ISSUE: Freedom of information

OUR VIEW: Strengthening federal law important in post-Sept. 11 era

The post-Sept. 11, 2001 era has seen much focus on protecting government information in an effort to thwart terrorists. An unintended consequence has been movement toward greater and greater secrecy in the nation's capital.

Now the U.S. House and Senate, with overwhelming support from both parties, has approved legislation strengthening the federal Freedom of Information Act. The Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act, or OPEN Government Act (S. 849), makes simple, common-sense reforms to the way federal agencies process requests for documents under FOIA.

Among its improvements, the legislation:

• Creates a tracking system and hotline for requesters.

• Restores meaningful deadlines for agency action and imposes real consequences on federal agencies for missing statutory deadlines.

• Creates an ombudsman to help requesters use FOIA and avoid and resolve disputes.

• Makes it easier for the public to recover legal fees when requesters must sue for records.

The House and Senate must compromise on minor differences in the legislation. That is expected.

"The Senate has voted to give the public a better system to ensure our government is open and accountable," said Rick Blum, coordinator of the Sunshine in Government Initiative. "This is a strong statement that openness is vital to American democracy. This bill creates an independent ombudsman to resolve citizen disputes and help agencies strengthen FOIA. It will help the public hold agencies accountable for avoiding openness."

On a practical basis, the legislation should serve to prevent federal agencies from delaying, or even denying, access to public documents. And it is important there be consequences when citizens are denied said access.

For years, South Carolina's state-level FOIA has been a model for other laws. It is designed to guarantee that state and local governments operate in the open and provide access to public documents. The law is routinely abused and avoided, particularly with regard to citizen access. It seems government officials often confuse the rights of reporters and non-journalists. There is no difference.

Changes such as those made to the federal FOIA are needed in South Carolina and other states, particularly with meaningful and enforceable deadlines for compliance and ease in recovery of legal fees when lawsuits must be used to get information.

Putting teeth into the federal law is a victory for press and public and could provide momentum here for better compliance with FOIA. At the very least, the statement from Washington may serve to undermine annual efforts in Columbia and other capitals to undermine open-government laws.

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