At the COMMUNIA workshop at the London School of Economics, I mentioned a legislative proposal from 1991 that was designed to open up and improve the management of government databases, promote open standards and interoperability, limit prices, and to give the public regular opportunities to engage agencies on policies. Here is a copy of the bill, from the 102nd Congress. In reading the bill, remember it was introduced in 1991, the same year the first web site was built at CERN, and three years before the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was created.
Improvement of Information Access Act of 1991 (Introduced in House)
HR 3459 IH
102d CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3459
To amend title 5, United States Code, to promote improved public access to Government information.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 1, 1991
Mr. OWENS of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Operations
A BILL
To amend title 5, United States Code, to promote improved public access to Government information.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Improvement of Information Access Act of 1991?.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) A well-informed citizenry is essential for the well-being of a democratic society.
(2) Access to Government information is essential for citizens who seek to make the Federal Government accountable for its actions.
(3) The public should have timely, complete, equitable, and affordable access to Government information.
(4) Federal agencies should use modern information technology for the benefit of citizens of the United States.
(5) Government information is a national resource that should be treated as a public good.
(6) Government information is a valuable economic asset that belongs to the public.
(7) Taxpayers pay for the creation, collection, and organization of Government information and should not be required to pay excessive fees to receive and use that information.
(8) It is unnecessarily difficult for citizens to provide Federal agencies with comments and suggestions on Federal information policies. As a result, many Federal agencies do not take into account the public interest in the information resources they manage.
(9) Federal agencies have been slow in developing standards for record and file formats, software query command structures, and other important topics that will make Government information easier to obtain and use.
(10) Many Federal agencies do not provide timely access to Government information products and services at reasonable costs.
SEC. 3. IMPROVED PUBLIC ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT INFORMATION.
Section 552 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
`(g) Each executive department, military department, and independent establishment shall prepare by not later than February 1 of each year, and make freely available to the public upon request and at no charge, a report which describes the information dissemination policies and practices of the department or establishment, including–
`(1) plans of the department or establishment to introduce new information products and services or discontinue old ones;
`(2) efforts of the department or establishment to develop or implement standards for file and record formats, software query command structures, and other matters that make information easier to obtain and use;
`(3) progress of the department or establishment in creating and disseminating comprehensive indexes and bibliographies of information products and services, including coordinated efforts conducted with other agencies;
`(4) the methods to be used by the public for accessing information, including the modes and outlets available to the public;
`(5) provisions for protecting access to records stored with technologies that are superseded or obsolete;
`(6) methods used to make the public aware of information resources, services, and products; and
`(7) a summary of the comments received from the public under subsection (h) in the year preceding the report, and the response of the department or establishment to those comments.
`(h)(1) Not later than February 1 of each year, each executive department, military department, and independent establishment shall publish in the Federal Register, and provide in such other manner as will notify users of information of the department or establishment a notice of–
`(A) the availability of the report prepared under subsection (g), and
`(B) a period of not less than 90 days for submission by the public of comments regarding the information dissemination policies and practices of the department or establishment, including comments regarding–
`(i) the types of information the department or establishment collects and disseminates,
`(ii) the methods and outlets the department or establishment uses to store and disseminate information,
`(iii) the prices charged by the department or establishment, or such outlets, for the information, and
`(iv) the validity, reliability, timeliness, and usefulness to the public of the information.
`(2) Comments received under this subsection by a department or independent establishment shall be available for inspection to the public.
`(i) Before discontinuing an information product or service, an agency shall–
`(1) publish in the Federal Register, or provide by other means adequate to inform users of information of the agency, a notice of a period of not less than 120 days for submission by the public of comments regarding that discontinuation,
`(2) include in that notice an explanation of the reasons for the discontinuation, and
`(3) consider comments received pursuant to the notice.
`(j) Each agency shall–
`(1) disseminate information in useful modes and through appropriate outlets, with adequate documentation, software, indexes, or other resources that will permit and broaden public access to Government information;
`(2) store and disseminate information products and services in standardized record formats; and
`(3) use depository libraries, national computer networks, and other distribution channels that improve public access to Government information.
`(k)(1) Except as specifically authorized by statute, an agency shall not–
`(A) charge more than the incremental cost of disseminating an information product or service; or
`(B) charge any royalty or other fee for any use or redissemination of Government information.
`(2) For purposes of this subsection, the incremental cost of disseminating an information product or service does not include any portion of the cost of collecting, organizing, or processing information disseminated through the product or service.
`(l)(1) The Archivist of the United States and the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall jointly issue and periodically revise model performance standards under which agencies shall be encouraged to provide access to public records.
`(2) Standards issued under this subsection shall include the establishment of a period within which an agency, upon request shall provide by mail a copy of any decision, rule, notice, docket filing, press release, or other public document of the agency.’.
SEC. 4. STANDARDS FOR ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORDS.
The Archivist of the United States and the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall jointly issue model performance standards for providing access to agency records, under section 552(l) of title 5, United States Code (as added by section 3), by not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act.