CLEAR Act

The Consistent Legal Expectations and Access to Records Act, or CLEAR Act, aims to enhance government transparency by clarifying the applicability of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to certain federally established entities. This legislation seeks to ensure that more government-affiliated bodies are subject to public disclosure requirements. The bill specifically amends section 552(f)(1) of title 5, United States Code, to include "any entity established under section 3161 of this title" within the definition of an "agency" for FOIA purposes. This change means that records from these entities will now be explicitly subject to public information requests. The amendment will apply to all FOIA requests made on or after the bill's enactment date, regardless of when the records were created, thereby promoting consistent legal expectations for public access to government information.