Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Reauthorization Act

This section would let the Act be called the "Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Reauthorization Act."

This section covers four separate matters concerning the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board and the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018.

Part (a) states that it is the sense of Congress, a nonbinding expression of opinion rather than a legal requirement, that all records of the Federal Government and of State or local governments concerning civil rights cold cases should carry a presumption of immediate disclosure, and should eventually be disclosed so the public can become fully informed about the history surrounding the cases.

Part (b) would add a new provision to section 3 of the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018. Upon request from a State or local government, the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board could reimburse that State or local government in full for any expense it incurred in digitizing, photocopying, or mailing a civil rights cold case record, when the record is being sent to the Archivist of the United States for inclusion in the Collection. The reimbursement would be something the Board could choose to provide; it would not be required to.

Part (c) would remove wording in section 3(a)(2)(A)(i) of the 2018 Act that had made an exception for State or local governments. With that exception removed, civil rights cold case records in the possession of a State or local government would be covered by the same requirement in that provision to transmit such records to the Collection that already applies to other holders of these records.

Part (d) would add an exception to section 9(a)(2) of the 2018 Act. As a result, the personal-privacy exemption in section 552(b)(6) of title 5, United States Code (the Freedom of Information Act exemption that lets the government withhold a record whose release would be a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy) would not apply to information contained in a civil rights cold case record created on or before January 1, 1990.

This section would amend section 5(n)(1) of the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018, the provision that sets how long the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board exists, currently 7 years. The section would replace "7 years" with "11 years" and replace "7-year period" with "11-year period" everywhere those phrases appear in that provision, extending the Board's tenure from 7 years to 11 years.