To amend title 17, United States Code, to reaffirm the importance of, and include requirements for, works incorporated by reference into law, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill requires standards development organizations (SDOs) to make their technical standards freely viewable online when those standards are incorporated into federal, state, or local laws. Currently, citizens often must pay to access the full text of private industry standards that have been made legally binding through reference in government regulations.
Who Benefits and How
The general public and small businesses benefit by gaining free online read-only access to technical standards that have become law. Government agencies benefit from reduced costs and clearer procedures for incorporating standards. Small municipalities particularly benefit as they often lack resources to purchase expensive standards documents.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Standards development organizations (like ANSI, ASTM, NFPA, IEEE) face potential revenue losses as they must provide free online access to standards incorporated into law, though they retain copyright and can still sell print copies and enhanced versions. They must also maintain ADA-compliant websites for public access.
Key Provisions
- Requires SDOs to make incorporated standards publicly accessible online within 90 days of incorporation into law
- Preserves copyright protections for SDOs while limiting their ability to restrict public viewing
- Mandates a GAO study on the financial impact to governments of purchasing access to incorporated standards
- Establishes that copying, downloading, or printing standards still requires authorization from copyright holders
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Establishes requirements for making privately-developed technical standards that are incorporated by reference into federal, state, and local laws publicly accessible online while protecting the copyright interests of standards development organizations.
Key Policy Areas
Intellectual Property, Government Transparency, Regulatory Policy
Primary Purpose
Establishes requirements for making privately-developed technical standards that are incorporated by reference into federal, state, and local laws publicly accessible online while protecting the copyright interests of standards development organizations.
Policy Domains
Section 4 - Study of Standards Cost
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Federal Government
- State Governments
- Local Governments
- Small Municipalities
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- GAO
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Section 2 - Findings
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Standards Development Organizations
- General Public
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Section 3 - Works Incorporated by Reference
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- General Public
- Small Businesses
- Government Agencies
- Legal Researchers
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Standards Development Organizations
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedAdditional sponsors: Mr. Raskin, Ms. Titus, Mr. Nehls, Mr. Moran, …
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the …
Mr. Issa (for himself and Ms. Ross) introduced the following …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Legal researchers and attorneys, Standards Development Organizations (ANSI, ASTM, NFPA, IEEE, etc.), Standards Development Organizations - revenue protection
Standards Development Organizations (ANSI, ASTM, NFPA, IEEE, etc.) faces effects in multiple directions
Positive-direction: Legal researchers and attorneys
Negative-direction: Standards Development Organizations - revenue protection
General Public accessing laws and regulations, General Public needing to understand applicable regulations
Federal government agencies incorporating standards, Government Accountability Office
Positive-direction: Federal government agencies incorporating standards
Negative-direction: Government Accountability Office
Small municipalities with limited resources, State and local governments incorporating standards
Small businesses subject to technical regulations
Construction and building trades subject to building codes
Manufacturing companies subject to safety standards
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "register_of_copyrights"
- → Register of Copyrights
- "comptroller_general"
- → Comptroller General of the United States (GAO)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
OMB Circular A-119 entitled Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities, issued January 27, 2016
With respect to a standard, that the text of a Federal, State, local, or municipal law or regulation references all or part of the standard without copying the text directly into that law
A technical standard as defined in section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995, or a voluntary consensus standard as used in Circular A-119
A copyright holder that plans, develops, establishes, or coordinates voluntary consensus standards using procedures with openness, balance of interests, due process, appeals process, and consensus consistent with Circular A-119
Material displayed for review in a readily accessible manner on a public website conforming with ADA section 508 accessibility requirements
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology