March 17, 2010
The Honorable Patrick Leahy
Chairman
United States Senate
Judiciary Committee
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable John Cornyn
Ranking Member
United States Senate
Judiciary Committee
152 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senators Leahy and Cornyn:
The undersigned organizations write in support of the Faster FOIA Act, which would establish the Commission on Freedom of Information Act Processing Delays (the Commission). This advisory commission would be charged with recommending to Congress and the President steps that should be taken to reduce delays in the administration of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
In our experience, agency backlogs impose one of the greatest impediments to access under the FOIA and create a disparity across the federal government in the administration of the FOIA. Moreover, while backlogs have presented a longstanding problem in agency implementation of the FOIA, we still do not understand fully the conditions and practices that create those backlogs. Particularly in light of President Obama’s directive to agencies to reduce significant backlogs of outstanding FOIA requests, it is imperative that we identify the root causes of FOIA processing delays.
Toward that end, the Commission established by the Faster FOIA Act would examine agency backlogs and recommend to Congress and the President steps that should be taken to reduce delays and make the administration of the FOIA equitable and efficient throughout the federal government. By including representatives of the FOIA requester community, the Commission would bring a fresh perspective to a persistent problem.
The Commission would also be tasked with examining the current FOIA system for charging fees and granting waiver fees. In our experience, an agency’s refusal to recognize a requester’s entitlement to a fee waiver all too often causes further processing delays and imposes yet another unreasonable bar to access under the FOIA. We welcome the opportunity this legislation presents for further study of this problem, specifically considering whether the current statutory provision should be reformed.
Thank you for your ongoing commitment to strengthening the Freedom of Information Act.
Sincerely,
OpenTheGovernment.org
American Association of Law Libraries
American Library Association
Association of Research Libraries
American Society of News Editors
Californians Aware
Center for Democracy and Technology
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Defending Dissent Foundation
DC Open Government Coalition
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Essential Information
Government Accountability Project
iSolon.org
Justice Through Music
Liberty Coalition
Minnesota Coalition on Open Government
MuckRock
The Multiracial Activist
National Coalition for History
National Freedom of Information Coalition
National Security Archive
North Carolina Open Government Coalition
OMB Watch
Project On Government Oversight
Public Citizen
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
The Rutherford Institute
Sage Information Services
Society of Professional Journalists
Special Libraries Association
Sunlight Foundation
Velvet Revolution
Washington Coalition for Open Government
PDF version: http://www.openthegovernment.org/otg/FasterFOIAletter.pdf