Federal Employee Access to Information Act

Bill: 116-s-4438
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Leahy, Patrick J. [D-VT]
Introduced: 2020-08-05
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Employment discrimination and employee rights

Freedom of information

Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management

Government information and archives

Right of privacy
Latest action: action_date: 2020-08-05
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Summaries:
action_date: 2020-08-05
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>Federal Employee Access to Information Act</b></p> <p>This bill prohibits personnel retaliation against federal employees and applicants for employment who file requests under the Freedom of Information Act or the Privacy Act or who seek related administrative or judicial actions.</p>

tv_txt: II 116th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4438 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES August 5, 2020 Mr. Leahy introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To amend title 5, United States Code, to protect Federal employees from retaliation for the lawful use of Federal records, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Federal Employee Access to Information Act . 2. Protections against retaliation for lawful use of Federal records by Federal employees (a) Protection against retaliation Section 2302(b)(9) of title 5, United States Code, is amended— (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking or at the end; (2) in subparagraph (D), by inserting or after the semicolon; and (3) by adding at the end the following: (E) the employee or applicant for employment— (i) making a request for information pursuant to section 552 (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act ) or subsection (d) of section 552a (commonly referred to as the Privacy Act of 1974 ); or (ii) pursuing any administrative or judicial action with respect to such request, including seeking assistance or to engage in dispute resolution, as described in section 552. . (b) Conforming amendments (1) Title 5 Sections 1214, 1215(a)(3)(B), 1221, 2302, and 7703 of title 5, United States Code, are amended by striking or (D) in each instance and inserting (D), or (E) . (2) Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 Section 116(b)(1)(A) of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 ( 31 U.S.C. 1116 note) is amended by striking or (D) and inserting (D), or (E) .