II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 488 

To modify the Freedom of Information Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2023 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mr. COTTON) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To modify the Freedom of Information Act, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘First Opportunity for 

5 Information to Americans Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘FOIA Fix 

6 Act of 2023’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FOIA REQUESTS. 

8 Section 552 of title 5, United States Code, is amend9 ed— 

10 (1) in subsection (a)— 


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•S 488 IS

1 (A) in paragraph (3)(A), by inserting ‘‘or 

2 paragraph (9)’’ after ‘‘subparagraph (E)’’; and 

3 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(9)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (D), an 

5 agency may not make any record available under this sub6 section to any requester that— 

7 ‘‘(i) is an individual who is not a citizen of the 

8 United States or an alien lawfully admitted for per9 manent residence; 

10 ‘‘(ii) is an entity that does not have a principal 

11 place of business or headquarters located in a State, 

12 the District of Columbia, or any territory or posses13 sion of the United States; or 

14 ‘‘(iii) is an entity that is a subsidiary of an enti15 ty with a principal place of business or headquarters 

16 located in— 

17 ‘‘(I) the People’s Republic of China; 

18 ‘‘(II) the Russian Federation; 

19 ‘‘(III) the Democratic People’s Republic of 

20 Korea; 

21 ‘‘(IV) the Islamic Republic of Iran; 

22 ‘‘(V) the Republic of Cuba; 

23 ‘‘(VI) the Syrian Arab Republic; or 

24 ‘‘(VII) the regime of Nicola ́s Maduro in 

25 Venezuela. 


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•S 488 IS

1 ‘‘(B) Knowingly assisting, conspiring, or abetting a 

2 request for information under this section on behalf of an 

3 individual or entity that is prohibited from receiving the 

4 information under subparagraph (A) is punishable by a 

5 fine of up $10,000 per violation and not more than 1 year 

6 in prison. 

7 ‘‘(C) Each agency shall promulgate regulations as 

8 necessary to carry out subparagraph (A). 

9 ‘‘(D) Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to a requester 

10 that is seeking official copies of the immigration court pro11 ceedings of the requester. 

12 ‘‘(10) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 

13 section, an agency may determine the manner in which 

14 a request is fulfilled under this subsection if the agency 

15 has a reasonable belief that fulfilling the request in the 

16 manner requested by the requester— 

17 ‘‘(A) is likely to result in the exposure of mate18 rial or information that is not responsive to the re19 quest, including any data describing the structure, 

20 data elements, interrelationships, or other character21 istics of electronic records otherwise responsive to 

22 the request; or 

23 ‘‘(B) poses a material security risk to the agen24 cy or another entity in the Federal Government.’’; 

25 and 


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•S 488 IS

1 (2) in subsection (b)— 

2 (A) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 

3 the end; and 

4 (B) in paragraph (9), by striking the pe5 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

6 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(10) records or information, such as blue8 prints, schematics, formulae, technical expertise, or 

9 other similar information that is susceptible to re10 verse engineering— 

11 ‘‘(A) the disclosure of which is likely to 

12 damage the interests of the United States; 

13 ‘‘(B) that is materially related to the study 

14 of an emerging or foundational technology iden15 tified by the Department of Commerce; and 

16 ‘‘(C) for which the interest of the public in 

17 disclosure does not outweigh the interests de18 scribed in subparagraph (A).’’. 

Æ 


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