form or format unless such an index is provided
as otherwise required by law; and
‘‘(E) a description of any new major infor-
mation system with a statement of how such
system shall enhance agency operations under
this section;’’; and
(5) in the third sentence by inserting ‘‘and the
extent of such deletion shall be indicated on the por-
tion of the record which is made available or pub-
lished at the place in the record where such deletion
was made’’ after ‘‘explained fully in writing’’.
SEC. 5. LIST OF RECORDS MADE AVAILABLE TO THE PUB-
LIC AND HONORING FORMAT REQUESTS.
Section 552(a)(3) of title 5, United States Code, is
amended by—
(1) inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(3)’’;
(2) striking out ‘‘(A) reasonably’’ and inserting
in lieu thereof ‘‘(i) reasonably’’;
(3) striking out ‘‘(B)’’ and inserting in lieu
thereof ‘‘(ii)’’; and
(4) adding at the end thereof the following new
subparagraphs:
‘‘(B) A list of all records which are made avail-
able to any person under this paragraph shall be
made available for public inspection and copying as
provided under paragraph (2) of this subsection.
Copies of all such records, regardless of form or for-
mat, which because of the nature of their subject
matter, have become or are likely to become the sub-
ject of subsequent requests under this paragraph for
substantially the same records, shall be made avail-
able for inspection and copying as provided under
paragraph (2) of this subsection.
‘‘(C) An agency shall, as requested by any per-
son, provide records in any form or format in which
such records are maintained by that agency.
‘‘(D) An agency shall make reasonable efforts
to provide records in the form or format requested
by any person, including in an electronic form or
format, even where such records are not usually
maintained but are available in such form or for-
mat.’’.
SEC. 6. DELAYS.
(a) FEES.—Section 552(a)(4)(A) of title 5, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the
following new clause:
‘‘(viii) If at an agency’s request, the Comptroller Gen-
eral determines that the agency annually has either pro-
vided responsive documents or denied requests in substan-
tial compliance with the requirements of paragraph
(6)(A), one-half of the fees collected under this section
shall be credited to the collecting agency and expended to
offset the costs of complying with this section through
staff development and acquisition of additional request
processing resources. The remaining fees collected under
this section shall be remitted to the Treasury as general
funds or miscellaneous receipts.’’.
(b) PAYMENT OF THE EXPENSES OF THE PERSON
MAKING A REQUEST.—Section 552(a)(4)(E) of title 5,
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end
thereof the following new sentence: ‘‘The court may assess
against the United States all out-of-pocket expenses in-
curred by the person making a request, and reasonable
attorney fees incurred in the administrative process, in
any case in which the agency has failed to comply with
the time limit provisions of paragraph (6) of this sub-
section.’’.
(c) DEMONSTRATION
OF
CIRCUMSTANCES
FOR
DELAY.—Section 552(a)(4)(E) of title 5, United States
Code, is further amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ after ‘‘(E)’’; and
(2) by adding at the end thereof the following
new clause:
‘‘(ii) Any agency not in compliance with the time lim-
its set forth in this subsection shall demonstrate to a court
that the delay is warranted under the circumstances set
forth under paragraph (6) (B) or (C) of this subsection.’’.
(d) PERIOD
FOR AGENCY DECISION TO COMPLY
WITH REQUEST.—Section 552(a)(6)(A)(i) is amended by
striking out ‘‘ten days’’ and inserting in lieu thereof
‘‘twenty days’’.
(e) AGENCY BACKLOGS.—Section 552(a)(6)(C) of
title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after
the second sentence the following: ‘‘As used in this sub-
paragraph, ‘exceptional circumstances’ shall be unforeseen
and shall not include delays that result from a predictable
workload, including any ongoing agency backlog, in the
ordinary course of processing requests for records.’’.
(f) NOTIFICATION OF DENIAL.—The fourth sentence
of section 552(a)(6)(C) of title 5, United States Code, is
amended to read: ‘‘Any notification of any full or partial
denial of any request for records under this subsection
shall set forth the names and titles or positions of each
person responsible for the denial of such request and the
total number of denied records and pages considered by
the agency to have been responsive to the request.’’.
(g) MULTITRACK FIFO PROCESSING
AND EXPE-
DITED ACCESS.—Section 552(a)(6) of title 5, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the
following new subparagraphs:
‘‘(D)(i) Each agency shall adopt a first-in, first-out
(hereafter in this subparagraph referred to as FIFO)
processing policy in determining the order in which re-
quests are processed. The agency may establish separate
processing tracks for simple and complex requests using
FIFO processing within each track.
‘‘(ii) For purposes of such a multitrack system—
‘‘(I) a simple request shall be a request requir-
ing 10 days or less to make a determination on
whether to comply with such a request; and
‘‘(II) a complex request shall be a request re-
quiring more than 10 days to make a determination
on whether to comply with such a request.
‘‘(iii) A multitrack system shall not negate a claim
of due diligence under subparagraph (C), if FIFO process-
ing within each track is maintained and the agency can
show that it has reasonably allocated resources to handle
the processing for each track.
‘‘(E)(i) Each agency shall promulgate regulations,
pursuant to notice and receipt of public comment, provid-
ing that upon receipt of a request for expedited access to
records and a showing by the person making such request
of a compelling need for expedited access to records, the
agency shall determine within 5 days (excepting Satur-
days, Sundays, and legal public holidays) after the receipt
of such a request, whether to comply with such request.
No more than 1 day after making such determination the
agency shall notify the person making a request for expe-
dited access of such determination, the reasons therefor,
and of the right to appeal to the head of the agency. A
request for records to which the agency has granted expe-
dited access shall be processed as soon as practicable. A
request for records to which the agency has denied expe-
dited access shall be processed within the time limits
under paragraph (6) of this subsection.
‘‘(ii) A person whose request for expedited access has
not been decided within 5 days of its receipt by the agency
or has been denied shall be required to exhaust adminis-
trative remedies. A request for expedited access which has
not been decided may be appealed to the head of the agen-
cy within 7 days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal
public holidays) after its receipt by the agency. A request
for expedited access that has been denied by the agency
may be appealed to the head of the agency within 2 days
(excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays)
after the person making such request receives notice of
the agency’s denial. If an agency head has denied, af-
firmed a denial, or failed to respond to a timely appeal
of a request for expedited access, a court which would have
jurisdiction of an action under paragraph (4)(B) of this