The US Senate [official website] unanimously passed an amendment to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Tuesday. The bill [text] was introduced by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [press release] early in 2015 and passed through the Senate legislative process with relative ease. Upon floor debate, Churck Grassley (R-IA) [floor statement] outlined that the improvements the amendment will have on the FOIA to increase governmental proactivity and transparency in releasing documents and ease the process through which citizens make requests by consolidating it into one online portal. Instead of FOIA requests being processed individually by agency, the newly-passed amendment would create one centralized system through which all FOIA requests would be submitted, reviewed, and either approved or denied, which would streamline requests for materials.

FOIA [text] was passed in 1966 under President Lyndon Johnson and has been repeatedly updated by Congress through amendments. The purpose of the act is to provide government documents and materials to the public upon a valid request, but it has come under criticism throughout the years for being overly burdened and sluggish in producing documents [JURIST report]. Upon his first full day in office, President Barack Obama issued a memorandum dictating that “[t]he Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails” [official memorandum].