Update 5/1/07
Update 5/1/07
A quick legislative report:
The good news: A reporter-source shield bill will be introduced tomorrow (May 2). The shield bill sponsors will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. tomorrow (May 1) in room 2226, Rayburn Office Building. A press advisory is attached.
The Senate Judiciary Committee issued its report (attached) on the OPEN Government Act, a FOIA-reform bill (S 867) that cleared committee by voice vote despite a critical Justice Department report and seven hostile amendment attempts. A similar bill (HR 1309 has cleared the House. There differences in the penalty provisions in the two bills and the House version overturns the Ashcroft memo.
The bad news: The Defense Department is again pushing for broad authority to withhold any information it deems related to weapons of mass destruction. The provision, inserted in the Senate (S 567) and House (HR 1585) Defense Authorization Bills, covers anything Defense thinks might be a weapon and anything it thinks might be a target. That gives the Pentagon sweeping new authority over control of domestic information. The Department backed off similar language last year when criticisms were raised. The Senate provision, with an additional withholding measure, is attached.
One other negative development. The Emergency Iraq/Hurricane Supplemental Appropriations bills that passed both Senate and House contain language that makes chemical plant security plans “sensitive security information” and thus exempt from disclosure under FOIA. The net effect is slight, since legislation last year declared that the plans should be considered classified information. But this serves to further expand what was once a modest FOIA exemption that applied only to data gathered on airline passengers in an effort to thwart hijackings. It now allows the government to seal any security related information dealing with aviation, maritime operations, rail and transit – and now chemical plants.
Pete Weitzel
