Cornyn-Leahy OPEN Government Act improves FOIA access, recognizes bloggers as media sources
Sen. Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Leahy (D-VT) have introduced bipartisan legislation that would bolster public access to government information, and for the first time recognize bloggers as legitimate representatives of the media. Called the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act of 2005 (OPEN Government Act), the bill is designed to promote openness in government.
The bill is being praised on both sides of aisle (supporting excerpts below) as much-needed legislation to update open records access to bring agencies into compliance with the statutory 20-day response times and broaden legitimate media access requests to include internet journalists, or bloggers. It also seeks to establish a hotline and internet tracking ability of the status of such requests.
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