[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 454 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 454

      Directing the Committee on House Oversight of the House of 
 Representatives to take all necessary steps to make voting records of 
     Members of the House and other information on the legislative 
activities of the House accessible on the Internet through the official 
   homepage of the House of Representatives, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 12, 1996

  Ms. Lofgren  (for herself and Mr. Farr of California) submitted the 
   following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
      Directing the Committee on House Oversight of the House of 
 Representatives to take all necessary steps to make voting records of 
     Members of the House and other information on the legislative 
activities of the House accessible on the Internet through the official 
   homepage of the House of Representatives, and for other purposes.

    Resolved,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This resolution may be cited as the ``Citizens' Right To Know 
Resolution''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The House of Representatives finds the following:
            (1) Most individuals find that obtaining documents relating 
        to the legislative activities of the House is extremely 
        difficult and time-consuming.
            (2) The access of citizens to information on such 
        activities is vitally important to the continuing success of 
        our system of government.
            (3) The dissemination on the Internet of information on the 
        legislative activities of the 104th Congress has been declared 
        to be a priority of the House.
            (4) Although some progress has been made in making 
        information available, important legislative information 
        (particularly the voting records of Members of the House) is 
        not yet accessible through the official homepage of the House, 
        even though there are no technological barriers to making this 
        information available.

SEC. 3. IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO INFORMATION.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 15 days after the adoption of this 
resolution, the Committee on House Oversight of the House of 
Representatives shall take all steps necessary to make all information 
on the legislative activities of the House of Representatives currently 
available to the public in the Congressional Record (including voting 
records of Members in the House or in the Committee of the Whole) 
accessible through the homepage or other public data facility operated 
on the Internet as the official data facility of the House of 
Representatives at the same time the information is made available in 
print form.
    (b) Searchable Presentation of Information.--In carrying out 
subsection (a)(1), the Committee on House Oversight shall make the 
information currently available in the Congressional Record accessible 
through the homepage or other data facility without modification, 
except that the Committee shall present the information in an easily 
searchable, indexed database which facilitates public access to 
information on the activities of individual Members of the House of 
Representatives and on other legislative activities of the House of 
Representatives.

SEC. 4. ENCOURAGING FURTHER PUBLIC ACCESSIBILITY.

    Not later than 60 days after the adoption of this resolution, the 
Committee on House Oversight of the House of Representatives shall 
submit a report to the House on its strategy for increasing public 
access to Congressional documents and to information on the legislative 
activities of the House of Representatives (including activities in 
committees) accessible through the Internet and on the status of its 
current projects to carry out the strategy, including a description of 
the reasons for any delays in the implementation of such projects and 
recommendations for steps to remove such delays.
                                 <all>