For All To See: Expanding Proactive Disclosure of Goverment Information

As the world’s leading democracy, the United States has a strong tradition of providing public access to information held by federal, state, and local governments.The 1966 Freedomof Information Act (FOIA) codified the practice of requiring federal agencies to respond to requests for information fromanymember of the public.Under FOIA, if the information requested exists and is not covered by any of the several important exemptions fromdisclosure, it must be provided to the requestor. State open records acts followed suit, applying similar requirements to a wide variety of state agencies and local governments.

For all their benefits,FOIAand its progeny are nevertheless essentially reactive.They generally don’t require the agency to disclose information unless the information is requested by someone.And, even if the information requested is ultimately disclosed, this reactive framework grows to be increasingly flawed and outdated.Delays in processing the vast number of records requests received by agencies,multiple responses to similar requests and, in some cases, overly broad interpretations of disclosure exemptions that are only resolved through lengthy litigation have all helped undermine the effectiveness of these long-standing disclosure laws.