Department of Housing and Urban Development March 15, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This final rule clarifies and explains the procedures to be followed by requesters seeking a waiver or a reduction of fees under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This final rule describes the information that must be included in a FOIA request and the demonstrations that must be made in order for a waiver or reduction of fees to be granted. This final rule also revises the FOIA fee schedule, clarifies the time at which HUD will begin processing a FOIA request, and modifies HUD's policy on the use of outside contractors to fulfill FOIA requests. HUD undertook this effort in order to make the regulations governing fee waivers more informative and helpful in accordance with the President's recently issued Executive Order 13392, ``Improving Agency Disclosure of Information.'' This final rule also makes technical and conforming changes to reflect the realignment of FOIA correspondence processing functions within HUD, to correct HUD's definition of ``representative of the news media requester'' to ensure conformance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Fee Guidelines, and to update a cross-reference to time limits applicable to HUD for responding to a FOIA request. This final rule follows publication of an October 5, 2006, proposed rule on which HUD received one public comment.