FOIA Improvement Act – National Freedom of Information Coalition

Watchdog: Pentagon needs to update FOIA policies

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The Department of Defense (DOD) needs to improve its policies on responding to public-records requests, according to a new inspector general report.

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Chief FOIA Officers Council meets for the first time

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The Chief FOIA Officers Council, charged with addressing the most important difficulties in administering FOIA across government, met for the first time July 22 to begin the process of implementing a “release to one is a release to all” standard for federal records.

The policy would make agencies release FOIA-processed records to one requester and simultaneously to the general public by posting them online. Continue…

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What You Need to Know About the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016

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On June 13, 2016, the House passed Senate Bill S.337, or the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, which had previously passed the Senate in early March by unanimous consent. The bill is now on its way to President Obama, who has already expressed approval of the bill and is expected to sign the bill into law in the upcoming weeks.

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How a popular government-transparency bill suddenly died in Congress

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Nothing comes easy for the current Congress, which has already left its mark as one of the least productive in U.S. history.

The Fighting 113th has agreed in principle on the need to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act, a key government-transparency law that guarantees public access to federal records.

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Editorial: Who’s trying to kill FOIA reform now? Bankers!

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We're getting word (from here, among various other places) that the widely supported FOIA Improvement Act — which is staring down the clock of death in the House — has inspired a flood of last-second lobbying by anonymous banking interests. Wait, what?

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Congressmen Issa, Cummings call for passage of FOIA Improvement Act

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House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Ranking Member Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., have called on the House to pass and send the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Improvement Act to the President for his signature following its unanimous passage in the Senate.

“The FOIA Improvement Act will strengthen FOIA, the cornerstone open government law,” Issa and Cummings said in a joint statement.

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50 groups push Obama on FOIA legislation

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A coalition of 50 groups urging more government transparency called on President Obama to publicly support legislation that would reform the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process.

The conglomerate – including government watchdogs, civil liberties groups and media advocacy groups ó wants a commitment that a number of reforms will remain in place after the president leaves office.

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Transparency critics are peddling public ignorance to ‘fix’ government

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Hang around the nation's capital long enough and inevitably even the most grizzled newsroom veteran reads something so utterly wrong that he is left speechless.

Such a moment arrived for this ink-stained wretch Thursday while reading a Washington Post op-ed by Bipartisan Policy Center President Jason Grumet. His piece included this declaration about post-Watergate reforms designed to bring government out from behind closed doors:

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OpEd: How the FOIA Improvement Act of 2014 Would Help Ordinary Requesters

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Earlier this year, the U.S. Veterans Affairs Administration denied the Tampa Tribune’s Freedom of Information Act request for the names of VA hospitals where veterans died because of delays in medical screenings.

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