(Bloomberg) --The Federal Reserve's 12 regional banks adopted a limited policy for responding to public requests for information, following calls from lawmakers for greater transparency from the branches of the central bank.
The policy, released Thursday by the New York Fed bank, takes effect Jan. 1. It details which records are subject to disclosure, rules for requesting them and certain exemptions, such as items related to "internal personnel rules and practices."
The reserve banks' immunity to federal freedom-of-information law has frustrated lawmakers from both political parties in recent years. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, and then-Republican Senator Patrick Toomey last year introduced legislation that would make the reserve banks subject to congressional oversight requests under the act.
The new Fed policy stops well short of federal public disclosure requirements. It would permit the release of policy statements, administrative staff manuals and instructions, as well as forms available to the public or banks. The public portion of some applications made by banks will also be available. Only records created on or after Jan. 1, 2024, would be subject to disclosure.
Exempt from disclosure are internal personnel rules and practices, records related to extensions of credit or commercially sensitive information, memos, notes or letters prior to decisions or otherwise privileged, security procedures and records related to bank examinations.
"Unlike what some members of Congress were looking for, this seems like a step backward rather than a step forward," said Andrew Levin, a former Fed adviser and a professor at Dartmouth College. "The entire Federal Reserve system should just agree that they will follow the regulations of FOIA as written by Congress."
Enhanced transparency is essential to boosting public confidence so the Fed can carry out its responsibilities, Levin added.
The Fed banks can impose fees for copying records or searching and reviewing records, which can be waived, according to the policy.
The banks said in March that they had agreed to such a policy and would issue additional details later in the year.
