Freedom of Information Act Fact Sheet

5 U.S.C. 552

July 2, 1776. Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues inadvertently ordained the long road to the FOIA when final corrections to the Declaration of Independence failed to clarify that "...governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

August 4, 1822. In a letter to W. T. Barry, James Madison earned the gratitude of future public speakers when he wrote "A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a tragedy; or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; And the people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power, which knowledge gives."

November 7, 1955. The first Congressional hearings on availability of information from Federal Departments and Agencies began before the House Special Subcommittee on Government Information, chaired by John E. Moss.

October 28, 1963. The U.S. Senate held its first hearings on "freedom of information".

March 30, 1965. House hearings began on legislative proposals that would later evolve into the FOIA.

May 12, 1965. Senate hearings began on legislative proposals that would evolve into the FOIA.

October 13, 1965. The Senate passed S. 1160, the Freedom of Information Act.

June 20, 1966. The House passed S. 1160, the Freedom of Information Act.

July 4, 1966. On Independence Day, the Freedom of Information Act, Public Law 89-487, was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson "with a deep sense of pride that the United States is an open society in which the people's right to know is cherished and guarded."

July 4, 1967. One year after being signed into law by President Johnson, the FOIA, codified at 5 U.S. Section 552, went into effect.

September 14, 1972. Based on 41 days of testimony from 142 witnesses, the House Government Operations Subcommittee adopted a report on "Administration of the Freedom of Information Act" which stated, "The efficient operation of the Freedom of Information Act has been hindered by five years of foot-dragging by the Federal bureaucracy ... ."

March 8, 1973. H.R. 5425, embodying proposed amendments to the FOIA, were introduced in the House. A companion bill, S. 1142, was introduced in the Senate.

October 8, 1973. S. 2543 was introduced in the Senate and became the primary vehicle for Senate action on proposed FOIA amendments.

January 31, 1974. H.R. 12471, a compromise package of proposed FOI amendments, was introduced in the House of Representatives.

March 14, 1974. H.R. 12471 was passed by the House on a recorded vote of 383 - 8.

May 30, 1974. The Senate adopted its version of H.R. 12471 as represented by S. 2543 by a recorded vote of 64 - 17.

September 25, 1974. The House and Senate conferees reached agreement on Freedom of Information Act amendments.

October 1, 1974. The Senate adopted the conference report by voice vote.

October 7, 1974. The House adopted the conference report by a recorded vote of 349 - 2 with 83 not voting.

October 17, 1974. President Gerald Ford vetoed the Freedom of Information Act amendments H.R. 12471, characterizing the measure as "unconstitutional and unworkable."

November 20, 1974. By vote of 371 to 31, the House overrode the President's veto.

November 21, 1974. The Senate overrode President Ford's veto by a vote of 65 to 27.

September 19, 1984. The House passed the so-called "CIA Information Act" amending FOIA.

September 28, 1984. The Senate passed the House passed version of the "CIA Information Act."

October 15, 1984. The CIA Information Act of 1984, P.L. 98-477, was signed into law by President Reagan.

October 16, 1984. Both House and Senate passed the "Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986" which contained amendments to FOIA.

October 27, 1986. "The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986" - P.L. 99-570, was signed into law by President Reagan.

In its present form, the Freedom of Information Act generally requires the agencies of the Executive Branch of the Federal Government to make certain information about their organization, functions and rules of procedure available to the general public through publication in the Federal Register. The FOIA also requires such agencies to make their adjudicatory opinions, statements of policy, and administrative and staff manuals available for public inspection or copying. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, the FOIA establishes the presumptive right of any person to request and obtain access to any records of such agencies, subject to specific statutory exemptions for particular kinds of records.

Agencies that receive requests for access to their records must respond to such requests within time limits prescribed by the FOIA. Although agencies may charge fees for providing public access to their records, the FOIA limits the fees that may be assessed by the agencies, and provides for the waiver of such fees for certain kinds of requests.

The FOIA provides that the public right of access to agency records can be enforced by civil lawsuits in the federal courts. Whenever an agency violates the time limits for responding to a request for access to records, or denies access in whole or in part to requested records, the requester may ask a federal district judge to review the agency's action and order the agency to comply with the requirements of the FOIA. Agency fee assessments are also subject to such judicial review, as are agency determinations that records responsive to the request cannot be found or are not subject to the disclosure requirements of the FOIA.

In recent years, an increasing amount of attention has focused on the application of the FOIA to agency records in electronic formats. Although the federal courts have conclusively determined that the FOIA applies to such records, a number of key issues regarding the manner of its application remain unresolved. As a result, there has been widespread interest in amending the FOIA to specifically address its application to electronic records.