[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 129 (Wednesday, September 18, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10893-S10894]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            ELECTRONIC FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT AMENDMENTS

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate now 
proceed to the consideration of H.R. 3802, which is at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 3802) to amend section 552 of title 5, United 
     States Code, popularly known as the Freedom of Information 
     Act, to provide public access to information in an electronic 
     format, and for other purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the bill?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am delighted that we have today reached 
final passage of important amendments to the Freedom of Information Act 
that will bring the FOIA into the electronic age. Sending these 
amendments to the President for enactment is a tremendous way to mark 
the 30th anniversary of the Freedom of Information Act.
  The FOIA has served the country well in maintaining the right of 
Americans to know what their government is doing--or not doing. As 
President Johnson said in 1966, when he signed the Freedom of 
Information Act into law:

       This legislation springs from one of our most essential 
     principles: A democracy works best when the people have all 
     the information that the security of the Nation permits.

  Just over the past few months, records released under the FOIA have 
revealed FAA actions against Valujet before the May 11 crash in the 
Everglades, the government's treatment of South Vietnamese commandos 
who fought in a CIA-sponsored army in the early 1960's, the high 
salaries paid to independent counsels, the unsafe lead content of D.C. 
tap water, and the types of tax cases that the IRS recommends for 
criminal prosecution.
  In the 30 years since the Freedom of Information Act became law, 
technology has dramatically altered the way government handles and 
stores information. Gone are the days when agency records were solely 
on paper stuffed into file cabinets. Instead, agencies depend on 
personal computers, computer databases and electronic storage media, 
such as CD--ROM's, to carry out their mission.
  The time is long overdue to update this law to address new issues 
related to the increased use of computers by Federal agencies. 
Computers are just as ubiquitous in Federal agency offices as in the 
private sector. We need to make clear that the FOIA is not just a right 
to know what's on paper law, but that it applies equally to electronic 
records.
  That is why Senator Brown, Senator Kerry and I, with the strong 
support of many library, press, civil liberties, consumer and research 
groups, have pushed for passage of the Electronic FOIA bill. The Senate 
recognized the need to update the FOIA in the last Congress by passing 
an earlier version of this bill.
  This legislation takes steps so that agencies use technology to make 
government more accessible and accountable to its citizens. Storing 
government information on computers should actually make it easier to 
provide public access to information in more meaningful formats. For 
example, people with sight or hearing impairments can use special 
computer programs to translate electronic information into braille or 
large print or synthetic speech output.

[[Page S10894]]

  Electronic records also make it possible to provide dial-up access to 
any citizen who can use computer networks, such as the Internet. Those 
Americans living in the remotest rural area in Vermont, or in a distant 
State far from Federal agencies' public reading rooms here in 
Washington, DC, should be able to use computer networks to get direct 
access to the warehouse of unclassified information stored in 
government computer banks. The explosion of the Internet adds 
enormously to the need for clarification of the status of electronic 
government records under the FOIA and the significance of this 
legislation for citizen access. These amendments to the FOIA will 
encourage Federal agencies to use the Internet to increase access to 
Government records for all Americans.
  Ensuring public access to electronic government records is not just 
important for broader citizen access. Information is a valuable 
commodity and the Federal Government is probably the largest single 
producer and repository of accurate information. This Government 
information is a national resource that commercial companies pay for 
under the FOIA, add value to, and then sell--creating jobs and 
generating revenue in the process. It is important for our economy and 
for American competitiveness that fast, easy access to that resource in 
electronic form be available. The electronic FOIA bill would contribute 
to our information economy.
  I would like to highlight some of what this bill would accomplish. 
First, it would require agencies to provide records in a requested 
format whenever possible. Second, the bill would encourage agencies to 
increase on-line access to government records that agencies currently 
put in their public reading rooms. These records would include copies 
of records that are the subject of repeated FOIA requests.
  Finally, the bill would address the biggest single complaint of 
people making FOIA requests: delays in getting a response. I understand 
that at the FBI, the delays can stretch to over 4 years. Because of 
these delays, writers, students and teachers and others working under 
time deadlines, have been frustrated in using FOIA to meet their 
research needs. Long delays in access can mean no access at all.
  The current time limits in the FOIA are a joke. Few agencies actually 
respond to FOIA requests within the 10-day limit required in the law. 
Such routine failure to comply with the statutory time limits is bad 
for morale in the agencies and breeds contempt by citizens who expect 
government officials to abide by, not routinely break, the law.

  I appreciate the budget and resource constraints under which agencies 
are operating. We have made every effort in this bill to make sure it 
works for both agencies and requestors. Some agencies, particularly 
those with huge backlogs of FOIA requests resulting in delays of up to 
four years for an agency response, are concerned that the bill removes 
backlogs as an automatic excuse to ignore the time limits. But we 
should not give agencies an incentive to create backlogs. Agencies will 
have to show that they are taking steps to reduce their backlogs before 
they qualify for additional time to respond to a FOIA request.
  While increased computer access to government records may necessitate 
an initial outlay of money and effort, as more information is made 
available on-line, the labor intensive task of physically searching and 
producing documents should be reduced. The net result should be 
increased efficiency in satisfying agency FOIA obligations, reduced 
paperwork burdens, reduced errors and better service to the public.
  The Electronic FOIA bill should help agencies comply with the law's 
time limits by doubling the ten-day time limit to give agencies a more 
realistic time period for responding to FOIA requests, making more 
information available on-line, requiring the use of better record 
management techniques, such as multi-track processing, and providing 
expedited access to requestors who demonstrate a compelling need for a 
speedy response.
  All these steps, and others in the bill, may not provide a total cure 
but should help reduce the endemic delay problems.
  This legislation has had a lengthy germination. Senator Brown and I 
first introduced the bill in the 102d Congress, when I chaired 
extensive hearings on the bill. We introduced the legislation again in 
the 103d Congress, and saw the bill pass through the Judiciary Commitee 
and then the Senate only to falter in the House of Representatives. In 
this Congress, the Senate Judiciary Committee again considered this 
legislation, reported it favorably, and the Senate has passed it for 
the second time, bringing us to final passage of the legislation.
  I commend members of the House Government Reform and Oversight 
Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology, and, 
in particular, Chairman Horn, Ranking Member Maloney, and 
Representatives Tate and Peterson, for taking up the challenge and 
moving this legislation this year. They saw this bill for what it is: a 
good government issue, not a partisan one.
  We have worked diligently to sort out any differences in the House 
and Senate bills, and we can all be proud of the final product 
reflected in the final legislation passed today. I want to specially 
thank Chairman Hatch and Chairman Specter for their cooperation in 
moving this bill through Committee and the staffs from the House and 
Senate. In particular, Mark Uncafer, Janie Kong and David McMillan from 
the House, and David Miller, Richard Hertling, Manus Cooney, and 
Elizabeth Kessler from the Senate, as well as my own Judiciary 
Committee staff, should be applauded for their hard work on this 
legislation and making sure the process worked.

  I also want to commend the following organizations because without 
their support over the years, it would have been much more difficult to 
pass this legislation: the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the 
Newspaper Association of America, the National Newspaper Association, 
the Association of American Publishers, Radio and TV News Directors 
Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National 
Association of Broadcasters, Public Citizen, OMB Watch, American 
Library Association, the National Security Archive, the Federation of 
American Scientists, the ACLU, the Fund for Constitutional Government, 
the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, the Electronic Frontier 
Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Center for 
Democracy and Technology, and Americans for Tax Reform.
  Finally, I want to thank Sally Katzen, the Administrator of the 
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at OMB, for the time and 
effort she committed to working through the many concerns of Federal 
agencies who institutionally resist change in this area.
  Even as we have worked on this legislation, new issues about the 
coverage of the FOIA have surfaced. I refer specifically to the recent 
D.C. Court of Appeals case that decided that the National Security 
Council is not an ``agency'' subject to the FOIA, despite the fact that 
the NSC has complied with the FOIA for years under both Republican and 
Democratic Presidents. Litigation on this matter continues and the case 
may now go to the U.S. Supreme Court. Clarification of the offices 
within the White House that are subject to the FOIA may be a matter 
requiring congressional attention in the next Congress.
  As the Federal government increasingly maintains its records in 
electronic form, we need to make sure that this information is 
available to citizens on the same basis as information in paper files. 
Enactment of the Electronic Freedom of Information amendments of 1996 
will fulfill the promise first made thirty years ago in the FOIA that 
citizens have a right to know and a right to see the records the 
government collects with their tax dollars.
  Mr. STEVENS. I ask unanimous consent the bill be deemed read for a 
third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, 
and any statements relating to the bill appear at this point in the 
Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 3802) was deemed read for a third time and passed.
  
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