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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has gotten its own Improvement Act [fas.org]:

The House of Representatives yesterday approved the Freedom of Information Act Improvement Act [fas.org], which had previously been adopted by the Senate. If signed by President Obama, as expected, it will strengthen several provisions of the FOIA and should enhance disclosure of government records.

The bill "reaffirms the public's right to know and puts in place several reforms to stop agencies from slowly eroding the effectiveness of using FOIA to exercise that right," said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC). "The most important reform is the presumption of openness," according to Rep. Meadows. "Before claiming an exemption [from disclosure under FOIA], agencies must first determine whether they could reasonably foresee an actual harm."

"The bill would also put a 25-year sunset on exemption 5 of FOIA, the deliberative process exemption," added Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). "It would modernize FOIA by requiring the Office of Management and Budget to create a central FOIA Web site for requesters to submit their request, making it more efficient and accessible to the public."

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