IB 

Union Calendar No. 501 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1631 

[Report No. 118–601] 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 17, 2023 

Mr. ISSA (for himself and Ms. ROSS) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

JULY 22, 2024 

Additional sponsors: Mr. RASKIN, Ms. TITUS, Mr. NEHLS, Mr. MORAN, Mr. 

LIEU, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. CLINE, Mr. FITZGERALD, Mr. KILEY, Mr. 

MOORE of Alabama, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. CARAVEO, Mr. YAKYM, Mr. 

LALOTA, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina, Mr. BENTZ, 

and Mr. GOODEN of Texas 

JULY 22, 2024 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 17, 2023] 


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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. 


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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 ‘‘Protecting and Enhanc5 ing Public Access to Codes Act’’ or the ‘‘Pro Codes Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Congress, the executive branch, and State 

9 and local governments have long recognized that the 

10 people of the United States benefit greatly from the 

11 work of private standards development organizations 

12 with expertise in highly specialized areas. 

13 (2) The organizations described in paragraph (1) 

14 create technical standards and voluntary consensus 

15 standards through a process requiring openness, bal16 ance, consensus, and due process to ensure all inter17 ested parties have an opportunity to participate in 

18 standards development. 

19 (3) The standards that result from the process 

20 described in paragraph (2) are used by private indus21 try, academia, the Federal Government, and State 

22 and local governments that incorporate those stand23 ards by reference into laws and regulations. 

24 (4) The standards described in paragraph (3) 

25 further innovation, commerce, and public safety, all 


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1 without cost to governments or taxpayers because 

2 standards development organizations fund the process 

3 described in paragraph (2) through the sale and li4 censing of their standards. 

5 (5) Congress and the executive branch have re6 peatedly declared that, wherever possible, governments 

7 should rely on voluntary consensus standards and 

8 have set forth policies and procedures by which those 

9 standards are incorporated by reference into laws and 

10 regulations and that balance the interests of access 

11 with protection for copyright. 

12 (6) Circular A–119 of the Office of Management 

13 and Budget entitled ‘‘Federal Participation in the 

14 Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Stand15 ards and in Conformity Assessment Activities’’, issued 

16 in revised form on January 27, 2016, recognizes the 

17 benefits of voluntary consensus standards and incor18 poration by reference, stating that ‘‘[i]f a standard is 

19 used and published in an agency document, your 

20 agency must observe and protect the rights of the 

21 copyright holder and meet any other similar obliga22 tions.’’. 

23 (7) Federal agencies have relied extensively on 

24 the incorporation by reference system to leverage the 

25 value of technical standards and voluntary consensus 


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1 standards for the benefit of the public, resulting in 

2 more than 23,000 sections in the Code of Federal Reg3 ulations that incorporate by reference technical and 

4 voluntary consensus standards. 

5 (8) State and local governments have also recog6 nized that technical standards and voluntary con7 sensus standards are critical to protecting public 

8 health and safety, which has resulted in many such 

9 governments— 

10 (A) incorporating those standards by ref11 erence into their laws and regulations; or 

12 (B) entering into license agreements with 

13 standards development organizations to use the 

14 standards created by those organizations. 

15 (9) Standards development organizations rely on 

16 copyright protection to generate the revenues nec17 essary to fund the voluntary consensus process and to 

18 continue creating and updating these important 

19 standards. 

20 (10) The people of the United States have a 

21 strong interest in— 

22 (A) ensuring that standards development 

23 organizations continue to utilize a voluntary 

24 consensus process— 


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1 (i) in which all interested parties can 

2 participate; and 

3 (ii) that continues to create and up4 date standards in a timely manner to— 

5 (I) account for technological ad6 vances; 

7 (II) address new threats to public 

8 health and safety; and 

9 (III) improve the usefulness of 

10 those standards; and 

11 (B) the provision of access that allows peo12 ple to read technical and voluntary consensus 

13 standards that are incorporated by reference into 

14 laws and regulations. 

15 (11) As of the date of enactment of this Act, 

16 many standards development organizations make 

17 their standards available to the public free of charge 

18 online in a manner that does not substantially dis19 rupt the ability of those organizations to earn revenue 

20 from the industries and professionals that purchase 

21 copies and subscription-access to those standards 

22 (such as through read-only access), which ensures that 

23 the public may read the current, accurate version of 

24 such a standard without significantly interfering 

25 with the revenue model that has long supported those 


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1 organizations and their creation of, and investment 

2 in, new standards. 

3 (12) Through this Act, and the amendments 

4 made by this Act, Congress intends to balance the 

5 goals of furthering the creation of standards and en6 suring public access to standards that are incor7 porated by reference into law or regulation. 

8 SEC. 3. WORKS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE INTO LAW. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 17, United States 

10 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘§ 123. Works incorporated by reference into law 

12 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 ‘‘(1) CIRCULAR A–119.—The term ‘Circular A– 

14 119’ means Circular A–119 of the Office of Manage15 ment and Budget entitled ‘Federal Participation in 

16 the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus 

17 Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities’, 

18 issued in revised form on January 27, 2016. 

19 ‘‘(2) INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘incorporated 

21 by reference’ means, with respect to a standard, 

22 that the text of a Federal, State, local, or munic23 ipal law or regulation— 

24 ‘‘(i) references all or part of the stand25 ard; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) does not copy the text of that 

2 standard directly into that law or regula3 tion. 

4 ‘‘(B) APPLICATION.—The creation or publi5 cation of a work that includes both the text of a 

6 law or regulation and all or part of a standard 

7 that has been incorporated by reference, as de8 scribed in subparagraph (A), shall not affect the 

9 status of the standard as incorporated by ref10 erence under that subparagraph. 

11 ‘‘(3) STANDARD.—The term ‘standard’ means a 

12 standard or code that is— 

13 ‘‘(A) a technical standard, as that term is 

14 defined in section 12(d) of the National Tech15 nology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 

16 (15 U.S.C. 272 note); or 

17 ‘‘(B) a voluntary consensus standard, as 

18 that term is used for the purposes of Circular A– 

19 119. 

20 ‘‘(4) STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZA21 TION.—The term ‘standards development organiza22 tion’ means a holder of a copyright under this title 

23 that plans, develops, establishes, or coordinates vol24 untary consensus standards using procedures that in25 corporate the attributes of openness, balance of interVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Jul 23, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H1631.RH H1631

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1 ests, due process, an appeals process, and consensus in 

2 a manner consistent with the requirements of Cir3 cular A–119. 

4 ‘‘(5) PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE ONLINE.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘publicly ac6 cessible online’, with respect to material, means 

7 that the material is displayed for review in a 

8 readily accessible manner on a public website 

9 that conforms with the accessibility requirements 

10 of section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 

11 (29 U.S.C. 794d), including the regulations im12 plementing that section as set forth in part 1194 

13 of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 

14 successor regulation. 

15 ‘‘(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—If a user is 

16 required to create an account or agree to the 

17 terms of service of a website or organization in 

18 order to access material online, that requirement 

19 shall not be construed to render the material not 

20 publicly accessible online for the purposes of sub21 paragraph (A), if— 

22 ‘‘(i) there is no monetary cost to the 

23 user to access that material; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) no personally identifiable infor25 mation collected pursuant to such a requireVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Jul 23, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H1631.RH H1631

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1 ment is used without the affirmative and 

2 express consent of the user. 

3 ‘‘(b) STANDARDS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE INTO

4 LAW OR REGULATION.—A standard to which copyright pro5 tection subsists under section 102(a) at the time of its fixa6 tion shall retain such protection, notwithstanding that the 

7 standard is incorporated by reference, if the applicable 

8 standards development organization, within a reasonable 

9 period of time after obtaining actual or constructive notice 

10 that the standard has been incorporated by reference, makes 

11 all portions of the standard so incorporated publicly acces12 sible online at no monetary cost and in a format that in13 cludes a searchable table of contents and index, or equiva14 lent aids to facilitate the location of specific content. 

15 ‘‘(c) BURDEN OF PROOF.—In any proceeding in which 

16 a party asserts that a standards development organization 

17 has failed to comply with the requirements under subsection 

18 (b) for retaining copyright protection with respect to a 

19 standard, the burden of proof shall be on the party making 

20 that assertion to prove that the standards development orga21 nization has failed to comply with those requirements.’’. 

22 (b) PRO CODES ACT REPORTING REQUIREMENT.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The United States Copyright 

24 Office is required to prepare and submit a comVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Jul 23, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H1631.RH H1631

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1 prehensive report to the House Judiciary Committee, 

2 which shall include— 

3 (A) a detailed assessment of this Act’s effect 

4 on case law; 

5 (B) an analysis of this Act’s effectiveness in 

6 achieving its stated goals; 

7 (C) a review of any challenges or obstacles 

8 encountered during the implementation process; 

9 (D) recommendations for legislative or regu10 latory modifications to improve the effectiveness 

11 of this Act; and 

12 (E) an overview of the impact of this Act on 

13 the public, including access to legal information 

14 and compliance costs for governments, businesses, 

15 and individuals. 

16 (2) TIMELINE FOR SUBMISSION.— 

17 (A) The initial report must be submitted 

18 within two years of the enactment of this Act. 

19 (B) Subsequent reports shall be submitted 

20 every five years on the anniversary of the first 

21 report’s submission. 

22 (c) GAO STUDY ON DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES.— 

23 (1) STUDY DIRECTED.—The Comptroller General 

24 of the United States shall conduct a study on the poVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Jul 23, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H1631.RH H1631

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1 tential disparate impact of this Act on historically 

2 disadvantaged communities. 

3 (2) ELEMENTS OF THE STUDY.—The study shall 

4 include, but not be limited to: 

5 (A) An analysis of how limited access to 

6 technical standards incorporated in the PRO 

7 Codes Act could disproportionately hinder the 

8 ability of historically disadvantaged commu9 nities to assert their legal rights and advocate for 

10 legal reforms. 

11 (B) An assessment of how the potential costs 

12 associated with accessing standards could create 

13 additional barriers for residents of historically 

14 disadvantaged communities seeking to under15 stand and enforce their rights. 

16 (C) An examination of potential disparities 

17 in outcomes for historically disadvantaged com18 munities arising from the implementation of the 

19 PRO Codes Act. 

20 (D) Recommendations on ways to mitigate 

21 any identified disparate impacts on historically 

22 disadvantaged communities. 

23 (3) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall 

24 submit a report to Congress within two years of the 

25 enactment of this Act, detailing the findings of the 


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1 GAO Study on the impact of PRO Codes on histori2 cally disadvantaged communities from paragraphs 

3 (1) and (2). 

4 (d) STUDY OF COSTS FOR STATES, CITIES, MUNICI5 PALITIES, COUNTIES, SPECIAL DISTRICTS, ASSOCIATED

6 WITH STANDARDS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

7 (SIBR).— 

8 (1) REQUIREMENT FOR COST ANALYSIS.—The 

9 Comptroller General of the United States shall con10 duct a comprehensive study of the costs associated 

11 with the implementation of this Act. This study will 

12 encompass levels of government, including state, cit13 ies, municipalities, counties, and special district gov14 ernments, to ensure a complete understanding of the 

15 potential financial impact. 

16 (2) SCOPE OF ANALYSIS.—The analysis shall in17 clude, but not be limited to: 

18 (A) Fees charged by Standard Development 

19 Organizations to state, cities, municipalities, 

20 counties, and special district governments for ac21 cess to standards incorporated by reference. 

22 (B) An analysis of indirect costs to state, 

23 cities, municipalities, counties, and special dis24 trict governments associated with compliance 

25 with this Act. 


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1 (3) REPORTING.—The Comptroller General shall 

2 submit a report to Congress within two years of the 

3 enactment of this Act, detailing the findings of the 

4 cost analysis required under paragraph (2). The re5 port shall include recommendations on potential ac6 tions to improve cost-effectiveness related to SIBRs. 

7 (e) U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

8 (GAO) STUDY ON CONSUMERS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

10 the United States shall conduct a study on the poten11 tial impact of this Act on consumers. 

12 (2) ELEMENTS OF THE STUDY.— 

13 (A) Implications for consumer protection 

14 under this Act. 

15 (B) Potential for increased costs or confu16 sion among consumers due to new regulations. 

17 (C) Accessibility of information about rights 

18 and protections for consumers under this Act. 

19 (D) Recommendations to enhance consumer 

20 protection and information accessibility. 

21 (3) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall 

22 submit a report to Congress within one year of the en23 actment of this Act, detailing the findings of the GAO 

24 Study on the impact of this Act on consumers. 


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1 (f) U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

2 (GAO) STUDY ON DIGITAL PRIVACY AND DATA PROTEC3 TION.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

5 the United States shall conduct a study on the poten6 tial impact of this Act on digital privacy and data 

7 protection. 

8 (2) ELEMENTS OF THE STUDY.— 

9 (A) Analysis of how this Act affects the pro10 tection of personal data. 

11 (B) Evaluation of the Act’s compliance re12 quirements related to data security. 

13 (C) Recommendations for strengthening dig14 ital privacy protections. 

15 (3) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall 

16 submit a report to Congress within 18 months of the 

17 enactment of this Act, detailing the findings of the 

18 GAO Study on the impact of this Act on digital pri19 vacy and data protection. 

20 (g) U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

21 (GAO) STUDY ON ACCESS TO THE LAW.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

23 the United States shall conduct a study on the impact 

24 of this Act specifically on platforms that offer legal 

25 codes online at no cost to the public. The study will 


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1 assess how the Act influences these platforms’ oper2 ations and the public’s access to and understanding 

3 of the law. 

4 (2) ELEMENTS OF THE STUDY.— 

5 (A) Assessment of how this Act influences 

6 the operations of online platforms that provide 

7 public access to legal codes and other regulatory 

8 documents. 

9 (B) Evaluation of the Act’s provisions that 

10 may limit or enhance public accessibility to legal 

11 information via these platforms. 

12 (C) Analysis of potential barriers intro13 duced by the Act that could hinder public under14 standing of legal standards and codes. 

15 (D) Recommendations for amendments or 

16 new provisions to ensure continued and en17 hanced public access to legal codes and stand18 ards, fostering transparency and legal literacy. 

19 (3) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall 

20 submit a report to Congress within two years of the 

21 enactment of this Act, detailing the findings of the 

22 GAO Study. 

23 (h) U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

24 (GAO) STUDY ON INCLUSIVE OF ACCESSIBILITY AND


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1 USABILITY STANDARDS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABIL2 ITIES.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

4 the United States shall conduct a study on the impact 

5 of this Act on disabled populations, specifically as6 sessing whether the Act’s definition of ‘‘publicly acces7 sible’’ is sufficiently inclusive of accessibility and 

8 usability standards for people with disabilities. 

9 (2) ELEMENTS OF THE STUDY.— 

10 (A) Evaluation of how the accessibility pro11 visions of this Act impact the ability of people 

12 with disabilities to access and use public codes 

13 and standards. 

14 (B) Examination of current gaps in accessi15 bility that may prevent full participation of dis16 abled individuals in public and legal affairs as 

17 affected by the Act. 

18 (C) Recommendations to ensure this Act 

19 aligns with federal accessibility standards and 

20 effectively serves the needs of the disabled com21 munity. 

22 (3) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall 

23 submit a report to Congress within 18 months of the 

24 enactment of this Act, detailing the findings of the 


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1 GAO Study on the accessibility of this Act for dis2 abled populations. 

3 (i) U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

4 (GAO) STUDY ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

6 the United States shall conduct a study on the poten7 tial impact of this Act on the development and acces8 sibility of affordable housing. 

9 (2) ELEMENTS OF THE STUDY.— 

10 (A) Analysis of this Act’s impact on the 

11 costs and regulatory barriers to building afford12 able housing. 

13 (B) Evaluation of the Act’s impact on the 

14 availability of affordable housing units in urban 

15 and rural areas. 

16 (C) Assessment of the Act’s cost on afford17 able housing projects. 

18 (3) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall 

19 submit a report to Congress within two years of the 

20 enactment of this Act, detailing the findings of the 

21 GAO Study on the impact of this Act on affordable 

22 housing. 

23 (j) U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

24 (GAO) STUDY ON SDO ACCESS CONDITIONS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

2 the United States shall conduct a study on whether 

3 Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) condi4 tion access to standards under this Act by requiring 

5 users to create accounts, agree to restrictive terms of 

6 service, or meet other potentially burdensome condi7 tions. 

8 (2) ELEMENTS OF THE STUDY.— 

9 (A) Assessment of the extent to which SDOs 

10 impose conditions that could restrict public ac11 cess to standards and legal codes, such as ac12 count creation, agreement to terms of service, or 

13 other barriers. 

14 (B) Evaluation of the impact of these condi15 tions on the public’s ability to freely access, dis16 tribute, share, and print essential legal informa17 tion. 

18 (C) Analysis of potential violations of the 

19 fundamental principle that laws should be acces20 sible without undue restrictions, considering the 

21 implications for transparency and account22 ability. 

23 (D) Recommendations for legislative or reg24 ulatory measures to ensure that access to legal 


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1 information under this Act is not conditioned on 

2 undue or discriminatory terms. 

3 (3) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall 

4 submit a report to Congress within 18 months of the 

5 enactment of this Act, detailing the findings of the 

6 GAO Study. 

7 (k) U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

8 (GAO) STUDY ON EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AT SDOS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

10 the United States shall conduct a study on executive 

11 compensation within Standards Development Organi12 zations (SDOs), particularly those with substantial 

13 revenue streams and tax-exempt status. 

14 (2) ELEMENTS OF THE STUDY.— 

15 (A) Analysis of the revenue sources of large 

16 SDOs, including details on income from sales of 

17 publications, fees for training and certification 

18 services, and membership dues. 

19 (B) Examination of the scale of executive 

20 compensation at these organizations, including 

21 total executive compensation as a proportion of 

22 total revenues and in comparison to industry 

23 standards. 

24 (C) Evaluation of the governance practices 

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1 cluding transparency, accountability, and align2 ment with nonprofit organization standards. 

3 (D) Recommendations for potential regu4 latory or legislative actions to ensure that execu5 tive compensation at tax-exempt SDOs remains 

6 within reasonable limits and aligns with best 

7 practices for nonprofit management. 

8 (3) SUBMISSION.—The Comptroller General shall 

9 submit this report to Congress within 18 months of 

10 the enactment of this Act, detailing the findings of the 

11 GAO. 

12 (l) U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

13 (GAO) STUDY ON THIS ACT AND HOMEOWNER COSTS FOR

14 BUILDING CODE ACCESS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

16 the United States shall conduct a study on how this 

17 Act would affect the costs imposed on homeowners’ ac18 cess to building codes. 

19 (2) ELEMENTS OF THE STUDY.— 

20 (A) Examination of the financial impact on 

21 homeowners, particularly focusing on how these 

22 costs might deter necessary maintenance, safety 

23 upgrades, and other costs associated with renova24 tions. 


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1 (B) Evaluation of how this Act would affect 

2 the availability and affordability of building 

3 codes across different regions and income groups. 

4 (C) Recommendations for improving this 

5 Act to make building codes more accessible and 

6 affordable for homeowners. 

7 (3) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall 

8 submit a report to Congress within 18 months of the 

9 enactment of this Act. 

10 (m) U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

11 (GAO) ON SMALL BUSINESSES.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

13 the United States shall conduct a study on the poten14 tial impact of this Act on small businesses. 

15 (2) ELEMENTS OF THE STUDY.— 

16 (A) The extent to which compliance burdens 

17 are affected by this Act. 

18 (B) Analysis of small businesses’ ability to 

19 compete with larger entities under the new regu20 latory framework. 

21 (C) Availability and effectiveness of legal re22 sources for small businesses navigating this Act. 

23 (D) Recommendations to mitigate any iden24 tified negative impacts on small businesses. 


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1 (3) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall 

2 submit a report to Congress within one year of the en3 actment of this Act, detailing the findings of the GAO 

4 Study on the impact of this Act on small businesses. 

5 (n) U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

6 (GAO) STUDY ON FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

8 the United States shall conduct a study on the poten9 tial impact of this Act on First Amendment rights, 

10 specifically the public’s ability to access, read, share, 

11 and debate the law, including codes incorporated by 

12 reference. 

13 (2) ELEMENTS OF THE STUDY.— 

14 (A) Analysis of how this Act may lead 

15 standard development organizations to place the 

16 law behind paywalls, thus restricting public ac17 cess to essential legal information and poten18 tially violating First Amendment rights. 

19 (B) Evaluation of the economic, legal, and 

20 social impacts of restricting public access to 

21 codes and standards referenced in the Act. 

22 (C) Examination of precedents and legal in23 terpretations regarding public access to laws and 

24 how they align with First Amendment protec25 tions. 


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1 (D) Recommendations for legislative or reg2 ulatory changes to ensure that all laws and 

3 standards referenced in the Act are accessible 

4 without undue financial or procedural barriers. 

5 (3) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall 

6 submit a report to Congress within one year of the en7 actment of this Act, detailing the findings of the GAO 

8 Study on the impact of this Act on First Amendment 

9 rights. 

10 (o) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The 

11 table of sections for chapter 1 of title 17, United States 

12 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘123. Works incorporated by reference into law.’’. 

13 SEC. 4. STUDY OF STANDARDS COST TO GOVERNMENTS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 

15 United States shall conduct a study on the financial impact 

16 to federal, state, and local governments in the United States 

17 associated with acquiring access to standards incorporated 

18 by reference into law. 

19 (b) SCOPE.—The study under subsection (a) shall— 

20 (1) Analyze the total expenditure by government 

21 entities for accessing these standards; 

22 (2) Assess any financial burdens or resource con23 straints these costs impose on governments, particu24 larly for smaller municipalities; 


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1 (3) Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of current 

2 mechanisms for acquiring these standards; and 

3 (4) Examine the impacts on public services due 

4 to the costs associated with accessing these standards. 

5 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date of 

6 the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 

7 submit a report to Congress that includes— 

8 (1) The findings of the study conducted under 

9 subsection (a); and 

10 (2) Recommendations to mitigate any adverse fi11 nancial impacts identified by the study, including 

12 suggestions for legislative or administrative actions as 

13 appropriate. 


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Union Calendar No. 501 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1631 

[Report No. 118–601] 

A BILL 

To amend title 17, United States Code, to reaffirm 

other purposes. works incorporated by reference into law, and for the importance of, and include requirements for, 

JULY 22, 2024 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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