1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Open and Responsive Government Act of 2019”.
Open and Responsive Government Act of 2019
A BILL
To modify the exemption for trade secrets and commercial or financial information in the Freedom of Information Act, and for other purposes.
2. Amendments to the Freedom of Information Act
Section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the “Freedom of Information Act”) is amended—
in subsection (b)(4), by inserting before the semicolon at the end the following: “, provided that the term “confidential” means information that, if disclosed, would likely cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the person from whom the information was obtained”; and
in subsection (d)—
by striking “This section does not authorize withholding of information” and inserting
“(1) does not authorize the withholding of information”
in paragraph (1), as so designated, by striking “. This section is not authority to withhold information from Congress.” and inserting a semicolon; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(2) does not authorize the withholding of a portion of an otherwise responsive record on the basis that the portion is non-responsive; and
“(3) is not authority to withhold information from Congress.”