A bill entitled "The Freedom of Information Reform Act".

Summary

Amends the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with respect to request procedures, time limits, fees, and exemptions. Directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to set forth regulations specifying a uniform schedule of fees for FOIA requests to all agencies. Requires that these regulations provide for reasonable standard charges for the costs of processing FOIA requests, except those requiring no more than two hours of service and 20 pages of records. Permits the charging of fair value fees or royalties, in addition to processing fees, for records containing commercially valuable technological information acquired by the Government at substantial public cost. Permits an agency to waive or reduce a fee upon its determination that such allowance meets a substantial public interest. Permits in unusual circumstances the extension for up to 60 working days of the current time limits for compliance with FOIA requests. Defines six "unusual circumstances" for such purpose. Permits an agency to identify by date and source only portions of records consisting of publicly available items. Authorizes an agency to arrange for coordinated responses with other agencies and to update successive requests without providing previously furnished material. Sets forth six factors to be considered in determining whether portions of records are "reasonably segregable," including the intelligibility of the portions, the costs of making severed portions available, and the public interest in their release. Directs that the current exemption given to internal personnel rules and practices of an agency includes prosecutorial guidelines, reports describing the vulnerability to criminal acts of Government and other facilities in commerce, and manuals and instructions provided to investigators, auditors, negotiators, or protective officers. Extends the current exemption given to trade secrets and commercial information to include commercial research and commercially valuable information obtained from any person, the release of which may impair the private, competitive, financial, or business interests of any person. Establishes procedures under which a submitter of information which may be subject to the commercial information exemption is to be notified of a decision allowing disclosure and permitted to provide written objections and seek de novo judicial review of a decision allowing disclosure over such objections. Extends the current exemption given to matters in personnel and medical files to include law enforcement and national intelligence personnel rosters. Directs that this exemption is not limited to personnel and medical files. Extends the current exemption given to law enforcement records to include records which: (1) tend to disclose the indentity of confidential sources; and (2) would endanger the physical safety of any natural person (currently, only law enforcement personnel). Authorizes OMB to prescribe regulations limiting the release of information to imprisoned Federal or State felons or persons requesting information on their behalf.

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Documents

2 official files

• Reported to Senate with amendment(s)

  summary · EN · 20 December 1982

  Open at official source

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 7 October 1981

  Open at official source

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