On March 29, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on potential improvements to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In advance of the hearing, American Oversight sent a letter to the chair and the ranking member of the committee outlining multiple areas where Congress could consider amending the act to increase transparency around government operations and ensure more complete and timely access to agency records for the American public.

Over the past five years, American Oversight has filed FOIA requests with more than 75 federal agencies or offices and has been forced to go to court dozens of times to compel the release of records after those agencies failed to comply with the law. Through that experience, we have identified several common agency practices and legislative barriers that make it difficult for FOIA to best serve its central purpose of making government records promptly available to the public.

The letter highlights eight possible updates to the FOIA statute that would increase government transparency, including:

• Requiring the government to provide adequate resources for agencies to properly respond to FOIA requests.
• Setting a time limit for how long agencies may refer records to other agencies, or to the White House, for consultation.
• Ensuring all responsive records are preserved while in the custody of government agencies.

You can read the full letter American Oversight submitted to the committee’s chair and ranking member below. To subscribe to our email updates and follow along with our continual efforts to increase government transparency, click here.