Modernize FOIA to increase its Sunshine effect

COMMENTARY | A modern-day FOIA needs to adopt changes that are uniform and consistent across all the covered agencies, writes a former FOIA officer.

By Dena Kozanas, Gov’t Exec., Mar. 13, 2024

Visit the newly minted FOIA.gov website, and you’ll see various statistics on FOIA requests and processing times. For 2023, the average processing time for simple requests for all agencies ranged from the low of one day to the high of 636 days. 

That this information is readily available is a good thing and is thanks to the 2016 FOIA Improvement Act and the new online consolidated portal for FOIA requests it created. The fact that we know that it took almost 30 times the statutory requirement to complete a FOIA request means it’s obvious that more improvements must be made. With the annual observance of Sunshine Week, which brings awareness to the public’s right to access government records, now is the time to discuss modernizing FOIA.

Read more here.