Bill: Passed Freedom of Information Accessibility Act

[MoosePatrol10]

Sponsor: Moose Patrol MP
Type: Amendment to an Act

A
BILL
TO
AMEND THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

Preamble: The purpose of this amendment is to streamline public access to government records, minimise procedural barriers and reform archaic requirements.

1. Short Title and Enactment
(a) This bill shall be referred to as the "Freedom of Information Accessibility Act"
(b) This amendment comes into force immediately upon passage.

2. Amendments
(a) Section 7(a) of the Freedom of Information Act is amended as follows:
(a) In order to prevent frivolous Freedom of Information requests from slowing down the Government, individuals may submit no more than three free requests per month. They may pay $1,000 per request to submit up to an additional three, for six total, and after that they may not submit any additional requests until the next month begins.
(b) After section 5(e) of the Freedom of Information Act, add:
(f) An individual charged a fee that section 7 does not permit may file a civil lawsuit against the Government to have the fee canceled or refunded.
(c) Replace section 7(c) of the Freedom of Information Act with:
(c) A follow-up question that clarifies the original request or the information provided does not count as a new request. A follow-up that expands the original request counts as a new request.
(d)After section 5(a)(i) of the Freedom of Information Act, add:
(ii) Before filing a suit over a request rejected for not being narrow in scope, the citizen must ask the Responding Office to reconsider and offer to narrow the request.
(iii) The citizen may file that suit when the Responding Office confirms the rejection or seven days after the office receives the request for reconsideration, whichever occurs first.