II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1636 

To streamline the collection and distribution of Government information. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 18, 2015 

Mr. KIRK (for himself, Ms. AYOTTE, Mr. COTTON, and Mr. PERDUE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To streamline the collection and distribution of Government 

information. 

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 ‘‘Just Google It Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 Congress finds the following: 

7 (1) The National Technical Information Service 

8 (referred to in this Act as ‘‘NTIS’’), the National 

9 Archives and Records Administration, the Govern10 ment Accountability Office (referred to in this secVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:29 Jun 25, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1636.IS S1636

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1 tion as ‘‘GAO’’), and the Library of Congress are all 

2 tasked with collecting, categorizing, and distributing 

3 Government publications to the public. 

4 (2) GAO has found that— 

5 (A) NTIS costs have exceeded its revenues 

6 during a recent 11-year period by an average of 

7 $1,300,000 per year; and 

8 (B) of the reports in the NTIS repository 

9 that are available elsewhere, 95 percent are 

10 available for free and most could be found using 

11 a web search engine like google.com. 

12 (3) NTIS is a relic of the pre-Internet era and 

13 duplicates the products and services offered by mul14 tiple Government agencies. 

15 SEC. 3. NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE. 

16 (a) REPEAL.—Effective on the date that is 1 year 

17 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the National 

18 Technical Information Act of 1988 (subtitle B of title II 

19 of Public Law 100–519; 15 U.S.C. 3704b) is repealed. 

20 (b) TRANSFER OF CRITICAL FUNCTIONS.— 

21 (1) CONSULTATION REQUIREMENT.—The Sec22 retary of Commerce, the Archivist of the United 

23 States, the Comptroller General of the United 

24 States, and the Commissioner of Social Security 

25 shall consult with the Director of the Office of ManVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:29 Jun 25, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1636.IS S1636

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1 agement and Budget to determine if any function of 

2 NTIS is critical to the economy of the United 

3 States. 

4 (2) GAO CERTIFICATION.—The Comptroller 

5 General of the United States shall determine which 

6 of the critical functions identified pursuant to para7 graph (1) are not being carried out by any other 

8 agency or instrumentality of the Federal Govern9 ment. 

10 (3) TRANSFERS AUTHORIZED.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

12 subparagraph (B), the Secretary of Commerce, 

13 before the effective date set forth in subsection 

14 (a), may transfer the responsibility for any crit15 ical function of NTIS (as identified under para16 graph (1)) that is not otherwise being carried 

17 out (as determined under paragraph (2)) to an18 other office within the Department of Com19 merce. 

20 (B) EXCEPTION.—The Secretary may not 

21 transfer any fee-based services offered by NTIS 

22 to another office within the Department of 

23 Commerce. 

24 (4) SERVICES BY CONTRACTOR.—If fee-based 

25 services determined to be critical to the economy of 


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1 the United States under paragraph (1) are being 

2 carried out by a contractor through a contract with 

3 NTIS, such contract may not be renewed, but the 

4 Federal agency receiving such services, or the Gen5 eral Service Administration, may enter into a new 

6 contract with the contractor or another qualified en7 tity to continue such services after the expiration of 

8 the contract with NTIS. 

9 (c) ABOLITION OF FUNCTIONS.—Except for the func10 tions transferred pursuant to subsection (b), all functions 

11 of the NTIS immediately before the repeal date described 

12 in subsection (a) are abolished on such repeal date. 

13 (d) TRANSFER OF UNEXPENDED BALANCES.—Not 

14 later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 

15 Act, the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with 

16 the Secretary of Commerce, shall— 

17 (1) transfer all unexpended balances in the Na18 tional Technical Information Service Revolving 

19 Fund, established pursuant to the Department of 

20 Commerce Appropriations Act, 1993 (15 U.S.C. 

21 3704b note), to the general fund of the Treasury for 

22 the purpose of deficit reduction; and 

23 (2) after the transfer is completed pursuant to 

24 paragraph (1), dissolve the National Technical Infor25 mation Service Revolving Fund. 


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1 SEC. 4. SECRETARY OF COMMERCE CERTIFICATION. 

2 Before the effective date set forth in section 3(a), the 

3 Secretary of Commerce shall submit a written certification 

4 to the Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Com5 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep6 resentatives that all of the operations of the National 

7 Technical Information Service have been terminated. 

Æ 


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