A Bill To Amend The Freedom Of Information Act


IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

December 31, 2022


A BILL

To Amend The Freedom Of Information Act


        Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Firestone in Congress assembled,

§1. DEFINITIONS

    The “Freedom of Information Act” shall be recognized as: Freedom of Information Act

§2. AMENDMENTS

    (a) Section 6(c) currently states:

Any requests shall be submitted following these guidelines:
(i) The request shall be sent to a person so delegated by the entity to receive requests or; (ii) Using the submission system or form made available by the entity to receive requests, or; (iii) If no such person or system is specified, the head of the entity, or

    (b) Section 6(c) shall be amended to state:

Any requests shall be submitted following these guidelines:
(i) The request shall be sent to a person so delegated by the entity to receive requests, or, if applicable, using the submission system or form made available by the entity to receive requests, or if no such person or system is specified, the head of the entity.
(ii) The request shall be made in plain English.
(iii) The request must not ask for information that is already publicly accessible.

    (c) Section 6(d) currently states:

Any requests shall include the following information:
(i) The name of the citizen requesting the information
(ii) A means of contacting the citizen requesting the information which must either be by the use of Discord, ROBLOX Private Messages, or the State of Firestone Forums website.

   (d) Section 6(d) shall be amended to state:

Any requests shall include the following information:
(i) The name of the citizen requesting the information.
(ii) A means of contacting the citizen requesting the information which must be by Discord direct messages. If the user is unable to be contacted via Discord, the filer may use the State of Firestone Forums as an alternative way of contact if contacting via Discord has already been attempted.
(iii) What information is being requested.

    (e) Section 7(e) currently states:

A decision shall include:
(i) The name of the entity;
(ii) What information was requested;
(iii) All eligible information requested or an avenue to access it;
(iv) If any information requested is ineligible, a detailed motivation as to why the entity believes that to be the case.

    (f) Section 7(e) shall be amended to state:

A decision shall include:
(i) The name of the entity;
(ii) What information was requested;
(iii) All relevant eligible information requested, or an avenue to access it;
(iv) If any information requested is ineligible, a detailed motivation as to why the entity believes that to be the case. (v) If any information requested cannot be obtained, a reason as to why and what the entity has done to attempt to locate the information.

    (g) Section 8 shall be amended to include Subsection (d). Subsection (d) shall state:

An entity subject to FOIA may refuse to comply with frivolous or spam requests. If a citizen believes their request is legitimate and was unjustly labeled as spam or frivolous, they may petition to the Freedom of Information Board.

§3. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BOARD

   (a) The Freedom of Information Board shall be created. This Board will oversee rejected Freedom Of Information requests made to any entities. This Board shall be headed by the Governor. The Board shall have two (2) Citizens appointed to this board by the Governor. The board shall also have two (2) Bar Certified Department of Justice Officials appointed by the Attorney General.

   (b) This Board shall have the responsibilities of reviewing rejected Freedom of Information requests and vote on determining if the request was valid. This decision shall be made by a simple majority vote.

   (c) The Board must vote upon a rejected Freedom of Information request within two (2) weeks of receiving it.

   (d) The Board may extend time for voting on a rejected Freedom of Information request for one (1) week if needed.

   (e) Should the Board reject a Freedom of Information request, then, the original filer may petition the District Court for relief.

§4. ENACTMENT

   This Legislation shall go into effect upon the completion of the constitutionally required processes.

§5. SEVERABILITY

   Should any part of this Legislation be struck down and/or declared unenforceable, then that part shall be severed with the rest remaining in full force and effect unless all is struck down and/or declared unenforceable.


Chief Sponsors:

Representative Coolguy51839

Co-Sponsors:

Speaker of the House L_3ee

Speaker Pro Tempore ADMIRAL_RICKY

Senator Mega_Goalie16

Senator Noobsiance

Representative Bgod98

Representative FrostEspresso

Public Defender Clonemep

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