Sec. 702. Freedom of Information Act Amendments
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Section 552(a)(2) of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: materials related to the operations and establishment of advisory committees (as defined in section 1001) and any subcommittee thereof, including events, timelines, agendas, minutes, transcripts, recordings, committee member names and biographies, conflict of interest waivers, committee charters, and any other related materials; unclassified reports submitted to Congress by the head of the agency; unclassified testimony submitted to Congress by the head of the agency; agency organization charts and directories with the contact information for all offices of the agency; any log relating to a request for a record under paragraph (3), including any tracking number assigned to the request, the date the request was received by the head of the agency, the subject of the request, and the disposition of the request; any record that reflects the official calendar of the head of the agency, including a record that reflects an event, meeting, or telephone call scheduled for the head of the agency; a list— identifying— each contract or grant of the agency with a value exceeding $100,000,000; or the 10 contracts or grants of the agency with the highest value if fewer than 10 contracts or grants have a value exceeding $100,000,000; the award ID for each such contract or grant; a description of each such contract or grant, including the award type of the contract or grant; the recipient of each such contract or grant; the start and end date each such contract or grant; and the total obligations related to the contract or grant; final reports or memoranda created by an entity other than the agency, including other Governmental entities, at the request of the head of the agency and used to make a final policy decision; any memorandum from the Office of Legal Council of the Department of Justice provided to the head of the agency; any documents containing legal analysis relied upon formally or informally by the head of the agency to respond to the public; any documents containing legal analysis relied upon formally or informally by the head of the agency to inform policy analysis or policy determinations; and unclassified reports of the Inspector General of the agency. .
Section 552(a)(3)(C) of title 5, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: In responding under this paragraph to a request for a record originally created in an electronic form or format, an agency shall make a reasonable effort to produce the record in that form or format, except when such an effort would significantly interfere with the operation of the automated information system of the agency. For the purpose of responding under this paragraph to a request for a record, the Chief FOIA Officer of the agency may access and retrieve any such record without making a request to a document custodian of the agency for such access or retrieval. .
Section 552(a)(4)(B) of title 5, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: A person aggrieved by a failure of an agency to comply with any requirement of this section may bring an action against the agency in a district court of the United States. The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all actions arising under this section. Venue over such an action is proper in the district in which the complainant resides, or has his principal place of business, or in which the agency records that are the subject of the action are situated, or in the District of Columbia.
The court in such an action may— enjoin the agency from withholding an agency record; order the agency to publish records in the Federal Register as required by paragraph (1), and to require such publication on a continuing basis; order the agency to make records available for public inspection in an electronic format as required by paragraph (2), and to require such public access on a continuing basis; order the agency to produce agency records in response to a request under paragraph (3); provide relief to resolve any dispute over— the validity of a request under paragraph (3), including whether a request reasonably describes the records sought or has been submitted in accordance with an agency’s published rules and procedures; an agency’s interpretation of the scope of a request under paragraphs (1), (2), or (3); the validity of an agency determination under paragraph (6); the reasonableness of an agency’s search for records; the ability of an agency to reproduce a record in a particular form or format; the treatment of a record under paragraph
(2)of subsection (f); any fee issue, including an agency’s denial of a request for the waiver or reduction fees; and the denial of a request for expedited processing; enjoin the agency from maintaining or applying any policy or practice that impairs lawful access to records or otherwise fails to abide by the terms of this section; issue a declaratory judgment, to the extent authorized by section 2201 of title 28; and provide any other appropriate equitable relief to remedy a violation of this section. In any action brought under this section, the court shall determine the matter de novo. The court, may examine the contents of agency records in camera to determine whether such records or any part thereof shall be withheld under any of the exemptions set forth in subsection
(b)of this section. The burden is on the agency to sustain its action. In addition to any other matters to which a court accords substantial weight, a court shall accord substantial weight to an affidavit of an agency concerning the agency’s determination as to technical feasibility under paragraph (2)(C) and subsection (b), and reproducibility under paragraph (3)(B). . Section 552(b)(4) of the United States Code is amended by inserting after confidential the following: except for commercial or financial information the disclosure of which under this subsection would not cause substantial harm to the person from any competitor of the person . Section 552(e)(1) of title 5, United States Code, is amended— in subparagraph (P), by striking ; and and inserting a semicolon; in subparagraph (Q), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and ; and by adding at the end the following: a detailed description of any steps taken by the agency to design or format information or records, such that such information or records may be made available to the public under subsection (a); the number of requests for records the agency found to be not reasonably described or unduly burdensome; and the number of requests for records with respect to which the agency could neither confirm nor deny the existence of the records. .