The Federal Communications Commission might be deliberately withholding public records, according to a Republican-led report released this week.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee report concluded that the FCC's is either incompetent or intentionally misused redactions under the Freedom of Information Act to withhold internal communication about its controversial Internet regulations. Continue…
[…]
From The Hill: The Republican National Committee on Wednesday sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the Internal Revenue Service demanding the agency turn over any documents related to the targeting of Tea Party groups.
[…]
From Fierce Government:
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved bills March 20 that would grant the Government Accountability Office more power and make popular Freedom of Information Act requests more available to the public.
[…]
Read More… from House Oversight committee approves FOIA and GAO reform bills
From The Washington Examiner:
In a rare-for-Congress show of bi-partisanship, the top Republican and Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today introduced new draft legislation designed the strengthen the federal Freedom of Information Act.
The FOIA, signed into law in 1966 by President Lyndon Johnson, is the main avenue for citizens who wish to obtain information about federal government activities.
[…]
Read More… from Issa, Cummings introduce bipartisan FOIA reform
From Bloomberg Businessweek:
A U.S. House panel has asked the Justice Department to explain why agencies have not implemented President Barack Obama’s 2009 pledge to make government more transparent by releasing records requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
[…]
Read More… from Bipartisan letter seeks answers on open government failures
A few open government and FOIA news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier. Be sure to check out Sunshine Week 2012 News while you're at it.
Government confirms it has secret interpretation of Patriot Act Spy Powers
[…]
From Washington Post:
Eleven of 17 Cabinet-level agencies fail to fully comply with federal law requiring complete inventories of public records requests, and most large agencies earn a subpar grade for records management, according to a new congressional report.
[…]
Read More… from Agencies poorly track FOIA requests, report says
