[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5049 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 
                   Committee 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 recommendations on increasing agency 
           library access to serials, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Well-Informed, Scientific, & 
Efficient Government Act of 2019'' or the ``WISE Government Act''.

SEC. 2. AGENCY JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTIONS.

    (a) Prohibition on Nondisclosure Provision for Journal 
Subscriptions.--The head of an agency may not enter into any contract 
for a journal subscription that prohibits disclosure of the cost of the 
subscription to another agency or the Library of Congress.
    (b) Employee Access to Library Subscriptions.--Not later than 6 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the head of each 
agency shall require that each library of the agency make easily and 
clearly available to the employees of the agency, including regional 
employees, through the intranet any policy or procedure for employee 
access to a subscription of the library.
    (c) Report on Increasing Access to Serials.--Not later than 12 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, 
in consultation with the Library of Congress, the applicable agency 
libraries, and other relevant stakeholders (including the Defense 
Technical Information Center, the National Library of Medicine, the 
Education Resources Information Center, and the National Technical 
Information Service) shall submit to Congress and each agency library a 
report on increasing agency library access to serials that includes--
            (1) a survey of subscriptions purchased and cost data for 
        applicable agency libraries and the Library of Congress;
            (2) an outline of any issues with agency access to 
        scientific serials and subscriptions, which may include 
        contract issues, concerns arising with new publishing media 
        (including print, online, and aggregated services), the ability 
        of agency employees to use agency library subscriptions in 
        headquarters and regional offices, purchasing system 
        inefficiencies, and price concerns; and
            (3) recommendations on addressing issues, including short-
        term and long-term solutions and assessing the potential need 
        for greater interagency transparency and new purchasing models.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of General Services.
            (2) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given that 
        term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
            (3) Applicable agency library.--The term ``applicable 
        agency library'' means the libraries of--
                    (A) the Executive departments listed in section 101 
                of title 5, United States Code;
                    (B) the military departments listed in section 102 
                of title 5, United States Code; and
                    (C) any agency with a scientific focus, including 
                the Environmental Protection Agency and the National 
                Aeronautics and Space Administration.
            (4) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of 
        the Office of Management and Budget.
    (e) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section may be construed 
as requiring the disclosure of matters that are otherwise not subject 
to disclosure under section 552(b) of title 5, United States Code 
(commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act).
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