I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3762 

To provide members of the public with Internet access to certain 

Congressional Research Service publications, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 8, 2009 

Mr. KRATOVIL (for himself and Mr. LANCE) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To provide members of the public with Internet access to 

certain Congressional Research Service publications, 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; FINDINGS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Congressional Research Service Electronic Accessibility 

6 Act of 2009’’. 

7 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Congressional Research Service, a spe9 cial reference unit within the Library of Congress, 

10 offers invaluable research and analysis to Members 


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1 of Congress on all current and emerging issues of 

2 national policy. 

3 (2) The Congressional Research Service staff of 

4 approximately 700 employees, including lawyers, 

5 economists, reference librarians, and social, natural, 

6 and physical scientists, are governed by require7 ments for accuracy, objectivity, balance, and non8 partisanship. 

9 (3) The Congressional Research Service has a 

10 responsibility to ensure that Members of the House 

11 and Senate have available the best possible informa12 tion and analysis on which to base the policy deci13 sions the American people have elected them to 

14 make. 

15 (4) It is often burdensome, difficult, and time16 consuming for citizens to obtain access to objective 

17 and nonpartisan policy analysis on issues affecting 

18 their interests. 

19 (5) It will enhance our democracy to provide 

20 citizens with access to unbiased and accurate CRS 

21 documents on legislation and other critical issues be22 fore Congress. 

23 (6) Allowing public access to CRS will empower 

24 citizens and enable Members of Congress to become 


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1 even more effective ‘‘representatives’’ of the public’s 

2 concerns and goals. 

3 SEC. 2. AVAILABILITY OF CERTAIN CONGRESSIONAL RE4 SEARCH SERVICE INFORMATION. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF DATA6 BASE OF INFORMATION.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Clerk of the House of 

8 Representatives and the Secretary of Senate, work9 ing jointly and in consultation with the Director of 

10 the Congressional Research Service, shall establish 

11 and maintain a centralized, searchable, electronic 

12 database consisting of— 

13 (A) all of the information described in 

14 paragraph (2) that is available to Members, of15 ficers, employees, and offices of the House of 

16 Representatives or Senate through the Congres17 sional Research Service website; and 

18 (B) an index of the information described 

19 in subparagraph (A). 

20 (2) INFORMATION DESCRIBED.—The informa21 tion described in this paragraph is as follows: 

22 (A) Congressional Research Service Issue 

23 Briefs. 

24 (B) Congressional Research Service Re25 ports. 


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1 (C) Congressional Research Service Au2 thorization of Appropriations Products and Ap3 propriations Products. 

4 (b) LIMITATIONS.— 

5 (1) CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.—Subsection 

6 (a) does not apply to— 

7 (A) any information that is confidential, as 

8 determined by— 

9 (i) the Director, or 

10 (ii) the head of a Federal department 

11 or agency that provided the information to 

12 the Congressional Research Service; or 

13 (B) any document that is the product of a 

14 confidential research request made by a Mem15 ber, officer, employee, or office of the House of 

16 Representatives or Senate. 

17 (2) REDACTION AND REVISION.—In carrying 

18 out this section, the Clerk and the Secretary, on the 

19 basis of information provided by the Director, 

20 may— 

21 (A) remove from the information included 

22 in the database the name and phone number of, 

23 and any other information regarding, an em24 ployee of the Congressional Research Service; 


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1 (B) remove from the information included 

2 in the database any material for which the Di3 rector determines that including the informa4 tion on the database may infringe the copyright 

5 of a work protected under title 17, United 

6 States Code; and 

7 (C) make any changes in the information 

8 included in the database that the Director de9 termines necessary to ensure that the informa10 tion is accurate and current. 

11 (c) PRIOR APPROVAL NOT REQUIRED.—Notwith12 standing any provision of law to the contrary, the Director 

13 may take such actions as may be necessary to enable the 

14 Clerk and Secretary to establish and maintain the data15 base under this section, including providing the informa16 tion described in subsection (a)(2), without obtaining the 

17 prior approval of the Committee on Rules and Administra18 tion of the Senate, the Committee on House Administra19 tion of the House of Representatives, or the Joint Com20 mittee on Printing. 

21 SEC. 3. METHOD OF PUBLIC ACCESS. 

22 (a) ACCESS THROUGH WEBSITES OF MEMBERS AND

23 COMMITTEES.—Each official public website of a Member 

24 of the House of Representatives or Senate, a committee 

25 of the House of Representatives or Senate, or a joint comVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:27 Oct 09, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3762.IH H3762

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1 mittee of the Congress shall permit members of the public 

2 to use the website to obtain the information contained in 

3 the database established under section 2, in the same 

4 manner and to the same extent as Members, officers, em5 ployees, and offices of the House of Representatives and 

6 Senate may obtain such information through the Congres7 sional Research Service website. 

8 (b) REGULATIONS.—Subsection (a) shall be carried 

9 out— 

10 (1) in the case of websites of Members and 

11 committees of the House of Representatives, in ac12 cordance with regulations promulgated by the Com13 mittee on House Administration of the House of 

14 Representatives; 

15 (2) in the case of websites of Members and 

16 committees of the Senate, in accordance with regula17 tions promulgated by the Committee on Rules and 

18 Administration of the Senate; and 

19 (3) in the case of any other website to which 

20 subsection (a) applies, in accordance with regula21 tions promulgated jointly by the Committee on 

22 House Administration of the House of Representa23 tives and the Committee on Rules and Administra24 tion of the Senate. 


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1 SEC. 4. NO RESPONSE TO PUBLIC INQUIRIES REQUIRED. 

2 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require the 

3 Director to respond to any inquiry made by a member of 

4 the public with respect to any of the information contained 

5 in the database established and maintained under section 

6 2 or made available the public on the Internet pursuant 

7 to section 3. 

8 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act— 

10 (1) the term ‘‘Clerk’’ means the Clerk of the 

11 House of Representatives; 

12 (2) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 

13 the Congressional Research Service; 

14 (3) the term ‘‘Member of the House of Rep15 resentatives’’ includes a Delegate or Resident Com16 missioner to the Congress; and 

17 (4) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

18 of the Senate. 

Æ 


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