[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1636 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1636

      To streamline the collection and distribution of Government 
                              information.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 18, 2015

    Mr. Kirk (for himself, Ms. Ayotte, Mr. Cotton, and Mr. Perdue) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
           Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To streamline the collection and distribution of Government 
                              information.

    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 ``Just Google It Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The National Technical Information Service (referred to 
        in this Act as ``NTIS''), the National Archives and Records 
        Administration, the Government Accountability Office (referred 
        to in this section as ``GAO''), and the Library of Congress are 
        all tasked with collecting, categorizing, and distributing 
        Government publications to the public.
            (2) GAO has found that--
                    (A) NTIS costs have exceeded its revenues during a 
                recent 11-year period by an average of $1,300,000 per 
                year; and
                    (B) of the reports in the NTIS repository that are 
                available elsewhere, 95 percent are available for free 
                and most could be found using a web search engine like 
                google.com.
            (3) NTIS is a relic of the pre-Internet era and duplicates 
        the products and services offered by multiple Government 
        agencies.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE.

    (a) Repeal.--Effective on the date that is 1 year after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the National Technical Information Act of 
1988 (subtitle B of title II of Public Law 100-519; 15 U.S.C. 3704b) is 
repealed.
    (b) Transfer of Critical Functions.--
            (1) Consultation requirement.--The Secretary of Commerce, 
        the Archivist of the United States, the Comptroller General of 
        the United States, and the Commissioner of Social Security 
        shall consult with the Director of the Office of Management and 
        Budget to determine if any function of NTIS is critical to the 
        economy of the United States.
            (2) GAO certification.--The Comptroller General of the 
        United States shall determine which of the critical functions 
        identified pursuant to paragraph (1) are not being carried out 
        by any other agency or instrumentality of the Federal 
        Government.
            (3) Transfers authorized.--
                    (A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph 
                (B), the Secretary of Commerce, before the effective 
                date set forth in subsection (a), may transfer the 
                responsibility for any critical function of NTIS (as 
                identified under paragraph (1)) that is not otherwise 
                being carried out (as determined under paragraph (2)) 
                to another office within the Department of Commerce.
                    (B) Exception.--The Secretary may not transfer any 
                fee-based services offered by NTIS to another office 
                within the Department of Commerce.
            (4) Services by contractor.--If fee-based services 
        determined to be critical to the economy of the United States 
        under paragraph (1) are being carried out by a contractor 
        through a contract with NTIS, such contract may not be renewed, 
        but the Federal agency receiving such services, or the General 
        Service Administration, may enter into a new contract with the 
        contractor or another qualified entity to continue such 
        services after the expiration of the contract with NTIS.
    (c) Abolition of Functions.--Except for the functions transferred 
pursuant to subsection (b), all functions of the NTIS immediately 
before the repeal date described in subsection (a) are abolished on 
such repeal date.
    (d) Transfer of Unexpended Balances.--Not later than 1 year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury, 
after consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, shall--
            (1) transfer all unexpended balances in the National 
        Technical Information Service Revolving Fund, established 
        pursuant to the Department of Commerce Appropriations Act, 1993 
        (15 U.S.C. 3704b note), to the general fund of the Treasury for 
        the purpose of deficit reduction; and
            (2) after the transfer is completed pursuant to paragraph 
        (1), dissolve the National Technical Information Service 
        Revolving Fund.

SEC. 4. SECRETARY OF COMMERCE CERTIFICATION.

    Before the effective date set forth in section 3(a), the Secretary 
of Commerce shall submit a written certification to the Committee on 
Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 
House of Representatives that all of the operations of the National 
Technical Information Service have been terminated.
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