Senate Judiciary Committee favorably reported an essentially identical bill, but the full Senate did not consider this legislation before it adjourned last year, according to Leahy. 

“I hope that the Senate will do its part to reinvigorate FOIA this year by promptly passing this bill, so that when the next Sunshine Week comes, the American people will have a vibrant and reinvigorated FOIA to use and celebrate,” he said.

The introduction of the OPEN Government Act comes during the third annual Sunshine Week, a week devoted to creating a dialogue about government transparency and the public’s ability to access information. 

Leahy has also scheduled a Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, March 14,^th at 10 a.m., on “Open Government: Reinvigorating the Freedom of Information Act,” to hear from media representatives and FOIA experts on the legislation.