Federal Employee Access to Information Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 845 To amend title 5, United States Code, to protect Federal employees from retaliation for the lawful use of Federal records, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 18, 2021 Mr. LEAHY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To amend title 5, United States Code, to protect Federal employees from retaliation for the lawful use of Federal records, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Employee Ac- 4 cess to Information Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PROTECTIONS AGAINST RETALIATION FOR LAWFUL 6 USE OF FEDERAL RECORDS BY FEDERAL EM- 7 PLOYEES. 8 (a) PROTECTION AGAINST RETALIATION.—Section 9 2302(b)(9) of title 5, United States Code, is amended— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Apr 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S845.IS S845 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 845 IS (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 1 the end; 2 (2) in subparagraph (D), by inserting ‘‘or’’ 3 after the semicolon; and 4 (3) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(E) the employee or applicant for employ- 6 ment— 7 ‘‘(i) making a request for information 8 pursuant to section 552 (commonly re- 9 ferred to as the ‘Freedom of Information 10 Act’) or subsection (d) of section 552a 11 (commonly referred to as the ‘Privacy Act 12 of 1974’); or 13 ‘‘(ii) pursuing any administrative or 14 judicial action with respect to such request, 15 including seeking assistance or to engage 16 in dispute resolution, as described in sec- 17 tion 552;’’. 18 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 19 (1) TITLE 5.—Sections 1214, 1215(a)(3)(B), 20 1221, 2302, and 7703 of title 5, United States 21 Code, are amended by striking ‘‘or (D)’’ in each in- 22 stance and inserting ‘‘(D), or (E)’’. 23 (2) WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION ENHANCE- 24 MENT ACT OF 2012.—Section 116(b)(1)(A) of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Apr 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S845.IS S845 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 845 IS Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 1 (31 U.S.C. 1116 note) is amended by striking ‘‘or 2 (D)’’ and inserting ‘‘(D), or (E)’’. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Apr 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S845.IS S845 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS