[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3885 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3885

To amend section 552 of title 5, United States Code, commonly known as 
 the Freedom of Information Act, to provide for greater efficiency in 
providing public access to information and to provide for public access 
                to information in an electronic format.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 24, 1996

   Mrs. Maloney (for herself, Mr. Horn, and Mr. Tate) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government 
                          Reform and Oversight

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend section 552 of title 5, United States Code, commonly known as 
 the Freedom of Information Act, to provide for greater efficiency in 
providing public access to information and to provide for public access 
                to information in an electronic format.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. INFORMATION MADE AVAILABLE IN ELECTRONIC FORMAT AND 
              INDEXATION OF RECORDS.

    Section 552(a)(2) of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in the second sentence, by striking out ``or staff 
        manual or instruction'' and inserting ``staff manual, 
        instruction, or copies of records referred to in subparagraph 
        (D)'';
            (2) by inserting before the period at the end of the 3rd 
        sentence the following: ``, and the extent of such deletion 
        shall be indicated on the portion of the record which is made 
        available or published'';
            (3) by inserting after the 3rd sentence the following: ``If 
        technically feasible, the extent of the deletion shall be 
        indicated at the place in the record where the deletion was 
        made.'';
            (4) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``and'' after the 
        semicolon;
            (5) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the following:
            ``(D) copies of all records, regardless of form or format, 
        which have been released to any person under paragraph (3) and 
        which, because of the nature of their subject matter, the 
        agency determines have become or are likely to become the 
        subject of subsequent requests for substantially the same 
        records; and
            ``(E) a general index of the records referred to under 
        subparagraph (D);'';
            (6) by inserting after the 5th sentence the following: 
        ``Each agency shall make the index referred to in subparagraph 
        (E) available by electronic means by December 31, 1999.''; and
            (7) by inserting after the 1st sentence the following: 
        ``For records created on or after November 1, 1996, within one 
        year after such date, each agency shall make such records 
        available by computer telecommunications or, if computer 
        telecommunications means have not been established by the 
        agency, by other electronic means.''.

SEC. 2. REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.

    Section 552(e) of title 5, United States Code, is amended to read 
as follows:
    ``(e)(1) On or before February 1 of each year, each agency shall 
submit to the Attorney General a report which shall cover the preceding 
fiscal year and which shall include--
            ``(A) the number of determinations made by the agency not 
        to comply with requests for records made to such agency under 
        subsection (a) and the reasons for each such determination;
            ``(B)(i) the number of appeals made by persons under 
        subsection (a)(6), the result of such appeals, and the reason 
        for the action upon each appeal that results in a denial of 
        information; and
            ``(ii) a complete list of all statutes that the agency 
        relies upon to authorize the agency to withhold information 
        under subsection (b)(3), a description of whether a court has 
        upheld the decision of the agency to withhold information under 
        each such statute, and a concise description of the scope of 
        any information withheld;
            ``(C) the number of requests for records pending before the 
        agency as of September 30 of the preceding year, and the median 
        number of days that such requests had been pending before the 
        agency as of that date;
            ``(D) the number of requests for records received by the 
        agency and the number of requests which the agency processed;
            ``(E) the median number of days taken by the agency to 
        process different types of requests;
            ``(F) the total amount of fees collected by the agency for 
        processing requests;
            ``(G) the average amount of time that the agency estimates 
        as necessary, based on the past experience of the agency, to 
        comply with different types of requests; and
            ``(H) the number of full-time staff of the agency devoted 
        to processing requests for records under this section, and the 
        total amount expended by the agency for processing such 
        requests.
    ``(2) Each agency shall make each such report available to the 
public through a computer network, or if computer network means have 
not been established by the agency, by other electronic means.
    ``(3) The Attorney General shall make each report which has been 
made available by electronic means available at a single electronic 
access point. The Attorney General shall notify the Chairman and 
ranking minority member of the Committee on Government Reform and 
Oversight of the House of Representatives and the Chairman and ranking 
minority member of the Committees on Governmental Affairs and the 
Judiciary of the Senate, no later than April 1 of the year in which 
each such report is issued, that such reports are available by 
electronic means.
    ``(4) The Attorney General, in consultation with the Director of 
the Office of Management and Budget, shall develop reporting and 
performance guidelines in connection with reports required by this 
subsection by October 1, 1997, and may establish additional 
requirements for such reports as the Attorney General determines may be 
useful.
    ``(5) The Attorney General shall submit an annual report on or 
before April 1 of each calendar year which shall include for the prior 
calendar year a listing of the number of cases arising under this 
section, the exemption involved in each case, the disposition of such 
case, and the cost, fees, and penalties assessed under subparagraphs 
(E), (F), and (G) of subsection (a)(4). Such report shall also include 
a description of the efforts undertaken by the Department of Justice to 
encourage agency compliance with this section.''.
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