Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-50)
Washington, D.C.— Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) was joined by Congresswoman Deborah Ross (NC-02) in reintroducing H.R.4009, the Protecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes Act (Pro Codes Act), which would protect public access to important federal rules and regulations.
“Standards in federal rules and regulations matter, and never more so than when they are at the crossroads of streamlining public access or blocking it,” said Rep. Issa. “The Pro Codes Act will ensure our standards remain transparent, accessible, and available.”
As more codes get incorporated by reference into legal standards by courts, the Pro Codes Act will protect a code or standard’s incorporation by ensuring the copyright doesn’t extinguish. The bipartisan bill ensures that the public retains free access to the information. Just as some online services have a free version of their product with limited functionality and a paid premium version with greater functionality, under this bill, those that invest in code development will still be able to sell the materials in certain formats so long as they are simultaneously providing access to the information for free.
Full text of the Pro Codes Act can be found here.
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