FEC Seeks Comment on Proposed FOIA Amendments

FEC SEEKS COMMENTS ON PROPOSED FOIA AMENDMENTS

WASHINGTON – The Federal Election Commission is proposing amendments, and seeking public comment by April 5, on amendments to its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations in order to comply with the Electronic Freedom of Information Act (EFOIA) Amendments of 1996.

The primary thrust of EFOIA is to require agencies to make covered records available by electronic means, for records created on or after November 1, 1996. The FEC’s home page on the World Wide Web (www.fec.gov), in place since 1996, utilizes its site to comply with the new requirements.

EFOIA also requires covered agencies to provide requested records in any form or format requested, if the record is readily reproducible by the agency in that form or format. Other points of EFOIA and the FEC’s proposed rulemaking include:

Lengthening the time within which agencies must respond to FOIA requests from 10 to 20 working days;

Implementing expedited processing requirements for "compelling need" and "urgency to inform" requests;

Multitrack processing to replace strict first-in, first-out FOIA request processing;

The entire text of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was printed in the Federal Register on March 4, 1999, pps. 10405 - 10408.

Comments must be received on or before April 5, 1999, and should be addressed to Susan E. Propper, Assistant General Counsel, Federal Election Commission, 999 E St. NW, Washington, DC 20463. Faxed comments should be sent to 202-219-3923, with printed copy follow-up, and electronic mail comments should be sent to EFOIA@fec.gov.

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