IG launches review of FOIA program
By Michael Doyle, E&E News, July 24, 2019
The Interior Department's Office of Inspector General has begun examining the department's Freedom of Information Act "awareness program," which critics have called a way for political appointees to meddle with FOIA requests.
Read more here (access with free trial subscription).
Bipartisan senators introduce bill to challenge new EPA policy and Supreme Court ruling on FOIA
By Miranda Green, The Hill, July 23, 2019
Senators from both sides of the aisle are backing a bill to strengthen the public’s ability to obtain government records, seeking to counteract recent changes that make it easier for the Trump administration to withhold information.
The new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) bill introduced Tuesday directly challenges both an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) policy implemented earlier this year and a June Supreme Court ruling.
Read more here.
EXCLUSIVE: Media Requests for EPA Records Soar Under Trump
By Kevin Mooney, Daily Signal, July 22, 2019
Major news outlets, seemingly more prone to investigative reporting in the Trump era, are much more aggressive in seeking records from the Environmental Protection Agency than they were in the final years of the Obama administration, The Daily Signal has learned.
ABC News, CBS News, the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Politico are among 20 news organizations showing a large increase in Freedom of Information Act requests, according to EPA numbers obtained by The Daily Signal.
Read more here.
[ALB comment: We’ve seen this story before, per Washington Free Beacon.]
Senators Leahy, Grassley, Feinstein, And Cornyn Raise Concerns About EPA’s FOIA Rule
…Senators Ask EPA To Reconsider FOIA Rule Or Provide Sufficient Opportunity For Public Comment And Transition Period
Press Release, Office of U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy
(MONDAY, July 22, 2019) — Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and John Cornyn (R-Texas) – all senior members of the Senate Judiciary Committee with exclusive jurisdiction over the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) – sent a bipartisan letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler raising serious concerns with the EPA’s recent “FOIA Regulations Update” final rule, asking him to reconsider the rule or provide sufficient opportunity for the American public to comment on it and additional transition time to ensure public awareness.
Read more here.
U.S. Supreme Court Broadens FOIA Exemption 4 for ‘Confidential’ Materials
By Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Nat’l L. Rev. July 22, 2019
On June 24, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media expanded the Freedom of Information Act’s (FOIA) Exemption 4, excluding from disclosure pursuant to a FOIA request material containing “trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential.” 5 U.S.C. §552(b)(4).
Read more here.
OPM issued a vacancy announcement yesterday for Director of DOJ’s Office of Information Policy. Melanie Pustay has held that position since 2007, following the departures of co-founders Dan Metcalfe and Richard Huff in 2006 and 2005, respectively.
DeVos' use of personal email as secretary probed by House Democrats
By Kimberly Hefling, Politico, July 15, 2019
House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings said Monday that he is expanding an investigation into the use of personal email by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Cummings told DeVos in a letter that his move came after "disturbing new revelations" released by the Education Department's inspector general in May about how DeVos had used personal email while on the job.
Read more here.
The Chief FOIA Officers’ Council will hold its annual meeting on August 5, 2019, from 10am to noon, per a notice issued by the Office of Government Information Services. Registration for the meeting will go live via Eventbrite on Friday, July 12, 2019. The meeting also will be live-streamed on the National Archives YouTube channel.
[An earlier version of this post identified the wrong date of the meeting]
By Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, July 8, 2019
A coalition of environmental groups pushed back Monday against a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that could restrict access to public records.
The new EPA rule, the details of which were first reported by The Hill, allows the administrator and other political appointees to review all materials requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process.
Read more here.
A copy of EPA’s rule is here.
Lawmakers talk legislation in response to FOIA changes
By Miranda Green, The Hill, July 7, 2019
Senators from both parties are unhappy with new Trump administration rules giving political appointees at two government agencies more power to review public information requests, and they say they may craft legislation to fix it.
The new rules for considering Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests at the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency have provoked complaints from the media and outside groups, and the senators say they go in the opposite direction in terms of providing access to government records.
Read more here.