WISE Government Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5049 To secure Federal access to scientific literature and other subscription services by requiring Federal agencies and legislative branch research arms to make recommendations on increasing agency library access to serials, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 12, 2019 Mr. FOSTER (for himself, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. QUIGLEY, and Ms. TITUS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To secure Federal access to scientific literature and other subscription services by requiring Federal agencies and legislative branch research arms to make recommenda- tions on increasing agency library access to serials, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Well-Informed, Sci- 4 entific, & Efficient Government Act of 2019’’ or the 5 ‘‘WISE Government Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:25 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5049.IH H5049 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5049 IH SEC. 2. AGENCY JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. 1 (a) PROHIBITION ON NONDISCLOSURE PROVISION 2 FOR JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTIONS.—The head of an agency 3 may not enter into any contract for a journal subscription 4 that prohibits disclosure of the cost of the subscription to 5 another agency or the Library of Congress. 6 (b) EMPLOYEE ACCESS TO LIBRARY SUBSCRIP- 7 TIONS.—Not later than 6 months after the date of the 8 enactment of this Act, the head of each agency shall re- 9 quire that each library of the agency make easily and 10 clearly available to the employees of the agency, including 11 regional employees, through the intranet any policy or pro- 12 cedure for employee access to a subscription of the library. 13 (c) REPORT ON INCREASING ACCESS TO SERIALS.— 14 Not later than 12 months after the date of the enactment 15 of this Act, the Administrator, in consultation with the 16 Library of Congress, the applicable agency libraries, and 17 other relevant stakeholders (including the Defense Tech- 18 nical Information Center, the National Library of Medi- 19 cine, the Education Resources Information Center, and 20 the National Technical Information Service) shall submit 21 to Congress and each agency library a report on increasing 22 agency library access to serials that includes— 23 (1) a survey of subscriptions purchased and 24 cost data for applicable agency libraries and the Li- 25 brary of Congress; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:25 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5049.IH H5049 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5049 IH (2) an outline of any issues with agency access 1 to scientific serials and subscriptions, which may in- 2 clude contract issues, concerns arising with new pub- 3 lishing media (including print, online, and aggre- 4 gated services), the ability of agency employees to 5 use agency library subscriptions in headquarters and 6 regional offices, purchasing system inefficiencies, 7 and price concerns; and 8 (3) recommendations on addressing issues, in- 9 cluding short-term and long-term solutions and as- 10 sessing the potential need for greater interagency 11 transparency and new purchasing models. 12 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 13 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 14 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv- 15 ices. 16 (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 17 meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, 18 United States Code. 19 (3) APPLICABLE AGENCY LIBRARY.—The term 20 ‘‘applicable agency library’’ means the libraries of— 21 (A) the Executive departments listed in 22 section 101 of title 5, United States Code; 23 (B) the military departments listed in sec- 24 tion 102 of title 5, United States Code; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:25 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5049.IH H5049 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5049 IH (C) any agency with a scientific focus, in- 1 cluding the Environmental Protection Agency 2 and the National Aeronautics and Space Ad- 3 ministration. 4 (4) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 5 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg- 6 et. 7 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 8 tion may be construed as requiring the disclosure of mat- 9 ters that are otherwise not subject to disclosure under sec- 10 tion 552(b) of title 5, United States Code (commonly re- 11 ferred to as the Freedom of Information Act). 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:25 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5049.IH H5049 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS