This document is the text of a bill (proposed law) introduced in the USA House of Representatives in 1991. This copy was posted on the WELL by Jim Warren (jwarren@well.sf.ca.us) in March, 1992. Jim obtained his copy from a mailing list he is on. It's about 100 lines long. ============================================================================= From: James P Love Subject: WINDO - the Bill To: Multiple recipients of list RESEARCH Members of this list might find the GPO WINDO legislation of interest. It would set up low cost one-stop-shopping online access to federal databases through the Government Printing Office. This service would be free to 1400 federal depository libraries, and available at the incremental cost of dissemination to everyone else. Let me know if you want a fact sheet on the bill. At present there are about ten sponors for the bill, including Rep. Rose (D-NC), who is the chair of the house committee the bill must pass. Organizational endorsements and personal letters to congress are needed for this important legislation to pass. jamie love. ----------------------------------------------------------------- H.R. 2772 A BILL To establish in the Government Printing Office a single point of online public access to a wide range of federal databases containing public information stored electronically. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 26, 1991 Section 1. This act may be cited as the "GPO Wide Information Network for Data Online Act of 1991." Sec. 2. Findings. The Congress finds that -- (a) Federal agencies increasingly receive, generate, and handle public information in electronic form; (b) agency possession of public information in electronic form has stimulated interest in public accessibility of that information through electronic networks; (c) for substantial numbers of federal electronic databases, public access is limited by difficulties in locating and accessing the data or by high prices imposed by private vendors; (d) public access to public electronic information will be greatly enhanced by a single point of online public access; (e) the Government Printing Office is the appropriate federal office to establish, coordinate, and maintain a federal program to provide online access to electronic public information for the federal government; and (f) information available through the Government Printing Office's online access program should be provided without charge to depository libraries, as designated under chapter 19 of title 44, United States Code, and priced at the incremental cost of dissemination for other subscribers. Sec. 3. Title 44, United States Code, is amended by adding a new chapter 40 as follows: "Chapter 40 -- Government Printing Office: Online Access to Government Electronic Information "Sec. 4001. The Superintendent of Documents, under the direction of the Public Printer, shall establish a program for providing to the public access to public electronic information. Such program (hereafter referred to as the "GPO WINDO") shall provide the public single-point access to a wide range of government electronic databases in accordance with section 4002 of this chapter and shall be established and maintained after consultation with and consideration of comments from potential users and others likely to be affected by the program. "Sec. 4002. In establishing and maintaining the GPO WINDO, the Superintendent of Documents, under the direction of the Public Printer, shall -- "(a) include such databases as are reasonably appropriate, based upon input from database users, libraries and federal agencies; "(b) rely upon agency data storage and retrieval software for accessing agency databases to the maximum extent feasible; "(c) provide for access to GPO WINDO databases through a wide a range of electronic networks, to allow broad, reasonable access to the data; and "(d) permit depository libraries to connect to, access, and query GPO WINDO databases without charge. "Sec. 4003. The Public Printer may, except as provided in section 4002(e) of this chapter, charge reasonable fees for providing access to databases through GPO WINDO. Such fees shall be limited as follows: "(a) for databases maintained by the Government Printing Office, the fee should approximate the Government Printing Office's incremental cost of dissemination of the data, without regard to section 1708 of title 44, United States Code; and "(b) for databases maintained by agencies and accessed through the GPO WINDO, the fee should approximate the incremental cost of dissemination of the data; "Sec. 4004. The Public Printer shall each year publish a notice in the Federal Register requesting public comment on the services, prices and policies related to the GPO WINDO and on such other issues as the Public Printer shall determine. On or before March 1 of each calendar year the Public Printer shall publish an annual report on GPO WINDO describing the program, summarizing public comment thereon, and stating the steps it has taken to address the comments received. Such report shall be submitted to the Committee on House Administration, the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, and the Joint Committee on Printing.". ------------------------------------------------------------------- James Love, Director Voice: 609-683-0534 Taxpayer Assets Project Fax: 202-234-5176 7-Z Magie, Faculty Road bitnet: Love@pucc.bitnet Princeton, NJ 08540 internet: Love@pucc.princeton.edu ============================================================================== .