I 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Well-Informed, Sci5 entific, & Efficient Government Act of 2019’’ or the 

6 ‘‘WISE Government Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AGENCY JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. 

2 (a) PROHIBITION ON NONDISCLOSURE PROVISION

3 FOR JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTIONS.—The head of an agency 

4 may not enter into any contract for a journal subscription 

5 that prohibits disclosure of the cost of the subscription to 

6 another agency or the Library of Congress. 

7 (b) EMPLOYEE ACCESS TO LIBRARY SUBSCRIP8 TIONS.—Not later than 6 months after the date of the 

9 enactment of this Act, the head of each agency shall re10 quire that each library of the agency make easily and 

11 clearly available to the employees of the agency, including 

12 regional employees, through the intranet any policy or pro13 cedure for employee access to a subscription of the library. 

14 (c) REPORT ON INCREASING ACCESS TO SERIALS.— 

15 Not later than 12 months after the date of the enactment 

16 of this Act, the Administrator, in consultation with the 

17 Library of Congress, the applicable agency libraries, and 

18 other relevant stakeholders (including the Defense Tech19 nical Information Center, the National Library of Medi20 cine, the Education Resources Information Center, and 

21 the National Technical Information Service) shall submit 

22 to Congress and each agency library a report on increasing 

23 agency library access to serials that includes— 

24 (1) a survey of subscriptions purchased and 

25 cost data for applicable agency libraries and the Li26 brary of Congress; 


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1 (2) an outline of any issues with agency access 

2 to scientific serials and subscriptions, which may in3 clude contract issues, concerns arising with new pub4 lishing media (including print, online, and aggre5 gated services), the ability of agency employees to 

6 use agency library subscriptions in headquarters and 

7 regional offices, purchasing system inefficiencies, 

8 and price concerns; and 

9 (3) recommendations on addressing issues, in10 cluding short-term and long-term solutions and as11 sessing the potential need for greater interagency 

12 transparency and new purchasing models. 

13 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

14 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis15 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv16 ices. 

17 (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 

18 meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, 

19 United States Code. 

20 (3) APPLICABLE AGENCY LIBRARY.—The term 

21 ‘‘applicable agency library’’ means the libraries of— 

22 (A) the Executive departments listed in 

23 section 101 of title 5, United States Code; 

24 (B) the military departments listed in sec25 tion 102 of title 5, United States Code; and 


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1 (C) any agency with a scientific focus, in2 cluding the Environmental Protection Agency 

3 and the National Aeronautics and Space Ad4 ministration. 

5 (4) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

6 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg7 et. 

8 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec9 tion may be construed as requiring the disclosure of mat10 ters that are otherwise not subject to disclosure under sec11 tion 552(b) of title 5, United States Code (commonly re12 ferred to as the Freedom of Information Act). 

Æ 


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