More than three years after the enactment of the Electronic Freedom of Information Act (E-FOIA), most federal agencies still fall far short of its requirements, according to a new OMB Watch report,"A People Armed?" Under E-FOIA, agencies are required to package four categories of information in electronic form for public use. This includes making all official agency pronouncements available through the Internet (or some other electronic means) and providing reference guides for accessing information electronically.

This month, a small federal agency called the Access Board (also known as the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board) is scheduled to unveil proposed procurement regulations requiring that all federal computer equipment and services procured, including Web sites, must be "equally accessible" to people with disabilities, including the blind, the deaf and those with cognitive difficulties.

SECTION 508 Remarks of ATTORNEY GENERAL JANET RENO FOSE 2000 Washington D.C. Convention Center, Room 32 Washington, D.C. 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, April 18, 2000 P R O C E E D I N GS

On March 31, the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) proposed new standards that would require the government to ensure that information provided through government use of electronic and information technology (E&IT) is accessible to both federal employees and private citizens with disabilities. For example, multimedia presentations that contain video programs also would have to provide closed-captioning for the deaf and would have to convert visual information to speech for visually-impaired users.