New FOIA Exemption In Financial Reform Act?

There have been some reports that the new Financial Reform Act contains a sweeping exemption from the Freedom of Information Act that would shut out virtually all public access requests. That may actually be a little over the top. According to this story, the new law doesn’t necessarily expand the SEC’s FOIA exemption all that much. But the jury’s still out. In any event, the SEC hasn’t been a real model of transparency as it is. According the linked article, the SEC only granted about 15% of the FOIA requests it received in 2009.