HR 1309 RFS
‘‘(I) notify the Special Counsel of each civil ac-
tion described under the first sentence of clause (i); 
and 
‘‘(II) annually submit a report to Congress on 
the number of such civil actions in the preceding 
year. 
‘‘(iii) The Special Counsel shall annually submit a re-
port to Congress on the actions taken by the Special Coun-
sel under clause (i).’’. 
SEC. 6. TIME LIMITS FOR AGENCIES TO ACT ON REQUESTS. 
(a) TIME LIMITS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Section 552(a)(6)(A)(i) of 
title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking 
‘‘determine within 20 days (excepting Saturdays, 
Sundays, and legal public holidays) after the receipt 
of any such request’’ and inserting ‘‘within the 20- 
day period commencing on the date on which the re-
quest is first received by the agency (excepting Sat-
urdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays), which 
shall not be tolled without the consent of the party 
filing the request, determine’’. 
(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 
by this subsection shall take effect 1 year after the 
date of enactment of this Act. 
(b) APPLICABILITY OF AGENCY FEES.— 
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(1) LIMITATION.—Section 552(a)(4)(A) of title 
5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘(viii) An agency shall refund any fees collected 
under this subparagraph if the agency fails to comply with 
any time limit that applies under paragraph (6). Such re-
funds shall be paid from annual appropriations provided 
to that agency.’’. 
(2) EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLICATION.—The 
amendment made by this subsection shall take effect 
1 year after the date of enactment of this Act and 
shall apply to requests for information under section 
552 of title 5, United States Code, filed on or after 
that effective date. 
SEC. 7. INDIVIDUALIZED TRACKING NUMBERS FOR RE-
QUESTS AND STATUS INFORMATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 552(a) of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(7) Each agency shall— 
‘‘(A) establish a system to assign an individual-
ized tracking number for each request for informa-
tion under this section; 
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‘‘(B) not later than 10 days after receiving a 
request, provide each person making a request with 
the tracking number assigned to the request; and 
‘‘(C) establish a telephone line or Internet serv-
ice that provides information about the status of a 
request to the person making the request using the 
assigned tracking number, including— 
‘‘(i) the date on which the agency origi-
nally received the request; and 
‘‘(ii) an estimated date on which the agen-
cy will complete action on the request.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE
DATE
AND
APPLICATION.—The 
amendment made by this section shall take effect 1 year 
after the date of enactment of this Act and apply to re-
quests for information under section 552 of title 5, United 
States Code, filed on or after that effective date. 
SEC. 8. SPECIFIC CITATIONS IN EXEMPTIONS. 
Section 552(b) of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(3) specifically exempted from disclosure by 
statute (other than section 552b of this title), pro-
vided that such statute— 
‘‘(A) if enacted after the date of enactment 
of the Freedom of Information Act Amend-
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