Sec. 4. Civil rights cold case records collection at the national archives and record administration
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/bill/115/s/3191/is/section-4A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Archivist shall— commence establishing a collection of civil rights cold case records to be known as the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection that ensures the physical integrity and original provenance of all records in the Collection; and commence preparing and publishing the subject guidebook and index to the Collection; and establish criteria for Government offices to follow when transmitting copies of civil rights cold case records to the Archivist, to include required metadata.
The Collection shall include— a copy of each civil rights cold case record— that has not been transmitted to the Archivist, which shall be transmitted by the entity described in section 3(3) in possession of the civil rights cold case record to the Archivist in accordance with section 2107 of title 44, United States Code; or that has been transmitted to the Archivist or disclosed to the public in an unredacted form before the date of the enactment of this Act; that is required to be transmitted to the Archivist; or the disclosure of which is postponed under this Act; and all Review Board records, as required under this Act.
All civil rights cold case records transmitted to the Archivist for disclosure to the public— shall be included in the Collection; not later than 60 days after the transmission of the record to the Archivist, shall be available to the public for inspection and copying at the National Archives; and shall be prioritized for digitization by the National Archives. The Archivist shall— use efficient electronic means when possible; charge fees for copying civil rights cold case records; and grant waivers of such fees pursuant to the standard established under section 552(a)(4) of title 5, United States Code.
The Archivist shall ensure the security of civil rights cold case records in the Collection for which disclosure is postponed. Each Government office shall, in accordance with the criteria established by the Archivist under subsection (a)(1)(C)— not later than 300 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, transmit to the Archivist, for the Archivist to make available to the public in accordance with subsection (b), a copy of each civil rights cold case record that can be publicly disclosed, including any such record that is publicly available on the date of enactment of this Act, without any redaction, adjustment, or withholding under the standards of this Act; and transmit to the Archivist upon approval for postponement by the Review Board or upon completion of other action authorized by this Act, a copy of each civil rights cold case record for which public disclosure has been postponed, in whole or in part, under the standards of this Act, to become part of the protected Collection.
Each civil rights cold case record that is redacted or for which public disclosure is postponed shall be reviewed not later than December 31 each year by the entity submitting the record and the Archivist, consistent with the recommendations of the Review Board under section 8(c)(3)(B). The periodic review under paragraph
(1)shall— address the public disclosure of additional civil rights cold case records in the Collection under the standards of this Act; and serve to declassify classified information, with the presumption of providing public disclosure. Any civil rights cold case record for which postponement of public disclosure is continued shall include an unclassified written description of the reason for such continued postponement, which shall be provided to the Archivist and made available on a publicly accessible website upon the determination to continue the postponement. Each civil rights cold case record that is not publicly disclosed in full as of the date on which the Review Board terminates under section 6(n) shall be publicly disclosed in full and available in the Collection not later than 25 years after the date of enactment of this Act unless— the head of the originating body, an executive agency, or other Government office recommends in writing that continued postponement is made necessary by an identifiable harm to military defense, law enforcement, intelligence operations, or the conduct of foreign relations that is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure; the written recommendation described in clause (i)— is provided to the Archivist not later than 180 days before the date that is 25 years after the date of enactment of this Act; and includes— a justification of the recommendation to postpone disclosure; and a recommended specified time at which or a specified occurrence following which the material may be appropriately disclosed to the public under this Act; and the Archivist agrees with the written recommendation described in clause (i). If the Archivist does not agree with the recommendation described in subparagraph (A)(1), the Archivist shall notify the head of the originating body, executive agency, or other Government office making the recommendation not later than 90 days before the date that is 25 years after the date of enactment of this Act. Each executive agency shall make text searchable documents available to the Review Board pursuant to standards established under section 552(a)(3) of title 5, United States Code.