About the bill
Fifty years ago, the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, was enacted to give the public a right to access records held by the executive branch that, although not classified, were not otherwise available to them.
However, in recent years, the government has increasingly used loopholes and other tactics to deny, delay, or redact the disclosure of information under the law. According to an Associated Press analysis, the Obama Administration set a new record in 2014 for “censoring government files or outright denying access to them” under FOIA. It was the Administration’s second year in a row setting that records.
Now here’s the shocker: Congress is making serious progress on a bipartisan plan to fix FOIA and improve the public’s access to public information.
The Senate votes to …
Sponsor and status
114th Congress (2015–2017)
Enacted — Signed by the President on Jun 30, 2016
This bill was enacted after being signed by the President on June 30, 2016.
5 Cosponsors (3 Democrats, 2 Republicans)
Position statements
What legislators are saying
“Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy On Presidential Signing of S. 337, the FOIA Improvement Act of 2015”
—
Sen. Patrick Leahy [D-VT, 1975-2022]
(Co-sponsor)
on Jun 30, 2016
“Getting Results for the People of California”
—
Rep. Darrell Issa [R-CA48]
on Aug 9, 2016
“Congressman Issa Applauds Presidents Signing of FOIA Reform Bill”
—
Rep. Darrell Issa [R-CA48]
on Jul 1, 2016
Incorporated legislation
This bill incorporates provisions from:
History
|
Feb 2, 2015
|
|
Introduced
Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber. |
|
Feb 5, 2015
|
|
Ordered Reported
A committee has voted to issue a report to the full chamber recommending that the bill be considered further. Only about 1 in 4 bills are reported out of committee. |
|
Feb 23, 2015
|
|
Reported by Senate Committee on the Judiciary
A committee issued a report on the bill, which often provides helpful explanatory background on the issue addressed by the bill and the bill's intentions. |
|
Jan 11, 2016
|
|
Source Bill —
Passed House (Senate next)
This activity took place on a related bill, H.R. 653 (114th), possibly in lieu of similar activity on S. 337 (114th). |
|
Mar 15, 2016
|
|
Passed Senate (House next)
The bill was passed in a vote in the Senate. It goes to the House next. The vote was by Unanimous Consent so no record of individual votes was made. |
|
Jun 13, 2016
|
|
Passed House
The bill was passed by both chambers in identical form. It goes to the President next who may sign or veto the bill. The vote was by voice vote so no record of individual votes was made. |
|
Jun 30, 2016
|
|
Enacted — Signed by the President
The President signed the bill and it became law.
|
S. 337 (114th) was a bill in the United States Congress.
A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.
Bills numbers restart every two years. That means there are other bills with the number S. 337. This is the one from the 114th Congress.
This bill was introduced in the 114th Congress, which met from Jan 6, 2015 to Jan 3, 2017. Legislation not passed by the end of a Congress is cleared from the books.
How to cite this information.
We recommend the following MLA-formatted citation when using the information you see here in academic work:
“S. 337 — 114th Congress: FOIA Improvement Act of 2016.” www.GovTrack.us. 2015. March 24, 2023 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/s337>
- show another citation format:
- APA
- Blue Book
- Wikipedia Template
Where is this information from?
GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. This page is sourced primarily from Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. Data via the congress project.
