ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 14, Number 22
March 11, 2005

In This Issue: Second FOIA-related bill introduced by Senators Leahy & Cornyn

The Faster FOIA Act of 2005 - introduced by U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Patrick Leahy on March 10, 2005 - would establish an advisory Commission on Freedom of Information Act Processing Delays.  The Commission would be charged with reporting to Congress and the President its recommendations for steps that should be taken to reduce delays in the administration of the Freedom of Information Act.

The Commission would be comprised of 16 members.  Twelve of them would be appointed by members of Congress - three by the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, three by the chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, and three each by the ranking minority member of the two committees.  These four members of Congress would each be required to appoint at least one member to the Commission with experience submitting FOIA requests on behalf of nonprofit research or educational organizations or news media organizations, and at least one member with experience in academic research in the fields of library science, information management, or public access to Government information.  

The remaining four positions on the Commission would be held by designees of the Attorney General, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Archivist of the United States, and the Comptroller General.

The Faster FOIA Act is the latest in a series of bipartisan efforts by Senators Cornyn and Leahy to promote accountability, accessibility, and openness in our federal government.  On February 16, the Senators introduced the OPEN Government Act of 2005.  And on the morning of March 15, during the first-ever national Sunshine Week, Senators Cornyn and Leahy will convene a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing to examine both the OPEN Government Act and the Faster FOIA Act.
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ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff.  Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Carol Ashworth, Don Essex, Joshua Farrelman, Erin Haggerty, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.