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Restoration of Freedom of Information Act of 2003
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296) to provide for the protection of voluntarily furnished confidential information, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill would amend the Homeland Security Act to establish protections for confidential information about critical infrastructure vulnerabilities and threats that are voluntarily submitted to the Department of Homeland Security. Records designated as confidential by the provider would be exempt from Freedom of Information Act disclosure requirements. When such records are shared with other agencies, those agencies must refer FOIA requests back to the Department of Homeland Security for processing rather than disclosing them independently. The bill requires DHS to establish procedures for handling, marking, protecting, and maintaining the confidentiality of such voluntarily furnished records, and allows providers to withdraw the confidential designation at any time. The bill also requires the Comptroller General to report to Congress within 18 months on the implementation and use of these protections.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Frank, Barney [D-MA-4] (D-MA)
2 cosponsors
- Rep. McDermott, Jim [D-WA-7] (D-WA)
- Rep. Udall, Tom [D-NM-3] (D-NM)
Actions (6)
- Jul 2, 2003 Referred to the Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census. · house
- Jun 27, 2003 Referred to the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Science, and Research and Development. · house
- Jun 27, 2003 Referred to the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism. · house
- Jun 27, 2003 Referred to the Subcommittee on Infrastructure and Border Security. · house
- Jun 19, 2003 Referred to the Committee on Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security (Select), for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned. · house
- Jun 19, 2003 Introduced in House
More bills on these subjects (8)
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Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
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Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 19, 2003
Mr. Frank of Massachusetts (for himself and Mr. Udall of New Mexico) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform, and in addition to the Select Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296) to provide for the protection of voluntarily furnished confidential information, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Restoration of Freedom of Information Act of 2003”.
SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARILY FURNISHED CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.
Title II of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296) is amended by striking subtitle B and inserting the following:
“Subtitle B—Protection of Voluntarily Furnished Confidential Information
“SEC. 211. PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARILY FURNISHED CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.
“(a) Definitions.—In this section:
“(1) Critical infrastructure.—The term ‘critical infrastructure’ has the meaning given that term in section 1016(e) of the USA PATRIOT ACT of 2001 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e)).
“(2) Furnished voluntarily.—
“(A) Definition.—The term ‘furnished voluntarily’ means a submission of a record that—
“(i) is made to the Department in the absence of authority of the Department requiring that record to be submitted; and
“(ii) is not submitted or used to satisfy any legal requirement or obligation or to obtain any grant, permit, benefit (such as agency forbearance, loans, or reduction or modifications of agency penalties or rulings), or other approval from the Government.
“(B) Benefit.—In this paragraph, the term ‘benefit’ does not include any warning, alert, or other risk analysis by the Department.
“(b) In General.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a record pertaining to the vulnerability of and threats to critical infrastructure (such as attacks, response, and recovery efforts) that is furnished voluntarily to the Department shall not be made available under section 552 of title 5, United States Code, if—
“(1) the provider would not customarily make the record available to the public; and
“(2) the record is designated and certified by the provider, in a manner specified by the Department, as confidential and not customarily made available to the public.
“(c) Records Shared With Other Agencies.—
“(1) In general.—
“(A) Response to request.—An agency in receipt of a record that was furnished voluntarily to the Department and subsequently shared with the agency shall, upon receipt of a request under section 552 of title 5, United States Code, for the record—
“(i) not make the record available; and
“(ii) refer the request to the Department for processing and response in accordance with this section.
“(B) Segregable portion of record.—Any reasonably segregable portion of a record shall be provided to the person requesting the record after deletion of any portion which is exempt under this section.
“(2) Disclosure of independently furnished records.— Notwithstanding paragraph (1), nothing in this section shall prohibit an agency from making available under section 552 of title 5, United States Code, any record that the agency receives independently of the Department, regardless of whether or not the Department has a similar or identical record.
“(d) Withdrawal of Confidential Designation.—The provider of a record that is furnished voluntarily to the Department under subsection
(b) may at any time withdraw, in a manner specified by the Department, the confidential designation.
“(e) Procedures.—The Secretary shall prescribe procedures for—
“(1) the acknowledgement of receipt of records furnished voluntarily;
“(2) the designation, certification, and marking of records furnished voluntarily as confidential and not customarily made available to the public;
“(3) the care and storage of records furnished voluntarily;
“(4) the protection and maintenance of the confidentiality of records furnished voluntarily; and
“(5) the withdrawal of the confidential designation of records under subsection (d).
“(f) Effect on State and Local Law.—Nothing in this section shall be construed as preempting or otherwise modifying State or local law concerning the disclosure of any information that a State or local government receives independently of the Department.
“(g) Report.—
“(1) Requirement.—Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the committees of Congress specified in paragraph (2) a report on the implementation and use of this section, including—
“(A) the number of persons in the private sector, and the number of State and local agencies, that furnished voluntarily records to the Department under this section;
“(B) the number of requests for access to records granted or denied under this section; and
“(C) such recommendations as the Comptroller General considers appropriate regarding improvements in the collection and analysis of sensitive information held by persons in the private sector, or by State and local agencies, relating to vulnerabilities of and threats to critical infrastructure, including the response to such vulnerabilities and threats.
“(2) Committees of congress.—The committees of Congress specified in this paragraph are—
“(A) the Committees on the Judiciary and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and
“(B) the Committees on the Judiciary and Government Reform and Oversight of the House of Representatives.
“(3) Form.—The report shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.”.
SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.
The table of contents for the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296) is amended by striking the matter relating to subtitle B of title II and inserting the following: “Subtitle B—Protection of Voluntarily Furnished Confidential Information. “Sec. 211. Protection of Voluntarily Furnished Confidential Information.”. <all>
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