I 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5073 
To restore and strengthen the laws that provide for an open and transparent 
Federal Government. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 14, 2004 
Mr. WAXMAN (for himself, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. CUMMINGS, 
Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. CLAY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. MCCOL-
LUM, and Mr. MCDERMOTT) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Government Reform 
A BILL 
To restore and strengthen the laws that provide for an 
open and transparent Federal Government. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restore Open Govern-
ment Act of 2004’’. 
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title. 
Sec. 2. Table of Contents. 
TITLE I—FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
Sec. 101. Revocation of the Ashcroft Memo and the Card Memo. 
Sec. 102. Findings and policy relating to disclosure of information under the 
Freedom of Information Act. 
Sec. 103. Protection of voluntarily furnished confidential information. 
TITLE II—PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS 
Sec. 201. Revocation of Executive Order of November 1, 2001. 
TITLE III—ADVISORY COMMITTEES 
Sec. 301. Presidential inter-agency advisory committees. 
TITLE IV—CLASSIFICATION OF INFORMATION 
Sec. 401. Reducing excessive classification of information. 
TITLE V—OTHER PROVISIONS 
Sec. 501. Citizen actions. 
TITLE I—FREEDOM OF 
INFORMATION 
SEC. 101. REVOCATION OF THE ASHCROFT MEMO AND THE 
CARD MEMO. 
The ‘‘Memorandum for Heads of all Federal Depart-
ments and Agencies’’ on ‘‘The Freedom of Information 
Act’’ issued by Attorney General John Ashcroft on Octo-
ber 12, 2001, and the ‘‘Memorandum for the Heads of 
Executive Department and Agencies’’ on ‘‘Action to Safe-
guard Information Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruc-
tion and Other Sensitive Documents Related to Homeland 
Security’’ issued by Andrew H. Card, Jr., Assistant to the 
President and Chief of Staff on March 19, 2002, shall 
have no force or effect.
SEC. 102. FINDINGS AND POLICY RELATING TO DISCLO-
SURE OF INFORMATION UNDER THE FREE-
DOM OF INFORMATION ACT. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Public access to information held by the 
Federal Government is vitally important to the func-
tioning of a democratic society. 
(2) The Freedom of Information Act was en-
acted to ensure such public access to information. 
(3) The Freedom of Information Act specifies 
limited exemptions to the general requirement for 
disclosure, where disclosure could potentially threat-
en other important public policy goals. 
(4) In establishing the categories of exempt in-
formation under the Freedom of Information Act, 
Congress allowed agencies to withhold information in 
those categories, but did not in any way mandate or 
encourage such withholding. 
(b) POLICY.—The policy of the Federal Government 
is to release information to the public in response to a 
request under the Freedom of Information Act— 
(1) if such release is required by law; or 
(2) if such release is allowed by law and the 
agency concerned does not reasonably foresee that 
disclosure would be harmful to an interest protected 
by an applicable exemption.
(c) GUIDANCE.—All guidance provided to Federal 
Government employees responsible for carrying out the 
Freedom of Information Act shall be consistent with the 
policy set forth in subsection (b). 
SEC. 103. PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARILY FURNISHED CON-
FIDENTIAL INFORMATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Homeland Security 
Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–296) is amended by striking 
subtitle B and inserting the following: 
‘‘Subtitle B—Protection of Volun-
tarily 
Furnished 
Confidential 
Information 
‘‘SEC. 211. PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARILY FURNISHED 
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) CRITICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE.—The term 
‘critical infrastructure’ has the meaning given that 
term in section 1016(e) of the USA PATRIOT ACT 
of 2001 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e)). 
‘‘(2) FURNISHED VOLUNTARILY.— 
‘‘(A) DEFINITION.—The term ‘furnished 
voluntarily’ means a submission of a record 
that—
‘‘(i) is made to the Department in the 
absence of authority of the Department re-
quiring that record to be submitted; and 
‘‘(ii) is not submitted or used to sat-
isfy any legal requirement or obligation or 
to obtain any grant, permit, benefit (such 
as agency forbearance, loans, or reduction 
or modifications of agency penalties or rul-
ings), or other approval from the Govern-
ment. 
‘‘(B) BENEFIT.—In this paragraph, the 
term ‘benefit’ does not include any warning, 
alert, or other risk analysis by the Department. 
‘‘(b) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro-
vision of law, a record pertaining to the vulnerability of 
and threats to critical infrastructure (such as attacks, re-
sponse, and recovery efforts) that is furnished voluntarily 
to the Department shall not be made available under sec-
tion 552 of title 5, United States Code, if— 
‘‘(1) the provider would not customarily make 
the record available to the public; and 
‘‘(2) the record is designated and certified by 
the provider, in a manner specified by the Depart-
ment, as confidential and not customarily made 
available to the public.
‘‘(c) RECORDS SHARED WITH OTHER AGENCIES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(A) RESPONSE TO REQUEST.—An agency 
in receipt of a record that was furnished volun-
tarily to the Department and subsequently 
shared with the agency shall, upon receipt of a 
request under section 552 of title 5, United 
States Code, for the record— 
‘‘(i) not make the record available; 
and 
‘‘(ii) refer the request to the Depart-
ment for processing and response in ac-
cordance with this section. 
‘‘(B) 
SEGREGABLE
PORTION
OF 
RECORD.—Any reasonably segregable portion of 
a record shall be provided to the person re-
questing the record after deletion of any portion 
which is exempt under this section. 
‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE
OF
INDEPENDENTLY
FUR-
NISHED RECORDS.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1), 
nothing in this section shall prohibit an agency from 
making available under section 552 of title 5, United 
States Code, any record that the agency receives 
independently of the Department, regardless of
whether or not the Department has a similar or 
identical record. 
‘‘(d) WITHDRAWAL
OF CONFIDENTIAL DESIGNA-
TION.—The provider of a record that is furnished volun-
tarily to the Department under subsection (b) may at any 
time withdraw, in a manner specified by the Department, 
the confidential designation. 
‘‘(e) PROCEDURES.—The Secretary shall prescribe 
procedures for— 
‘‘(1) the acknowledgement of receipt of records 
furnished voluntarily; 
‘‘(2) the designation, certification, and marking 
of records furnished voluntarily as confidential and 
not customarily made available to the public; 
‘‘(3) the care and storage of records furnished 
voluntarily; 
‘‘(4) the protection and maintenance of the con-
fidentiality of records furnished voluntarily; and 
‘‘(5) the withdrawal of the confidential designa-
tion of records under subsection (d). 
‘‘(f) EFFECT ON STATE AND LOCAL LAW.—Nothing 
in this section shall be construed as preempting or other-
wise modifying State or local law concerning the disclosure 
of any information that a State or local government re-
ceives independently of the Department.
‘‘(g) REPORT.— 
‘‘(1) 
REQUIREMENT.—Not 
later 
than 
months after the date of the enactment of the Re-
store Open Government Act of 2004, the Comp-
troller General of the United States shall submit to 
the committees of Congress specified in paragraph 
(2) a report on the implementation and use of this 
section, including— 
‘‘(A) the number of persons in the private 
sector, and the number of State and local agen-
cies, that furnished voluntarily records to the 
Department under this section; 
‘‘(B) the number of requests for access to 
records granted or denied under this section; 
and 
‘‘(C) such recommendations as the Comp-
troller General considers appropriate regarding 
improvements in the collection and analysis of 
sensitive information held by persons in the pri-
vate sector, or by State and local agencies, re-
lating to vulnerabilities of and threats to critical 
infrastructure, including the response to such 
vulnerabilities and threats.
‘‘(2) COMMITTEES
OF
CONGRESS.—The com-
mittees of Congress specified in this paragraph 
are— 
‘‘(A) the Committees on the Judiciary and 
Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 
‘‘(B) the Committees on the Judiciary and 
Government Reform and Oversight of the 
House of Representatives. 
‘‘(3) FORM.—The report shall be submitted in 
unclassified form, but may include a classified 
annex.’’. 
(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 
The table of contents for the Homeland Security Act of 
2002 (Public Law 107–296) is amended by striking the 
items relating to subtitle B of title II and sections 211 
through 215 and inserting the following: 
‘‘Subtitle B—Protection of Voluntarily Furnished Confidential Information 
‘‘Sec. 211. Protection of voluntarily furnished confidential information.’’. 
TITLE II—PRESIDENTIAL 
RECORDS 
SEC. 201. REVOCATION OF EXECUTIVE ORDER OF NOVEM-
BER 1, 2001. 
Executive Order number 13233, dated November 1, 
2001 (66 Fed. Reg. 56025), shall have no force or effect, 
and Executive Order number 12667, dated January 18, 
1989 (54 Fed. Reg. 3403), shall apply by its terms.
TITLE III—ADVISORY 
COMMITTEES 
SEC. 301. PRESIDENTIAL INTER-AGENCY ADVISORY COM-
MITTEES. 
(a) DEFINITION.—The term ‘‘Presidential inter- 
agency advisory committee’’ is any committee or task force 
that— 
(1) is composed wholly of full-time, or perma-
nent part-time, officers or employees of the Federal 
Government; 
(2) includes officers or employees of at least 
two separate Federal agencies; 
(3) is established or utilized to provide advice, 
ideas, or recommendations to the President or Vice 
President on a specified topic or topics; and 
(4) has at least one officer or employee as-
signed full-time as a staff member of the committee 
to support the functions of the committee. 
(b) REQUIREMENTS.— 
(1) The President shall ensure that the names 
of the members of the committee are published in 
the Federal Register. 
(2) The committee must make public each sub-
stantive contact between the advisory committee, or 
individual members of the advisory committee acting
on the committee’s behalf, and any person who is 
not a full-time or permanent part-time officer or em-
ployee of the Federal Government, including— 
(A) the date of the contact; 
(B) the form of the contact (in person, by 
telephone, by e-mail, or in writing); 
(C) the names and affiliations of the par-
ties involved; and 
(D) the substance of the communication 
and the communication itself, if in electronic or 
written form. 
(3) For purposes of this subsection, a contact 
shall be considered substantive if the information 
conveyed influenced or was reflected in any way in 
the committee’s advice, recommendations, or report 
to the President or Vice President. 
TITLE IV—CLASSIFICATION OF 
INFORMATION 
SEC. 401. REDUCING EXCESSIVE CLASSIFICATION OF IN-
FORMATION. 
As soon as possible, but in no event later than 180 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Presi-
dent shall require Federal departments and agencies to 
promote a culture of information sharing by reducing dis-
incentives to information sharing, including overclassifica-