# Answer COVID FOIAs Now Act

This bill requires the federal government to respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests related to COVID-19 much faster than normal. Specifically, it sets a deadline of 20 days for agencies to respond to these COVID-related requests, compared to the standard 30 days that applies to most FOIA requests. If an agency can't meet that deadline, they have to explain why and provide a specific date when they will respond.

The bill focuses specifically on documents and information about the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes things like internal communications, policy decisions, scientific data, and other records that people might want to access about how federal agencies responded to the pandemic. The faster timeline is meant to get this information to the public more quickly than the normal bureaucratic process would allow.

In practical terms, this affects journalists, researchers, advocacy groups, and ordinary citizens who have filed or want to file FOIA requests asking for COVID-related government documents. Instead of waiting the typical month or longer to get a response, they should receive answers within three weeks. For government agencies, this means they need to prioritize COVID-related FOIA requests and allocate resources to handle them faster than they normally would. The bill essentially treats pandemic-related information requests as a priority, recognizing that public understanding of how the government handled COVID-19 is important enough to warrant expedited access.

Answer COVID FOIAs Now Act

Answer COVID FOIAs Now Act This bill addresses pending Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests related to COVID-19. Specifically, the bill requires each federal agency, within 100 calendar days, to complete all pending FOIA requests related to a drug or medical device to prevent, diagnose, mitigate, or treat COVID-19; gain-of-function or potential pandemic pathogen research; or a policy, rule, or standard requiring COVID-19 vaccination of individuals. For each calendar day on which any applicable FOIA request remains pending, the Department of the Treasury must transfer $1 million from the appropriations account of the office of the head of the agency to the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program of the Health Resources and Services Administration. A person submitting such a request shall be deemed to have demonstrated a compelling need for expedited processing.