[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6769 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6769

  To amend title 17, United States Code, to include requirements for 
      works adopted by reference into law, and for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 18, 2022

 Mr. Deutch (for himself and Mr. Issa) introduced the following bill; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

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                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 17, United States Code, to include requirements for 
      works adopted by reference into law, 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 ``Protecting and Enhancing Public 
Access to Codes Act'' or the ``Pro Codes Act''.

SEC. 2. WORKS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE INTO LAW.

    Chapter 1 of title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding at 
the end the following new section:
``Sec. 123. Works Incorporated by Reference into Law
    ``(a) Work Incorporated by Reference Into Law or Regulation.--An 
original work of authorship otherwise subject to protection under this 
title that has been adopted or incorporated by reference, in full or in 
part, into any Federal, State, or municipal law or regulation, shall 
retain such protection only if the owner of the copyright makes the 
work available at no monetary cost for viewing by the public in 
electronic form on a publicly accessible website in a location on the 
website that is readily accessible to the public.
    ``(b) Burden of Proof.--In any cause of action in which a party 
asserts that the owner of a copyright has failed to comply with the 
requirements of subsection (a), the burden of proof shall be on the 
party making such an assertion to prove that the owner of the copyright 
has failed to comply.
    ``(c) Transparency.--Nothing in this section shall be construed as 
inconsistent with the requirements for transparency in Federal 
expenditure information as set forth in the DATA Act (Public Law 113-
101; 31 U.S.C. 6101).''.
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