FOIA reform

The Washington Post has a great rundown in Sunday's paper about the extensive efforts at secrecy pushed by the White House over the past seven years and the resulting backlash this near-total information blackout has caused.   

It's official:  FOIA reform is no longer just wishful thinking, but a reality after President Bush signed the OPEN Government Act of 2007 into law on New Year's Eve, adding his signature to a bill that passed without opposition in Congress.

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that the White House has appealed U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth's ruling this week which ordered the disclosure of Secret Service visitor logs from the Office of the President and the Vice President's residence pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. 

We are on the cusp of possibly seeing significant improvement to the Freedom of Information Act. On Friday, the Senate passed S. 2488, a revised version of the OPEN Government Act that included portions of the House’s own FOIA reform bill passed back in March.

U.S. Senate leaders put forth a new version of a bill Tuesday aimed at reforming the Freedom of Information Act with the goal of getting it signed by the President before the year's end.

The revised bill mandates the reimbursement of attorneys' fees under certain circumstances for successful FOIA requestors in a manner the bill's sponsors hope will satisfy House "pay-as-you-go" rules.  

The Senate version of the 2007 Farm Bill has some downright hostile provisions toward disclosure.  Proposed section 10305 of the Livestock Title dealing with the National Animal Identification System (NAIS)-- the system that tracks diseased animals through the commercial food chain-- would exempt all records from both the federal Freedom of Information Act and from state and local sunshine laws.