113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2520 

AN ACT 

To improve the Freedom of Information Act. 

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘FOIA Improvement 

3 Act of 2014’’. 

4 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO FOIA. 

5 Section 552 of title 5, United States Code, is amend6 ed— 

7 (1) in subsection (a)— 

8 (A) in paragraph (2)— 

9 (i) in the matter preceding subpara10 graph (A), by striking ‘‘for public inspec11 tion and copying’’ and inserting ‘‘for public 

12 inspection in an electronic format’’; 

13 (ii) by striking subparagraph (D) and 

14 inserting the following: 

15 ‘‘(D) copies of all records, regardless of form or 

16 format— 

17 ‘‘(i) that have been released to any person 

18 under paragraph (3); and 

19 ‘‘(ii)(I) that because of the nature of their 

20 subject matter, the agency determines have be21 come or are likely to become the subject of sub22 sequent requests for substantially the same 

23 records; or 

24 ‘‘(II) that have been requested not less 

25 than 3 times; and’’; and 
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1 (iii) in the undesignated matter fol2 lowing subparagraph (E), by striking 

3 ‘‘public inspection and copying current’’ 

4 and inserting ‘‘public inspection in an elec5 tronic format current’’; 

6 (B) in paragraph (4)(A), by striking clause 

7 (viii) and inserting the following: 

8 ‘‘(viii)(I) Except as provided in subclause (II), 

9 an agency shall not assess any search fees (or in the 

10 case of a requester described under clause (ii)(II) of 

11 this subparagraph, duplication fees) under this sub12 paragraph if the agency has failed to comply with 

13 any time limit under paragraph (6). 

14 ‘‘(II)(aa) If an agency has determined that un15 usual circumstances apply (as the term is defined in 

16 paragraph (6)(B)) and the agency provided a timely 

17 written notice to the requester in accordance with 

18 paragraph (6)(B), a failure described in subclause 

19 (I) is excused for an additional 10 days. If the agen20 cy fails to comply with the extended time limit, the 

21 agency may not assess any search fees (or in the 

22 case of a requester described under clause (ii)(II) of 

23 this subparagraph, duplication fees). 

24 ‘‘(bb) If an agency has determined that unusual 

25 circumstances apply and more than 50,000 pages 
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1 are necessary to respond to the request, an agency 

2 may charge search fees (or in the case of a requester 

3 described under clause (ii)(II) of this subparagraph, 

4 duplication fees) if the agency has provided a timely 

5 written notice to the requester in accordance with 

6 paragraph (6)(B) and the agency has discussed with 

7 the requester via written mail, electronic mail, or 

8 telephone (or made not less than 3 good-faith at9 tempts to do so) how the requester could effectively 

10 limit the scope of the request in accordance with 

11 paragraph (6)(B)(ii). 

12 ‘‘(cc) If a court has determined that exceptional 

13 circumstances exist (as that term is defined in para14 graph (6)(C)), a failure described in subclause (I) 

15 shall be excused for the length of time provided by 

16 the court order.’’; 

17 (C) in paragraph (6)— 

18 (i) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking 

19 ‘‘making such request’’ and all that follows 

20 through ‘‘determination; and’’ and insert21 ing the following: ‘‘making such request 

22 of—’’ 

23 ‘‘(I) such determination and the rea24 sons therefor; 
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1 ‘‘(II) the right of such person to seek 

2 assistance from the FOIA Public Liaison 

3 of the agency; and 

4 ‘‘(III) in the case of an adverse deter5 mination— 

6 ‘‘(aa) the right of such person to 

7 appeal to the head of the agency, 

8 within a period determined by the 

9 head of the agency that is not less 

10 than 90 days after the date of such 

11 adverse determination; and 

12 ‘‘(bb) the right of such person to 

13 seek dispute resolution services from 

14 the FOIA Public Liaison of the agen15 cy or the Office of Government Infor16 mation Services; and’’; and 

17 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by strik18 ing ‘‘the agency.’’ and inserting ‘‘the agen19 cy, and notify the requester of the right of 

20 the requester to seek dispute resolution 

21 services from the Office of Government In22 formation Services.’’; and 

23 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(8)(A) An agency— 

25 ‘‘(i) shall— 
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1 ‘‘(I) withhold information under this sec2 tion only if— 

3 ‘‘(aa) the agency reasonably foresees 

4 that disclosure would harm an interest pro5 tected by an exemption described in sub6 section (b) or other provision of law; or 

7 ‘‘(bb) disclosure is prohibited by law; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(II)(aa) consider whether partial disclo10 sure of information is possible whenever the 

11 agency determines that a full disclosure of a re12 quested record is not possible; and 

13 ‘‘(bb) take reasonable steps necessary to 

14 segregate and release nonexempt information; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(ii) may not— 

17 ‘‘(I) withhold information requested under 

18 this section merely because the agency can dem19 onstrate, as a technical matter, that the records 

20 fall within the scope of an exemption described 

21 in subsection (b); or 

22 ‘‘(II) withhold information requested under 

23 this section merely because disclosure of the in24 formation may be embarrassing to the agency 

25 or because of speculative or abstract concerns. 
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1 ‘‘(B) Nothing in this paragraph requires disclosure 

2 of information that is otherwise prohibited from disclosure 

3 by law, or otherwise exempted from disclosure under sub4 section (b)(3).’’; 

5 (2) in subsection (b), by amending paragraph 

6 (5) to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘(5) inter-agency or intra-agency memoran8 dums or letters that would not be available by law 

9 to a party other than an agency in litigation with 

10 the agency, if the requested record or information 

11 was created less than 25 years before the date on 

12 which the request was made;’’; 

13 (3) in subsection (e) 

14 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

15 (i) in the matter preceding subpara16 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘and to the Direc17 tor of the Office of Government Informa18 tion Services’’ after ‘‘United States’’; 

19 (ii) in subparagraph (N), by striking 

20 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

21 (iii) in subparagraph (O), by striking 

22 the period at the end and inserting a semi23 colon; and 

24 (iv) by adding at the end the fol25 lowing: 
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1 ‘‘(P) the number of times the agency denied a 

2 request for records under subsection (c); and 

3 ‘‘(Q) the number of records that were made 

4 available for public inspection in an electronic for5 mat under subsection (a)(2).’’; 

6 (B) by striking paragraph (3) and insert7 ing the following: 

8 ‘‘(3) Each agency shall make each such report avail9 able for public inspection in an electronic format. In addi10 tion, each agency shall make the raw statistical data used 

11 in each report available in a timely manner for public in12 spection in an electronic format, which shall be made 

13 available— 

14 ‘‘(A) without charge, license, or registration re15 quirement; 

16 ‘‘(B) in an aggregated, searchable format; and 

17 ‘‘(C) in a format that may be downloaded in 

18 bulk.’’; 

19 (C) in paragraph (4)— 

20 (i) by striking ‘‘Government Reform 

21 and Oversight’’ and inserting ‘‘Oversight 

22 and Government Reform’’; 

23 (ii) by inserting ‘‘Homeland Security 

24 and’’ before ‘‘Governmental Affairs’’; and 
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1 (iii) by striking ‘‘April’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘March’’; and 

3 (D) by striking paragraph (6) and insert4 ing the following: 

5 ‘‘(6)(A) The Attorney General of the United States 

6 shall submit to the Committee on Oversight and Govern7 ment Reform of the House of Representatives, the Com8 mittee on Judiciary of the Senate, and the President a 

9 report on or before March 1 of each calendar year, which 

10 shall include for the prior calendar year— 

11 ‘‘(i) a listing of the number of cases arising 

12 under this section; 

13 ‘‘(ii) a listing of— 

14 ‘‘(I) each subsection, and any exemption, if 

15 applicable, involved in each case arising under 

16 this section; 

17 ‘‘(II) the disposition of each case arising 

18 under this section; and 

19 ‘‘(III) the cost, fees, and penalties assessed 

20 under subparagraphs (E), (F), and (G) of sub21 section (a)(4); and 

22 ‘‘(iii) a description of the efforts undertaken by 

23 the Department of Justice to encourage agency com24 pliance with this section. 
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1 ‘‘(B) The Attorney General of the United States shall 

2 make— 

3 ‘‘(i) each report submitted under subparagraph 

4 (A) available for public inspection in an electronic 

5 format; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) the raw statistical data used in each report 

7 submitted under subparagraph (A) available for pub8 lic inspection in an electronic format, which shall be 

9 made available— 

10 ‘‘(I) without charge, license, or registration 

11 requirement; 

12 ‘‘(II) in an aggregated, searchable format; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(III) in a format that may be downloaded 

15 in bulk.’’; 

16 (4) in subsection (g), in the matter preceding 

17 paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘publicly available upon 

18 request’’ and inserting ‘‘available for public inspec19 tion in an electronic format’’; 

20 (5) in subsection (h)— 

21 (A) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end 

22 the following: ‘‘The head of the Office shall be 

23 the Director of the Office of Government Infor24 mation Services.’’; 
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1 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking subpara2 graph (C) and inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(C) identify procedures and methods for im4 proving compliance under this section.’’; 

5 (C) by striking paragraph (3) and insert6 ing the following: 

7 ‘‘(3) The Office of Government Information Services 

8 shall offer mediation services to resolve disputes between 

9 persons making requests under this section and adminis10 trative agencies as a non-exclusive alternative to litigation 

11 and may issue advisory opinions at the discretion of the 

12 Office or upon request of any party to a dispute.’’; and 

13 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(4)(A) Not less frequently than annually, the Direc15 tor of the Office of Government Information Services shall 

16 submit to the Committee on Oversight and Government 

17 Reform of the House of Representatives, the Committee 

18 on the Judiciary of the Senate, and the President— 

19 ‘‘(i) a report on the findings of the information 

20 reviewed and identified under paragraph (2); 

21 ‘‘(ii) a summary of the activities of the Office 

22 of Government Information Services under para23 graph (3), including— 

24 ‘‘(I) any advisory opinions issued; and 
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1 ‘‘(II) the number of times each agency en2 gaged in dispute resolution with the assistance 

3 of the Office of Government Information Serv4 ices or the FOIA Public Liaison; and 

5 ‘‘(iii) legislative and regulatory recommenda6 tions, if any, to improve the administration of this 

7 section. 

8 ‘‘(B) The Director of the Office of Government Infor9 mation Services shall make each report submitted under 

10 subparagraph (A) available for public inspection in an 

11 electronic format. 

12 ‘‘(C) The Director of the Office of Government Infor13 mation Services shall not be required to obtain the prior 

14 approval, comment, or review of any officer or agency of 

15 the United States, including the Department of Justice, 

16 the Archivist of the United States, or the Office of Man17 agement and Budget before submitting to Congress, or 

18 any committee or subcommittee thereof, any reports, rec19 ommendations, testimony, or comments, if such submis20 sions include a statement indicating that the views ex21 pressed therein are those of the Director and do not nec22 essarily represent the views of the President. 

23 ‘‘(5) The Director of the Office of Government Infor24 mation Services may directly submit additional informa-
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1 tion to Congress and the President as the Director deter2 mines to be appropriate. 

3 ‘‘(6) Not less frequently than annually, the Office of 

4 Government Information Services shall conduct a meeting 

5 that is open to the public on the review and reports by 

6 the Office and shall allow interested persons to appear and 

7 present oral or written statements at the meeting.’’; 

8 (6) by striking subsections (i), (j), and (k), and 

9 inserting the following: 

10 ‘‘(i) The Government Accountability Office shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) not later than 1 year after the date of en12 actment of the FOIA Improvement Act of 2014 and 

13 every 2 years thereafter, conduct audits of 3 or more 

14 administrative agencies on compliance with and im15 plementation of the requirements of this section and 

16 issue reports detailing the results of such audits; 

17 ‘‘(2) not later than 1 year after the date of en18 actment of the FOIA Improvement Act of 2014 and 

19 every 2 years thereafter, issue a report cataloging 

20 the number of exemptions described in paragraphs 

21 (3) and (5) of subsection (b) and the use of such ex22 emptions by each agency; 

23 ‘‘(3) not later than 1 year after the date of en24 actment of the FOIA Improvement Act of 2014, 

25 conduct a study on the methods Federal agencies 
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1 use to reduce the backlog of requests under this sec2 tion and issue a report on the effectiveness of those 

3 methods; and 

4 ‘‘(4) submit copies of all reports and audits de5 scribed in this subsection to the Committee on Over6 sight and Government Reform of the House of Rep7 resentatives and the Committee on the Judiciary of 

8 the Senate. 

9 ‘‘(j)(1) Each agency shall designate a Chief FOIA Of10 ficer who shall be a senior official of such agency (at the 

11 Assistant Secretary or equivalent level). 

12 ‘‘(2) The Chief FOIA Officer of each agency shall, 

13 subject to the authority of the head of the agency— 

14 ‘‘(A) have agency-wide responsibility for effi15 cient and appropriate compliance with this section; 

16 ‘‘(B) monitor implementation of this section 

17 throughout the agency and keep the head of the 

18 agency, the chief legal officer of the agency, and the 

19 Attorney General appropriately informed of the 

20 agency’s performance in implementing this section; 

21 ‘‘(C) recommend to the head of the agency such 

22 adjustments to agency practices, policies, personnel, 

23 and funding as may be necessary to improve its im24 plementation of this section; 
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1 ‘‘(D) review and report to the Attorney General, 

2 through the head of the agency, at such times and 

3 in such formats as the Attorney General may direct, 

4 on the agency’s performance in implementing this 

5 section; 

6 ‘‘(E) facilitate public understanding of the pur7 poses of the statutory exemptions of this section by 

8 including concise descriptions of the exemptions in 

9 both the agency’s handbook issued under subsection 

10 (g), and the agency’s annual report on this section, 

11 and by providing an overview, where appropriate, of 

12 certain general categories of agency records to which 

13 those exemptions apply; 

14 ‘‘(F) offer training to agency staff regarding 

15 their responsibilities under this section; 

16 ‘‘(G) serve as the primary agency liaison with 

17 the Office of Government Information Services and 

18 the Office of Information Policy; and 

19 ‘‘(H) designate 1 or more FOIA Public Liai20 sons. 

21 ‘‘(3) The Chief FOIA Officer of each agency shall re22 view, not less frequently than annually, all aspects of the 

23 administration of this section by the agency to ensure 

24 compliance with the requirements of this section, includ25 ing— 
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1 ‘‘(A) agency regulations; 

2 ‘‘(B) disclosure of records required under para3 graphs (2) and (8) of subsection (a); 

4 ‘‘(C) assessment of fees and determination of 

5 eligibility for fee waivers; 

6 ‘‘(D) the timely processing of requests for infor7 mation under this section; 

8 ‘‘(E) the use of exemptions under subsection 

9 (b); and 

10 ‘‘(F) dispute resolution services with the assist11 ance of the Office of Government Information Serv12 ices or the FOIA Public Liaison. 

13 ‘‘(k)(1) There is established in the executive branch 

14 the Chief FOIA Officers Council (referred to in this sub15 section as the ‘Council’). 

16 ‘‘(2) The Council shall be comprised of the following 

17 members: 

18 ‘‘(A) The Deputy Director for Management of 

19 the Office of Management and Budget. 

20 ‘‘(B) The Director of the Office of Information 

21 Policy at the Department of Justice. 

22 ‘‘(C) The Director of the Office of Government 

23 Information Services. 

24 ‘‘(D) The Chief FOIA Officer of each agency. 
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1 ‘‘(E) Any other officer or employee of the 

2 United States as designated by the Co-Chairs. 

3 ‘‘(3) The Director of the Office of Information Policy 

4 at the Department of Justice and the Director of the Of5 fice of Government Information Services shall be the Co6 Chairs of the Council. 

7 ‘‘(4) The Administrator of General Services shall pro8 vide administrative and other support for the Council. 

9 ‘‘(5)(A) The duties of the Council shall include the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(i) Develop recommendations for increasing 

12 compliance and efficiency under this section. 

13 ‘‘(ii) Disseminate information about agency ex14 periences, ideas, best practices, and innovative ap15 proaches related to this section. 

16 ‘‘(iii) Identify, develop, and coordinate initia17 tives to increase transparency and compliance with 

18 this section. 

19 ‘‘(iv) Promote the development and use of com20 mon performance measures for agency compliance 

21 with this section. 

22 ‘‘(B) In performing the duties described in subpara23 graph (A), the Council shall consult on a regular basis 

24 with members of the public who make requests under this 

25 section. 
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1 ‘‘(6)(A) The Council shall meet regularly and such 

2 meetings shall be open to the public unless the Council 

3 determines to close the meeting for reasons of national 

4 security or to discuss information exempt under subsection 

5 (b). 

6 ‘‘(B) Not less frequently than annually, the Council 

7 shall hold a meeting that shall be open to the public and 

8 permit interested persons to appear and present oral and 

9 written statements to the Council. 

10 ‘‘(C) Not later than 10 business days before a meet11 ing of the Council, notice of such meeting shall be pub12 lished in the Federal Register. 

13 ‘‘(D) Except as provided in subsection (b), the 

14 records, reports, transcripts, minutes, appendices, working 

15 papers, drafts, studies, agenda, or other documents that 

16 were made available to or prepared for or by the Council 

17 shall be made publicly available. 

18 ‘‘(E) Detailed minutes of each meeting of the Council 

19 shall be kept and shall contain a record of the persons 

20 present, a complete and accurate description of matters 

21 discussed and conclusions reached, and copies of all re22 ports received, issued, or approved by the Council. The 

23 minutes shall be redacted as necessary and made publicly 

24 available.’’; and 

25 (7) by adding at the end the following: 
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1 ‘‘(m)(1) The Director of the Office of Management 

2 and Budget, in consultation with the Attorney General, 

3 shall ensure the operation of a consolidated online request 

4 portal that allows a member of the public to submit a re5 quest for records under subsection (a) to any agency from 

6 a single website. The portal may include any additional 

7 tools the Director of the Office of Management and Budg8 et finds will improve the implementation of this section. 

9 ‘‘(2) This subsection shall not be construed to alter 

10 the power of any other agency to create or maintain an 

11 independent online portal for the submission of a request 

12 for records under this section. The Director of the Office 

13 of Management and Budget shall establish standards for 

14 interoperability between the portal required under para15 graph (1) and other request processing software used by 

16 agencies subject to this section.’’. 

17 SEC. 3. REVIEW AND ISSUANCE OF REGULATIONS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

19 date of enactment of this Act, the head of each agency 

20 (as defined in section 551 of title 5, United States Code) 

21 shall review the regulations of such agency and shall issue 

22 regulations on procedures for the disclosure of records 

23 under section 552 of title 5, United States Code, in ac24 cordance with the amendments made by section 2. 
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1 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The regulations of each agency 

2 shall include procedures for engaging in dispute resolution 

3 through the FOIA Public Liaison and the Office of Gov4 ernment Information Services. 

5 SEC. 4. PROACTIVE DISCLOSURE THROUGH RECORDS MAN6 AGEMENT. 

7 Section 3102 of title 44, United States Code, is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as 

10 paragraphs (3) and (4); and 

11 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(2) procedures for identifying records of gen14 eral interest or use to the public that are appro15 priate for public disclosure, and for posting such 

16 records in a publicly accessible electronic format;’’. 

17 SEC. 5. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED. 

18 No additional funds are authorized to carry out the 

19 requirements of this Act or the amendments made by this 

20 Act. The requirements of this Act and the amendments 
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1 made by this Act shall be carried out using amounts other2 wise authorized or appropriated. 

Passed the Senate December 8, 2014. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 
113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2520 

AN ACT 

To improve the Freedom of Information Act.