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  • Comment Detail

  • Date: 03/22/17
    First Name: Jazmin
    Last Name: Lopez
    Organization: N/A
    City: N/A
    State: N/A
    Attachment: N/A
    Number: RIN-2590-AA86

  • Comment

    I wrote paper in regards to this rule to amend the FOIA regulation, I'd like to share it:
    According to the ever-reliable Wikipedia, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as 11 Federal Home Loan Banks. The purpose of these agencies is to allow federally insured banking institutions such as commercial banks and credit unions to join the Federal Home Loan Bank system; facilitating access to the funds necessary to provide mortgage loans to qualified borrowers. This information can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Home_Loan_Banks. This organization is proposing the following amendment to the current Freedom of Information Act, with a comment period ending on May 15, 2017, when the interim final rule is expected to take effect.
    “The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is issuing this interim final rule to amend its existing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulation. The amendments incorporate the requirements of the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 by giving notice of the circumstances under which FHFA may extend the time limit for responding to a FOIA request due to unusual circumstance; notifying a requester of their right to seek dispute resolution services; affording a requester a minimum of 90 days to file an administrative appeal; and clarifying and updating the existing regulation (https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FHFA-2017-0004-0001).”
    This proposal is fairly vague. No mention is made of the exact amount of time the agency is requesting to extend the response period by. It could be an additional 10 days or an additional 10 years. According to the Digital Media Law Project (www.dmpl.org), government organizations are required to respond to an FOIA request with either a denial or grant of access within 20 business days of receiving the request. Per the Reporters Committee For Freedom of the Press (www.rcfp.org), an additional 10 days may be granted to agencies who claim unusual circumstances. Common sense argues that an agency has approximately 30 days to respond to FOIA requests. However, the RFCP claims that certain government agencies, to include, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the Justice Department, and the CI. May of these agencies have an average processing rate of one year; with some requests simply lingering for years. This is said to be possibly attributed to backlog. Yet, courts are reluctant to enforce the Act’s time limits.
    The second part to the request made by the FHFA is, “Notifying a requester of their right to seek dispute resolution services.” What exactly is the requested amendment? Is the FHFA asking to remove the right for requesters to seek dispute resolution services? This could consequentially force requestors to seek costly legal counsel, more than likely weakening the protections under the FOIA by means of financial duress. The FHFA is essentially asking for the dissolution of the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1990 and 1996, which was established by the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) in an effort to handle some FOIA disputes in a more informal manner through the use of informal investigation of complaints, mediation or conciliation through a neutral government official to aid in FOIA related disputes, rather than proceed with unnecessary litigation: (http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/dispute_resolution/newsletter/feb2016/FOIA_ombuds.authcheckdam.pdf).
    I absolutely agree with affording requesters a minimum of 90 days to file an administrative appeal, yet I am uncertain about the FHFA’s request to clarify and update exiting regulation. That latter statement is absolutely vapid. Are they referring to the regulations already stated? Their intentions need clarification.
    In my absolute and flamingly biased opinion, the Federal Housing Finance Agency failed the American people and played a monumental role in the economic collapse of 2008-2009. Not only is the United States still in economic hardship, so has much of the rest of the global economy. They are at no disposition to be requesting more obscurity in the release of information protected under the Freedom of Information Act.