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A
BILL
TO
Outline Procedures for Freedom of Information
BILL
TO
Outline Procedures for Freedom of Information
1 - Short Title and Enactment
(1) This Act may be cited as the ‘Freedom of Information Act'.
(2) This Act may be numbered as P.B.02-001.
(3) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon receiving assent from Her Majesty the Queen.
(4) This Act was authored by Solicitor General Ibney0
(5) This Act has been co-sponsored by MP Twiscet and Minister of Justice SoggehToast.
2 - Definitions
For the purposes of this Act, the following terms are defined:
(1) “Covered materials” include channels within an official Discord server, official documents, and other materials which are created, received, managed, or otherwise handled within the government, Parliament, or the judiciary.
(2) “Authorized officials” are individuals who have authority to classify information under this Act. Authorized officials only have authority to assign classifications and grant clearances within the scope given to them by this Act.
(3) "Enumerated governmental body" shall mean any Ministry, the Parliamentary body, and any institution of the Judiciary.
3 - Repeals
(1) A.P.015 | Government Information Act is repealed in its entirety.
4 - Information to be Made Publicly Accessible without Request
(1) Covered materials shall be made public without request if they cover
(a) the general administrative structure of an enumerated governmental body;
(b) Its rules of operation and procedure;
(c)Its administrative regulations; and/or
(d) Its amendments, repeals, or other changes to any of the above.
(2) The requirement to publicize the above shall expire after 365 days.
5 - Freedom of Information Act Request Defined
(1) A Freedom of Information Act Request may be submitted by any member of the public, so long as they are a registered citizen of Alexandria.
6 - Classification Levels
(1) TOP SECRET - Information that has the potential to cause significant collateral damage to the government or national security.
(a) The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister may assign TOP SECRET classifications to covered materials within the government.
(b) TOP SECRET classifications expire after 365 days.
(2) SECRET and PAR-SECRET - Information that has the potential to cause collateral damage to the solidarity of the government.
(a) The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister may assign SECRET classifications to covered materials within the government. Ministers may assign SECRET classifications to covered materials within their Ministry.
(b) SECRET classifications expire after 365 days, or without renewal by a new government 7 days after it forms.
(c) The Speaker of Parliament may assign PAR-SECRET classifications to information related to Parliamentary investigations pursuant to §X of this Act.
(d) PAR-SECRET classifications expire after 365 days, or without renewal by the Speaker of Parliament 7 days after a new Parliamentary term begins.
(3) OFFICIAL and PAR-OFFICIAL - Information that has the potential to cause minor collateral damage to the government or national security.
(a) The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister may assign OFFICIAL classifications to covered material within the government. Ministers may assign OFFICIAL classifications to covered materials within their Ministries. Ministry Secretaries may assign OFFICIAL classifications to covered materials within the scope of their duties.
(b) OFFICIAL classifications expire after 365 days, or without renewal by a new government 7 days after it forms.
(c) The Speaker of Parliament may assign PAR-OFFICIAL classifications to covered materials within Parliament.
(d) PAR-OFFICIAL classifications expire after 365 days, or without renewal by the Speaker of Parliament 7 days after a new Parliamentary term begins.
(4) JUDICIAL - A special classification assigned to sensitive Judiciary discussions.
(a) Discussions between judicial officers regarding cases are automatically assigned JUDICIAL classifications.
(b) JUDICIAL classifications do not expire.
(5) ROYAL - A special classification granted to the Monarch, and their discussions with the government.
(a) Discussions between the Monarch, the Prime Minister, and the Deputy Prime Minister are automatically assigned ROYAL classification.
(b) ROYAL classifications expire after 365 days.
(6) UNCLASSIFIED - Information that has not been assigned a classification, or has been published or distributed to the public by an authorized OFFICIAL.
(a) UNCLASSIFIED information is available to all members of the public. The information need not be immediately available, but must be provided upon receipt of a valid Freedom of Information request.
7 - Information Available by Classification
(1) All unclassified information is available to all members of the public. This information need not be immediately publicly available, and may be available upon freedom of information request.
(2) All OFFICIAL information shall be available on request to anyone with OFFICIAL security clearance
(3) All SECRET information shall be available to all individuals upon request who have SECRET security clearance.
(4) Only those with TOP SECRET security clearance may view covered materials classified as TOP SECRET.
8 - Security Clearances
(1) TOP SECRET - Individuals with this clearance have access to information classified as TOP SECRET.
(a) The Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and all other Cabinet Ministers are given TOP SECRET clearance.
(2) SECRET and PAR-SECRET - Individuals with these clearances have access to information classified as SECRET.
(a) The Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, all other Cabinet Ministers, and the Monarch are given SECRET clearance for all covered materials.
(b) Ministry Secretaries are given SECRET clearance for all covered materials within their Ministry.
(c) The Speaker of Parliament is granted PAR-SECRET clearance to covered materials within Parliament.
(d) Members of Parliament, and witnesses testifying before Parliament in classified hearings, are granted PAR-SECRET clearance to covered materials in Parliament which are related to Parliamentary investigations in which they are involved, pursuant to §X of this Act.
(e) An authorized official may grant SECRET clearance to government employees for covered materials which fall within the scope of the employee’s duties.
(f) Ombudsmen are granted SECRET clearance to covered materials which fall within the scope of any of their investigations, and must be provided with that information upon request.
(3) OFFICIAL and PAR-OFFICIAL - Individuals with these clearances have access to information classified as OFFICIAL or PAR-OFFICIAL.
(a) The Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, all other Cabinet Ministers, the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and all Members of Parliament, the Monarch, and all ombudsmen are given OFFICIAL and PAR-OFFICIAL clearance for all covered materials.
(b) Ministry Secretaries and all Ministry employees are given OFFICIAL clearance for all covered materials within their Ministry.
(c) An authorized official may grant OFFICIAL or PAR-OFFICIAL clearance to government or Parliament employees for covered materials which fall within the scope of the employee’s duties.
(4) JUDICIAL - Individuals with this clearance have access to information classified as JUDICIAL.
(a) Magistrates and Chancellors are given JUDICIAL clearance for all covered materials.
(b) The High Chancellor may grant JUDICIAL clearance to any employee of the Judiciary for covered materials which fall within the scope of the employee’s duties.
(5) ROYAL - Individuals with this clearance have access to information classified as ROYAL.
(a) The Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and Monarch are given ROYAL classification for all covered materials.
(6) LIMITED, PAR-LIMITED, and JUD-LIMITED - Special clearances which may be granted by certain high-level officials at their discretion.
(a) The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister may grant LIMITED clearance to any individual for specific covered materials in the government classified as OFFICIAL, SECRET, or TOP SECRET. Any LIMITED clearances are automatically revoked upon the formation of a new government.
(b) The Speaker of Parliament may grant PAR-LIMITED clearance for specific covered materials in Parliament classified as PAR-OFFICIAL. Any PAR-LIMITED clearances are automatically revoked upon the election of a new Speaker of Parliament.
(c) The High Chancellor may grant JUD-LIMITED clearance for specific covered materials in the Judiciary classified as JUDICIAL. Any JUD-LIMITED clearances are automatically revoked upon the appointment of a new High Chancellor.
9 - Freedom of Information Request
(1) Any information that is unclassified, or otherwise available to the public, may be requested through a freedom of information request.
(2) An individual may request such information by submitting to the relevant ministry through a ticket on the main discord server a freedom of information request. This request must specify the information requested, and must not be overbroad.
(3) If information is not available to the individual requesting it based on classification level, the individual processing the request shall inform them of the classification, and provide no further details.
10 - Judicial Declassification of Official, Secret, or Top Secret Materials
(1) By request to the Magistrate Court, an individual may obtain access to Official, Secret, or Top Secret materials.
(2) An individual may bring suit against the ministry classifying the materials, and may request the magistrate overlooking the case to review the classification of the materials to determine if they reasonably fall within the classification level denoted within Sec. 6 of this act.
(3) The magistrate shall not overturn the classification unless, by a preponderance of the evidence, the classification level is inherently unreasonable and should be adjusted.
(4) the magistrate may modify or remove the classification level as they determine necessary based on this act.
11 - Discovery Materials in Ongoing Court Cases
(1) Materials subject to official, secret, or top secret classification are subject to discovery in cases where their relevance to the case is substantially outweighed by their prejudicial effect to the government or national security as determined by the judicial officer reviewing such materials.
(2) If information requested in discovery that is found to be substantially more relevant than it is damaging to the government or national security as defined within Sec. 6 shall be available privately for both sides of the judicial proceeding. It shall, however, remain classified at its previous classification level until such time it is no longer classified under this act. Viewing of such classified materials for this case shall constitute a grant of a temporary classification authorization for that material only.
12 - Investigative Authority of Parliament
(1) Pursuant to §9(2) of the Government Organization Act, Parliament shall have the authority to conduct investigations into classified materiaIls.
(2) Parliament shall have the authority to hold hearings which may be classified up to PAR-SECRET level.
(3) Parliament shall have the authority to compel the production of classified evidence in connection with an investigation.
(a) Evidence produced in compliance with such an order shall retain its classification and must be handled in a way that does not jeopardize the integrity of the classification. Viewing of such classified materials in the course of a Parliamentary investigation shall constitute a grant of a temporary security clearance for that material only.
(4) Parliament shall have the authority to define its own mechanisms for initiating, conducting, and resolving investigations, including investigations into classified materials, subject to limits prescribed by law.
13 - Continuity of Classifications
(1) All classifications and clearances issued under the Government Organization Act shall remain in place and be governed by this Act.
14 - Amendment to the Criminal Code and Procedures Act
(1) Sec. 21(3)(d) of the Criminal Code and Procedures Act is amended as follows:
"(d) Leaking Classified Information - A player is guilty of leaking classified information if, while employed to a government body, or while otherwise legally possessing classified materials, they intentionally release official, secret, or top secret information as described within the Government Information Act Freedom of Information Act[*] to a player who does not possess the authority to view that information.
(i) Maximum Punishment: $1000 Fine + 40 minutes in jail."
[*Note to the Clerk: The text "Freedom of Information Act" should link to this Act.]
15 - Severability
(1) The provisions of this act are severable. Should one part of it be declared unconstitutional, it shall not affect the parts which remain.
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