Statutes at Large Modernization Act

Statutes at Large Modernization Act

This bill directs the Government Publishing Office (GPO) to make the Statutes at Large available to the public at no cost on a website in a searchable, non-proprietary format.

The GPO must ensure that the searchable online edition is prepared in coordination with the National Archives and Records Administration and congressional support offices that develop formatting conventions used for enrolled bills and other legislative materials.

The bill amends the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1996 to require relevant Statutes at Large electronic information made available by the GPO to be incorporated into the Library of Congress's legislative information retrieval system.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1729 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1729

To provide the public with access to the laws of the United States, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 27, 2017

 Mr. Brat (for himself and Mr. Moulton) introduced the following bill; 
      which was referred to the Committee on House Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide the public with access to the laws of the United States, and 
                          for other purposes.

    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 ``Statutes at Large Modernization 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States was established under ``a government 
        of laws, and not of men''.
            (2) The rule of law requires that the laws be available to 
        the people.
            (3) Active, permanent laws are codified in the United 
        States Code, which is maintained by the Office of the Law 
        Revision Counsel at http://uscode.house.gov/.
            (4) The United States Code usually does not include, 
        however, repealed laws, original statutes that have since been 
        amended, or those with limited duration such as appropriations 
        acts. Furthermore, uncodified titles of the United States Code 
        are merely ``evidence'' of the law before the judicial branch, 
        so attorneys must consult the United States Statutes at Large.
            (5) The United States Statutes at Large is compiled by the 
        National Archives and Records Administration. It is legal and 
        permanent evidence of all the laws enacted during a session of 
        Congress beginning with the First Congress in 1789. It also 
        contains concurrent resolutions, reorganization plans, proposed 
        and ratified amendments to the Constitution of the United 
        States, and proclamations by the President.
            (6) The Statutes at Large collection is published under the 
        direction of the Office of the Federal Register through the 
        Congressional Printing Management Division of the Government 
        Publishing Office.
            (7) The Law Library of Congress has begun to digitize the 
        Statutes at Large. It has published all volumes in a text-over-
        PDF format. They appear as scanned PDF images with basic search 
        capability.
            (8) More resources are needed to adequately refine and 
        structure the embedded data elements that enable advanced 
        search functions, machine readability, and other useful 
        options.
            (9) The Government Publishing Office is the appropriate 
        entity to lead the online digitization of the Statutes at Large 
        in collaboration with other Federal and private entities with 
        expertise in developing formatting conventions for legislative 
        materials.
            (10) Incorporating relevant digital information into 
        www.Congress.gov would make it a more useful and comprehensive 
        research resource.

SEC. 3. PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES.

    (a) Online Availability of Statutes at Large Through Government 
Publishing Office.--Section 728 of title 44, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in the first undesignated paragraph, by striking ``The 
        Director'' and inserting ``(a) Printing and Distribution.--The 
        Director'';
            (2) in the second undesignated paragraph, by striking ``The 
        Director'' and inserting ``(b) Treaties and Other International 
        Agreements.--The Director''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(c) Online Access to Statutes at Large.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Director shall make the Statutes at 
        Large available to the public at no cost on a website in a 
        searchable, non-proprietary format.
            ``(2) Consultation and coordination.--The Director shall 
        ensure that the searchable online edition of the United States 
        Statutes at Large made available under this subsection is 
        prepared in consultation and coordination with entities that 
        develop formatting conventions used for enrolled bills and 
        other legislative materials, which may include the Library of 
        Congress, the Office of the Clerk of the House of 
        Representatives, the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, the 
        Office of the Legislative Counsel of the House of 
        Representatives, the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the 
        Senate, the Office of the Law Revision Counsel, the 
        Congressional Research Service, the National Archives and 
        Records Administration, and such other public and private 
        entities that the Director considers appropriate.''.
    (b) Requiring Librarian of Congress To Incorporate Searchable 
Statutes at Large Into Legislative Information Retrieval System.--
Section 209 of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1996 (2 
U.S.C. 180) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(f) In addition to the legislative information described in 
subsection (b), the relevant electronic information made available by 
the Director of the Government Publishing Office under section 728(c) 
of title 44, United States Code, shall be incorporated into the 
legislative information service to the extent practicable.''.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 through 2022 to 
carry out the provisions of this Act.
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