CLEAR Act

The CLEAR Act (Consistent Legal Expectations and Access to Records Act) would expand the applicability of the Freedom of Information Act to certain federally established entities. Specifically, the bill would amend federal law to require that temporary organizations established by law or executive order—such as commissions, committees, and boards created for specific studies or projects—must comply with FOIA requests for public records. Currently, the law explicitly applies FOIA requirements to the Executive Office of the President and certain other federal entities, but the bill would add temporary organizations to this list. If enacted, the bill would allow citizens and organizations to request documents from these temporary federal bodies using the same FOIA process available for other government agencies. The amendment would apply to any FOIA request made after the bill becomes law, regardless of when the requested records were created.