WASHINGTON -- President Bush on December 31 signed into law a piece of legislation that will strengthen the Freedom of Information Act.

The Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act, or OPEN Government Act, improves the process by which the federal government carries out FOIA's disclosure requirements, although it does not alter the disclosure requirements or any of its exemptions. The authors of the final version of the legislation were Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) in the Senate and  Reps. Todd Platts (R-PA) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) in the House.

RTNDA is one of 10 media groups in the Sunshine in Government Initiative, which worked over many months to win congressional passage of the OPEN Government Act, first major FOIA reform in decades.

In recent weeks, Senate and House negotiators worked to overcome differences between their versions of the legislation while retaining the major reforms.

“This is a huge advancement for open government, thanks to the leadership of Senators Leahy, Cornyn and Kyl and Representatives Waxman and Platts,” says RTNDA president Barbara Cochran. “But this isn’t just a victory for journalists; it’s a victory for every single member of the American public. This legislation will eliminate some of the lengthy delays and persistent backlogs in the FOIA process that create obstacles and limit the public’s ability to make informed choices in their communities.”

The OPEN Government Act improves the FOIA process by: