1.
(a)This Act may be cited
as the Congressional Research Service Electronic
Accessibility Act of 2009
.
(b)Congress
finds the following:
(1)The Congressional Research Service, a
special reference unit within the Library of Congress, offers invaluable
research and analysis to Members of Congress on all current and emerging issues
of national policy.
(2)The Congressional
Research Service staff of approximately 700 employees, including lawyers,
economists, reference librarians, and social, natural, and physical scientists,
are governed by requirements for accuracy, objectivity, balance, and
nonpartisanship.
(3)The Congressional
Research Service has a responsibility to ensure that Members of the House and
Senate have available the best possible information and analysis on which to
base the policy decisions the American people have elected them to make.
(4)It is often
burdensome, difficult, and time-consuming for citizens to obtain access to
objective and nonpartisan policy analysis on issues affecting their
interests.
(5)It will enhance our democracy to provide
citizens with access to unbiased and accurate CRS documents on legislation and
other critical issues before Congress.
(6)Allowing public access to CRS will empower
citizens and enable Members of Congress to become even more effective
“representatives” of the public’s concerns and goals.
2.Availability of
certain Congressional Research Service information
(a)Establishment
and Maintenance of Database of information
(1)The Clerk of the House of Representatives and the
Secretary of Senate, working jointly and in consultation with the Director of
the Congressional Research Service, shall establish and maintain a centralized,
searchable, electronic database consisting of—
(A)all of the information described in
paragraph (2) that is available to Members, officers, employees, and offices of
the House of Representatives or Senate through the Congressional Research
Service website; and
(B)an index of the
information described in subparagraph (A).
(2)The information described in this paragraph is as
follows:
(A)Congressional
Research Service Issue Briefs.
(B)Congressional
Research Service Reports.
(C)Congressional
Research Service Authorization of Appropriations Products and Appropriations
Products.
(b)
(1)Subsection (a) does not apply to—
(A)any information
that is confidential, as determined by—
(i)the
Director, or
(ii)the
head of a Federal department or agency that provided the information to the
Congressional Research Service; or
(B)any document that
is the product of a confidential research request made by a Member, officer,
employee, or office of the House of Representatives or Senate.
(2)In carrying out this section, the Clerk and the
Secretary, on the basis of information provided by the Director, may—
(A)remove from the
information included in the database the name and phone number of, and any
other information regarding, an employee of the Congressional Research
Service;
(B)remove from the
information included in the database any material for which the Director
determines that including the information on the database may infringe the
copyright of a work protected under title 17, United States Code; and
(C)make any changes
in the information included in the database that the Director determines
necessary to ensure that the information is accurate and current.
(c)Prior Approval
Not RequiredNotwithstanding any provision of law to the
contrary, the Director may take such actions as may be necessary to enable the
Clerk and Secretary to establish and maintain the database under this section,
including providing the information described in subsection (a)(2), without
obtaining the prior approval of the Committee on Rules and Administration of
the Senate, the Committee on House Administration of the House of
Representatives, or the Joint Committee on Printing.
3.
(a)Access Through
Websites of Members and CommitteesEach official public website of a Member of
the House of Representatives or Senate, a committee of the House of
Representatives or Senate, or a joint committee of the Congress shall permit
members of the public to use the website to obtain the information contained in
the database established under section 2, in the same manner and to the same
extent as Members, officers, employees, and offices of the House of
Representatives and Senate may obtain such information through the
Congressional Research Service website.
(b)Subsection
(a) shall be carried out—
(1)in the case of
websites of Members and committees of the House of Representatives, in
accordance with regulations promulgated by the Committee on House
Administration of the House of Representatives;
(2)in the case of
websites of Members and committees of the Senate, in accordance with
regulations promulgated by the Committee on Rules and Administration of the
Senate; and
(3)in the case of any
other website to which subsection (a) applies, in accordance with regulations
promulgated jointly by the Committee on House Administration of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Rules and Administration of the
Senate.
4.No
Response to Public Inquiries RequiredNothing in this Act shall be construed to
require the Director to respond to any inquiry made by a member of the public
with respect to any of the information contained in the database established
and maintained under section 2 or made available the public on the Internet
pursuant to section 3.
5.In this Act—
(1)the term
Clerk means the Clerk of the House of Representatives;
(2)the term
Director means the Director of the Congressional Research
Service;
(3)the term
Member of the House of Representatives includes a Delegate or
Resident Commissioner to the Congress; and
(4)the term
Secretary means the Secretary of the Senate.