FOIA Improvement Act Signed into Law

Re:FOIA Improvement Act Signed into Law by r00fus on Friday July 01, 2016 @05:41PM (#12019892)

So it's another bill that has no funding to implement it (likely because of "budget hawks" who take any chance they can get to tighten government spending... well, at least government spending not benefitting their district/state directly).

When will we get sane legislation back? Or are unfunded mandates the future of all such improvements?

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Re:FOIA Improvement Act Signed into Law by massysett on Friday July 01, 2016 @06:57PM (#12020298)

That's not the way the appropriations process works. Congress does not set aside money for FOIA or for this bill. Generally appropriations are made to each agency, and each agency must carry out its operations in a manner consistent with all laws, including FOIA.

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Re:FOIA Improvement Act Signed into Law by r00fus on Friday July 01, 2016 @07:01PM (#12020319)

Are you saying legislators are forbidden from earmarking allocations for a specific executive branch agency for specific expansion of scope?

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Re:FOIA Improvement Act Signed into Law by massysett on Friday July 01, 2016 @09:53PM (#12021026)

They could, and occasionally they do, but not for a small peanuts law like FOIA--and FOIA is peanuts in the overall scheme of federal programs.

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Re:FOIA Improvement Act Signed into Law by topspin on Friday July 01, 2016 @10:35PM (#12021124)

Yeah, those darn "budget hawks." They only let the feds borrow and spend $439,000,000,000 last year. That isn't even half a trillion! Just awful. If only we could chase off these budget hawks and borrow as many trillions as we need.

[ Parent | on HN ]