H.R. 3802 · 104th Congress · enacted
Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996
Became Public Law No: 104-231.
Latest official action 1996-10-02 · Enacted
The bill, briefly
Electronic Freedom of Information Amendments of 1996 - Amends the Freedom of Information Act to require agencies to apply public information requirements to information maintained in an electronic format. (Sec. 4) Directs an agency, in making any record available to an individual, to provide the record in any form or format requested by the individual if the record is readily reproducible by the agency in that form or format. (Sec. 5) Provides that, respecting a standard for judicial review, a court accord substantial weight to an affidavit of an agency concerning the agency's determination as to technical feasibility and reproductibility. (Sec. 6) Authorizes each agency to promulgate regulations, pursuant to notice and receipt of public comment, providing for: (1) multitrack processing of requests for records or information; and (2) expedited processing of requests for records. Extends the general period for determining whether to comply with a request from ten to 20 days. (Sec. 8) Requires deletions to be indicated, if technically feasible, on the released portion of the record. (Sec. 9) Adds requirements respecting the contents of agency annual reports. Makes information contained in agency reports available electronically to the public. (Sec. 10) Directs each agency head to make publicly available reference material or a guide for requesting records or information from the …
Congressional Research Service · 1996-07-12
Who reported lobbying on this bill?
Amount spent specifically on this bill: not disclosed
The reports below name this bill and disclose an organization’s overall lobbying expenses or a firm’s client income for the period. They can cover many bills and issues. These amounts are not payments to the bill or its politicians.
No matching lobbying report is imported yet. This is not evidence that no lobbying occurred.
2,409 latest lobbying reports imported. Some source imports are still in progress.
Politicians behind the bill
Sponsors and cosponsors from the official source, limited to members currently in office. Campaign amounts are cycle-wide and are not payments for this bill.
No current-officeholder sponsorship match is available. Historical sponsors may have left office.
3 of 3 source cosponsor records retrieved; only current officials and unwithdrawn sponsorships appear.
PAC donors to the listed sponsors
These are all-cycle contributions to the listed sponsors’ and cosponsors’ campaigns. FEC does not attribute them to this bill. A donation plus sponsorship does not establish why a politician acted.
The largest 40 donor totals appear here. Open each politician for their complete, paginated PAC donor list.
What happened after enactment?
Dated agency-reported implementation and uptake measures are shown with their scope. They do not by themselves establish causal success. If no evidence is listed, the outcome is not established.
Measured outcome: not established
Enactment alone does not show whether a law improved its intended outcome. We need a dated evaluation, observed result or verified implementation record before claiming success or failure.