H.R. 4009

119 HR 4009 IH: Protecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes Act
 U.S. House of Representatives
 2025-06-13
 text/xml
 EN
 Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
 I  119th CONGRESS  1st Session  H. R. 4009  IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES   June 13, 2025   Mr. Issa  (for himself and  Ms. Ross ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the  Committee on the Judiciary    A BILL
To amend title 17, United States Code, to reaffirm the importance of, and include requirements for, works incorporated by reference into law, and for other purposes.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   Protecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes Act   or the   Pro Codes Act  .
2.
Findings
Congress finds the following:
(1)
Congress, the executive branch, and State and local governments have long recognized that the people of the United States benefit greatly from the work of private standards development organizations with expertise in highly specialized areas.
(2)
The organizations described in paragraph (1) create technical standards and voluntary consensus standards through a process requiring openness, balance, consensus, and due process to ensure all interested parties have an opportunity to participate in standards development.
(3)
The standards that result from the process described in paragraph (2) are used by private industry, academia, the Federal Government, and State and local governments that incorporate those standards by reference into laws and regulations.
(4)
The standards described in paragraph (3) further innovation, commerce, and public safety, all without cost to governments or taxpayers because standards development organizations fund the process described in paragraph (2) through the sale and licensing of their standards.
(5)
Congress and the executive branch have repeatedly declared that, wherever possible, governments should rely on voluntary consensus standards and have set forth policies and procedures by which those standards are incorporated by reference into laws and regulations and that balance the interests of access with protection for copyright.
(6)
Circular A–119 of the Office of Management and Budget entitled  Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities , issued in revised form on January 27, 2016, recognizes the benefits of voluntary consensus standards and incorporation by reference, stating that  [i]f a standard is used and published in an agency document, your agency must observe and protect the rights of the copyright holder and meet any other similar obligations. .
(7)
Federal agencies have relied extensively on the incorporation by reference system to leverage the value of technical standards and voluntary consensus standards for the benefit of the public, resulting in more than 23,000 sections in the Code of Federal Regulations that incorporate by reference technical and voluntary consensus standards.
(8)
State and local governments have also recognized that technical standards and voluntary consensus standards are critical to protecting public health and safety, which has resulted in many such governments—
(A)
incorporating those standards by reference into their laws and regulations; or
(B)
entering into license agreements with standards development organizations to use the standards created by those organizations.
(9)
Standards development organizations rely on copyright protection to generate the revenues necessary to fund the voluntary consensus process and to continue creating and updating these important standards.
(10)
The people of the United States have a strong interest in—
(A)
ensuring that standards development organizations continue to utilize a voluntary consensus process—
(i)
in which all interested parties can participate; and
(ii)
that continues to create and update standards in a timely manner to—
(I)
account for technological advances;
(II)
address new threats to public health and safety; and
(III)
improve the usefulness of those standards; and
(B)
the provision of access that allows people to read technical and voluntary consensus standards that are incorporated by reference into laws and regulations.
(11)
As of the date of enactment of this Act, many standards development organizations make their standards available to the public free of charge online in a manner that does not substantially disrupt the ability of those organizations to earn revenue from the industries and professionals that purchase copies and subscription-access to those standards (such as through read-only access), which ensures that the public may read the current, accurate version of such a standard without significantly interfering with the revenue model that has long supported those organizations and their creation of, and investment in, new standards.
(12)
Through this Act, and the amendments made by this Act, Congress intends to balance the goals of furthering the creation of standards and ensuring public access to standards that are incorporated by reference into law or regulation.
3.
Works incorporated by reference into law
(a)
In general
 Chapter 1  of title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
123.
Works incorporated by reference into law
(a)
Definitions
In this section:
(1)
Circular A–119
The term  Circular A–119  means Circular A–119 of the Office of Management and Budget entitled  Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities , issued in revised form on January 27, 2016.
(2)
Incorporated by reference
(A)
In general
The term  incorporated by reference  means, with respect to a standard, that the text of a Federal, State, local, or municipal law or regulation—
(i)
references all or part of the standard; and
(ii)
does not copy the text of that standard directly into that law or regulation.
(B)
Application
The creation or publication of a work that includes both the text of a law or regulation and all or part of a standard that has been incorporated by reference, as described in subparagraph (A), shall not affect the status of the standard as incorporated by reference under that subparagraph.
(3)
Standard
The term  standard  means a standard or code that is—
(A)
a technical standard, as that term is defined in section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 ( 15 U.S.C. 272  note); or
(B)
a voluntary consensus standard, as that term is used for the purposes of Circular A–119.
(4)
Standards development organization
The term  standards development organization  means a holder of a copyright under this title that plans, develops, establishes, or coordinates voluntary consensus standards using procedures that incorporate the attributes of openness, balance of interests, due process, an appeals process, and consensus in a manner consistent with the requirements of Circular A–119.
(5)
Publicly accessible online
(A)
In general
The term  publicly accessible online , with respect to material, means that the material is displayed for review in a readily accessible manner on a public website that conforms with the accessibility requirements of section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ( 29 U.S.C. 794d ), including the regulations implementing that section as set forth in part 1194 of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation.
(B)
Rule of construction
If a user is required to create an account or agree to the terms of service of a website or organization in order to access material online, that requirement shall not be construed to render the material not publicly accessible online for the purposes of subparagraph (A), if—
(i)
there is no monetary cost to the user to access that material; and
(ii)
no personally identifiable information collected pursuant to such a requirement is used without the affirmative and express consent of the user.
(b)
Standards incorporated by reference into law or regulation
A standard to which copyright protection subsists under section 102(a) at the time of its fixation shall retain such protection, notwithstanding that the standard is incorporated by reference, if the applicable standards development organization, within a reasonable period of time after obtaining actual or constructive notice that the standard has been incorporated by reference, makes all portions of the standard so incorporated publicly accessible online at no monetary cost and in a format that includes a searchable table of contents and index, or equivalent aids to facilitate the location of specific content.
(c)
Burden of proof
In any proceeding in which a party asserts that a standards development organization has failed to comply with the requirements under subsection (b) for retaining copyright protection with respect to a standard, the burden of proof shall be on the party making that assertion to prove that the standards development organization has failed to comply with those requirements.
 .
(b)
Technical and conforming amendment
The table of sections for  chapter 1  of title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
123. Works incorporated by reference into law.
  .
4.
Study of standards cost to governments
(a)
In general
The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a study on the financial impact to Federal, State, and local governments in the United States associated with acquiring access to standards incorporated by reference into law.
(b)
Scope
The study under subsection (a) shall—
(1)
analyze the total expenditure by government entities for accessing these standards;
(2)
assess any financial burdens or resource constraints these costs impose on governments, particularly for smaller municipalities;
(3)
evaluate the cost-effectiveness of current mechanisms for acquiring these standards; and
(4)
examine the impacts on public services due to the costs associated with accessing these standards.
(c)
Report
Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit a report to Congress that includes—
(1)
the findings of the study conducted under subsection (a); and
(2)
recommendations to mitigate any adverse financial impacts identified by the study, including suggestions for legislative or administrative actions as appropriate.