[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 779 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 779

   To provide for Federal agencies to develop public access policies 
  relating to research conducted by employees of that agency or from 
                   funds administered by that agency.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 18, 2015

 Mr. Cornyn (for himself and Mr. Wyden) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide for Federal agencies to develop public access policies 
  relating to research conducted by employees of that agency or from 
                   funds administered by that agency.

    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 ``Fair Access to Science and 
Technology Research Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the Federal Government funds basic and applied research 
        with the expectation that new ideas and discoveries that result 
        from the research, if shared and effectively disseminated, will 
        advance science and improve the lives and welfare of people of 
        the United States and around the world;
            (2) the Internet makes it possible for this information to 
        be promptly available to every scientist, physician, educator, 
        and citizen at home, in school, or in a library; and
            (3) the United States has a substantial interest in 
        maximizing the impact and utility of the research it funds by 
        enabling a wide range of reuses of the peer-reviewed literature 
        that reports the results of such research, including by 
        enabling computational analysis by state-of-the-art 
        technologies.

SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF FEDERAL AGENCY.

    In this Act, the term ``Federal agency'' means an Executive agency, 
as defined under section 105 of title 5, United States Code.

SEC. 4. FEDERAL RESEARCH PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY.

    (a) Requirement To Develop Policy.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, each Federal agency with extramural 
        research expenditures of over $100,000,000 shall develop a 
        Federal research public access policy that is consistent with 
        and advances the purposes of the Federal agency.
            (2) Common procedures.--To the extent practicable, Federal 
        agencies required to develop a policy under paragraph (1) shall 
        follow common procedures for the collection and depositing of 
        research papers.
    (b) Content.--Each Federal research public access policy shall 
provide for--
            (1) submission to the Federal agency of an electronic 
        version of the author's final manuscript of original research 
        papers that have been accepted for publication in peer-reviewed 
        journals and that result from research supported, in whole or 
        in part, from funding by the Federal Government;
            (2) the incorporation of all changes resulting from the 
        peer review publication process in the manuscript described 
        under paragraph (1);
            (3) the replacement of the final manuscript with the final 
        published version if--
                    (A) the publisher consents to the replacement; and
                    (B) the goals of the Federal agency for 
                functionality and interoperability are retained;
            (4) free online public access to such final peer-reviewed 
        manuscripts or published versions as soon as practicable, but 
        not later than 6 months after publication in peer-reviewed 
        journals;
            (5) providing research papers as described in paragraph (4) 
        in formats and under terms that enable productive reuse, 
        including computational analysis by state-of-the-art 
        technologies;
            (6) production of an online bibliography of all research 
        papers that are publicly accessible under the policy, with each 
        entry linking to the corresponding free online full text; and
            (7) long-term preservation of, and free public access to, 
        published research findings--
                    (A) in a stable digital repository maintained by 
                the Federal agency; or
                    (B) if consistent with the purposes of the Federal 
                agency, in any repository meeting conditions determined 
                favorable by the Federal agency, including free public 
                access, interoperability, and long-term preservation.
    (c) Application of Policy.--Each Federal research public access 
policy shall--
            (1) apply to--
                    (A) researchers employed by the Federal agency 
                whose works remain in the public domain; and
                    (B) researchers funded by the Federal agency;
            (2) provide that works described under paragraph (1)(A) 
        shall be--
                    (A) marked as being public domain material when 
                published; and
                    (B) made available at the same time such works are 
                made available under subsection (b)(4); and
            (3) make effective use of any law or guidance relating to 
        the creation and reservation of a Government license that 
        provides for the reproduction, publication, release, or other 
        uses of a final manuscript for Federal purposes.
    (d) Exclusions.--Each Federal research public access policy shall 
not apply to--
            (1) research progress reports presented at professional 
        meetings or conferences;
            (2) laboratory notes, preliminary data analyses, notes of 
        the author, phone logs, or other information used to produce 
        final manuscripts;
            (3) classified research, research resulting in works that 
        generate revenue or royalties for authors (such as books) or 
        patentable discoveries, to the extent necessary to protect a 
        copyright or patent; or
            (4) authors who do not submit their work to a journal or 
        works that are rejected by journals.
    (e) Patent or Copyright Law.--Nothing in this Act shall be 
construed to affect any right under the provisions of title 17 or 35, 
United States Code.
    (f) Report.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than October 1 of each year, the 
        head of each Federal agency shall submit a report on the 
        Federal research public access policy of that Federal agency 
        to--
                    (A) the Committee on Homeland Security and 
                Governmental Affairs of the Senate;
                    (B) the Committee on Oversight and Government 
                Reform of the House of Representatives;
                    (C) the Committee on Science and Technology of the 
                House of Representatives;
                    (D) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                Transportation of the Senate;
                    (E) the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
                Pensions of the Senate; and
                    (F) any other committee of Congress of appropriate 
                jurisdiction.
            (2) Content.--Each report under this subsection shall 
        include--
                    (A) a statement of the effectiveness of the Federal 
                research public access policy in providing the public 
                with free online access to papers on research funded by 
                the Federal agency;
                    (B) the results of a study by the Federal agency of 
                the terms of use applicable to the research papers 
                described in subsection (b)(4), including--
                            (i) a statement of whether the terms of use 
                        applicable to such research papers are 
                        effective in enabling productive reuse and 
                        computational analysis by state-of-the-art 
                        technologies; and
                            (ii) an examination of whether such 
                        research papers should include a royalty-free 
                        copyright license that is available to the 
                        public and that permits the reuse of those 
                        research papers, on the condition that 
                        attribution is given to the author or authors 
                        of the research and any others designated by 
                        the copyright owner;
                    (C) a list of papers published in peer-reviewed 
                journals that report on research funded by the Federal 
                agency;
                    (D) a corresponding list of papers made available 
                by the Federal agency as a result of the Federal 
                research public access policy; and
                    (E) a summary of the periods of time between public 
                availability of each paper in a journal and in the 
                online repository of the Federal agency.
            (3) Public availability.--A Federal agency shall make the 
        statement under paragraph (2)(A) and the lists of papers under 
        subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (2) available to the 
        public by posting such statement and lists on the website of 
        the Federal agency.
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