II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4401 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 14, 2022 

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’’ or the ‘‘FOIA Fix Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FOIA REQUESTS. 

7 Section 552 of title 5, United States Code, is amend8 ed— 

9 (1) in subsection (a)— 

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

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


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

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

3 agency may not make any record available under this sub4 section to any requester that— 

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

6 United States or an alien lawfully admitted for per7 manent residence; 

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

9 place of business or headquarters located in a State, 

10 the District of Columbia, or any territory or posses11 sion of the United States; or 

12 ‘‘(iii) is an entity that is a subsidiary of an enti13 ty with a principal place of business or headquarters 

14 located in— 

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

16 ‘‘(II) the Russian Federation; 

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

18 Korea; 

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

20 ‘‘(V) the Republic of Cuba; 

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

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

23 Venezuela. 

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

25 request for information under this section on behalf of an 


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1 individual or entity that is prohibited from receiving the 

2 information under subparagraph (A) is punishable by a 

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

4 in prison. 

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

6 necessary to carry out subparagraph (A). 

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

8 that is seeking official copies of the immigration court pro9 ceedings of the requester. 

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

11 section, an agency may determine the manner in which 

12 a request is fulfilled under this subsection if the agency 

13 has a reasonable belief that fulfilling the request in the 

14 manner requested by the requester— 

15 ‘‘(A) is likely to result in the exposure of mate16 rial or information that is not responsive to the re17 quest, including any data describing the structure, 

18 data elements, interrelationships, or other character19 istics of electronic records otherwise responsive to 

20 the request; or 

21 ‘‘(B) poses a material security risk to the agen22 cy or another entity in the Federal Government.’’; 

23 and 

24 (2) in subsection (b)— 


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

2 the end; and 

3 (B) in paragraph (9), by striking the pe4 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

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

6 ‘‘(10) records or information, such as blue7 prints, schematics, formulae, technical expertise, or 

8 other similar information that is susceptible to re9 verse engineering— 

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

11 damage the interests of the United States; 

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

13 of an emerging or foundational technology iden14 tified by the Department of Commerce; and 

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

16 disclosure does not outweigh the interests de17 scribed in subparagraph (A).’’. 

Æ 


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