Summary

Clarifies and expands public access to federal civil-rights cold case records by directing a presumption of disclosure, removing a transmission exception, allowing the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board to reimburse state and local governments for costs to digitize or mail records, and narrowing FOIA Exemption 6 for records created on or before January 1, 1990. It also lengthens certain tenure-related periods from 7 years to 11 years in the existing Collection law. The bill amends the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018 without creating new agencies or specifying new appropriations; reimbursements are authorized upon request, and the FOIA change affects privacy protections for older records.

• Creates a presumption in favor of immediate public disclosure for civil-rights cold case records.
• Authorizes the Review Board to reimburse state and local governments in full for costs to digitize, photocopy, or mail records to the Archivist, upon request.
• Removes a prior exception that had exempted state and local governments from a transmission requirement to the Collection.
• Declares that FOIA Exemption 6 does not apply to civil-rights cold case records created on or before Jan 1, 1990, increasing access to personal information in those records.
• Extends two tenure-related time periods in the Collection statute from 7 years to 11 years.
• Does not create new agencies, appropriate new funds in the text, or add additional statutory deadlines.
• Reimbursements are authorized but not specifically funded in the legislation text, so implementation depends on available resources and administrative action.