The Freedom of Information Improvement Act of 2014, a bill that would amend FOIA, has been drafted by senators John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and has been introduced to the U.S. Senate.
The Freedom of Information Act is a federal law that gives people the right to access information from the government. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966. In order to access public records from a federal agency, a person must make a written FOIA request, in which a person describes the information they need and then they must turn it into the appropriate agency.
Millions of FOIA requests are submitted every year, and according to the official foia.gov website, the Department of Homeland Security receives the most requests. In fiscal year 2013, DHS received 231,534 FOIA requests. At the end of fiscal year 2013, there were still 65,676 pending FOIA requests.
Under the current law it can take weeks, months and sometimes years for a FOIA request to be processed and it often entails dealing with multiple agencies and offices.
Murphy Jones is a freelance journalist based in southern Arizona who focuses on immigration and border enforcement. He submitted a FOIA request to Customs and Border Protection, and it took two years and several e-mails before CPB answered his request.
“I believe I sent it (FOIA request) some time in 2012 and got records in 2014,” Jones said.“The system doing its thing meant I didn’t get records for over a year…My experiences have been very disappointing and extremely exasperating”
Aaron Martinez, a UTEP and Prospector alumni and a staff reporter at the El Paso Times, has a FOIA request pending from the Department of Justice. His request is one of thousands that is sent to the Department of Justice. As of the end fiscal year 2013, the DOJ had 10,298 pending FOIA requests.
“I’ve been on the wait list for three months. I call them every week. I send them an e-mail every day,” Martinez said. “I’m waiting in line with a bunch of other people. There needs to be a better system.”
According to Kevin Goldberg, legal counsel to the American Society of News Editors, one of the organizations that support the FOIA Improvement Act of 2014, the bill would allow for a more open government and would specifically address the amount of time an agency has to fulfill a FOIA request.
“We want to make it easier to get access to records… It’s our number one goal to make it work more efficiently,” Goldberg said.
One of the provisions under the FOIA Improvement Act of 2014 would provide for electronic accessibility through the creation of a FOIA website to make requests and check the status of the requests.
Other provisions include an amendment to Exemption 5, which would require agencies to include a public-interest balancing test to weigh the public interest before deciding to deny a FOIA request.
Last February, a similar bill known as the FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act of 2014 passed unanimously 410-0 in the House, but failed to move through the Senate.
According to Goldberg, the FOIA Improvement Act of 2014, which is the Senate version, has a chance
to pass.
“It’s going to be introduced to the Senate Judiciary Committee… it’s got a chance to move forward this year,” he said.
Maria Esquinca may be reached at [email protected]
