On 5 May 2010 the US Senate voted unanimously to pass an amendment to the Freedom of Information Act that is designed to speed up public records requests and investigate the sizable backlog of those still pending.
The bipartisan Faster FOIA Act would establish a commission to investigate FOIA backlogs and recommend how to expedite future requests. “Senator Cornyn and I believe that agency delays in processing FOIA requests are simply unacceptable, and that is why we introduced this bill,” Leahy said in a release. The legislation came in the wake of a study done by The Associated Press that found agencies were citing more exemptions to FOIA requests even though the number of requests has decreased and the Obama administration has called for more transparency.
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