Preserving Data in Government Act of 2020

To amend title 44, United States Code, to preserve and protect open Government data assets. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Preserving Data in Government Act of 2020 2. Preserving open Government data assets (a) In general Subchapter I of chapter 35 (1) in section 3502— (A) in paragraph (22), by striking and (B) in paragraph (23), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and (C) by adding at the end the following: (24) the term open format ; and (2) by adding at the end the following: 3522. Requirement to preserve open Government data assets (a) In general Except as provided under subsection (c), any open Government data asset that is made available to the public for a period of not less than 90 consecutive days shall— (1) remain machine-readable, available in an open format, and part of the worldwide public domain or, if necessary, published with an open license; and (2) not be altered in such a way as to decrease the machine-readable nature of the open Government data asset. (b) Alteration of digital location, format, or content (1) In general It shall not be a violation of subsection (a) to alter— (A) the digital location or format of any open Government data asset for the purpose of routine asset maintenance or long-term archiving if the alteration does not decrease the open public accessibility or the machine-readable nature of the open Government data asset; or (B) the contents of any open Government data asset for purposes of updating the open Government data asset or correcting an error in the open Government data asset. (2) Permanence of data after updates For purposes of subsection (a), any alteration of the digital location, format, or contents of an open Government data asset under paragraph (1) shall not constitute a renewal of the period for which the open Government data asset has been made available to the public. (3) Record of data changes after updates Any substantial alteration of the contents of an open Government data asset under paragraph (1) shall be recorded in a log that is made available to the public in an open format along with the open Government data asset. (c) Exceptions (1) Conservation of agency resources An agency may remove an open Government data asset from public availability if— (A) the open Government data asset is available for download on the worldwide public domain for a period of not less than 90 days before the date on which the agency removes the open Government data asset from public availability; (B) the head of the agency determines that the open Government data asset— (i) is too costly to maintain; or (ii) does not provide sufficient value to the public; and (C) not less than 6 months before the date on which the agency removes the open Government data asset from public availability, the agency publishes a notice of the removal in the Federal Register, including— (i) a clear identification of the open Government data asset; (ii) if applicable, the digital object identifier of the open Government data asset; (iii) a detailed description of the reasons for the removal; and (iv) a detailed description of efforts to make the open Government data asset permanently publicly available. (2) Other provisions of law Subsection (a) shall not apply in the case of an open Government data asset that is required to be removed from public availability or altered under another provision of law. . (b) Technical and conforming amendment The table of sections for subchapter I of chapter 35 section 3521 3522. Requirement to preserve open Government data assets. .

Summary: Preserving Data in Government Act of 2020 This bill requires federal agencies to preserve public access to existing open datasets and prevent the removal of existing datasets without public notice. Specifically, the bill requires that any open government data asset that is made available to the public for at least 90 consecutive days (1) remain machine-readable, available in an open format, and part of the worldwide public domain or, if necessary, be published with an open license; and (2) not be altered in such a way as to decrease its machine-readable nature. It shall not be a violation of such requirement to alter (1) the digital location or format of any open government data asset for routine asset maintenance or long-term archiving if such alteration does not decrease the open public accessibility or the machine-readable nature of the data, or (2) the contents of such data asset to update it or correct an error. Any substantial alteration of the data asset's contents shall be recorded in a log that is made available to the public. An agency may remove such data asset from public availability under specified circumstances, such as if the agency determines that the data asset is too costly to maintain or does not provide sufficient value to the public. This bill shall not apply to such data asset that is required to be removed from public availability or altered under another provision of law.