Proposal would require Tracking Numbers for FOIA requests

According to National Journal's Technology Daily:

The House Oversight and Government Reform Information Policy Subcommittee on Tuesday approved legislation that aims to speed the government's response to Freedom of Information Act requests. CongressDaily reports that the legislation would uphold an existing requirement that government agencies respond to information requests within 20 days but would apply pressure to that deadline by imposing consequences on federal agencies for missing it. The bill also would mandate that agencies provide information requesters with a tracking number to follow the progress of their request either by phone or on the Internet. "Requesters are being forced to wait much longer than necessary for responses from agency FOIA offices," said bill co-sponsor and Missouri Democrat William Lacy Clay.

One of the big problems the journalist in Poulsen v. USCBP had was that the agency never gave him a tracking number and then claimed they lost his FOIA request. Hopefully this could solve that problem.