Sheila Jackson Lee: “As a senior member of the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees, and I rise in strong support of H.R. 1615, the…”

“As a senior member of the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees, and I rise in strong support of H.R. 1615, the ``DHS FOIA Efficiency Act of 2015.'' I support this bipartisan legislation, which addresses DHS' FOIA backlog by requiring the department's chief FOIA officer to issue updated regulations on obtaining records under the Act. I am pleased that H.R. 1615 incorporates two key Jackson Lee amendments offered during the committee markup of the bill. In 2014, DHS had 67,097 FOIA requests that carried over from 2013; added 291,242 requests; and processed 238,031 FOIA requests. The agency still had 120,308 FOIA requests that were carried over into 2015. Because FOIA is a critical component of creating our nation's open and transparent government, the process of citizens getting access to information regarding government matters of personal or public interest is important. DHS's ability to meet public demands for information through FOIA should not be hampered by a lack of technology. One of the Jackson Lee Amendments included in the bill directs that the agency include information on how to adopt automated processing to meet FOIA obligations triggered by agency: Public Notices published in the Federal Register; Final rules; decisions, outcome of adjudicated matters or other agency actions; and obligations to reply to citizen FOIA request. Another Jackson Lee Amendment included in H.R.…”