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 Com-
mittee 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 recommenda-
tions on increasing agency library access to serials, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Well-Informed, Sci-
entific, & Efficient Government Act of 2019’’ or the 
‘‘WISE Government Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. AGENCY JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTIONS. 
(a) PROHIBITION
ON NONDISCLOSURE PROVISION 
FOR JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTIONS.—The head of an agency 
may not enter into any contract for a journal subscription 
that prohibits disclosure of the cost of the subscription to 
another agency or the Library of Congress. 
(b) EMPLOYEE ACCESS
TO LIBRARY SUBSCRIP-
TIONS.—Not later than 6 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the head of each agency shall re-
quire that each library of the agency make easily and 
clearly available to the employees of the agency, including 
regional employees, through the intranet any policy or pro-
cedure for employee access to a subscription of the library. 
(c) REPORT ON INCREASING ACCESS TO SERIALS.— 
Not later than 12 months after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Administrator, in consultation with the 
Library of Congress, the applicable agency libraries, and 
other relevant stakeholders (including the Defense Tech-
nical Information Center, the National Library of Medi-
cine, the Education Resources Information Center, and 
the National Technical Information Service) shall submit 
to Congress and each agency library a report on increasing 
agency library access to serials that includes— 
(1) a survey of subscriptions purchased and 
cost data for applicable agency libraries and the Li-
brary of Congress; 
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(2) an outline of any issues with agency access 
to scientific serials and subscriptions, which may in-
clude contract issues, concerns arising with new pub-
lishing media (including print, online, and aggre-
gated services), the ability of agency employees to 
use agency library subscriptions in headquarters and 
regional offices, purchasing system inefficiencies, 
and price concerns; and 
(3) recommendations on addressing issues, in-
cluding short-term and long-term solutions and as-
sessing the potential need for greater interagency 
transparency and new purchasing models. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv-
ices. 
(2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 
meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, 
United States Code. 
(3) APPLICABLE AGENCY LIBRARY.—The term 
‘‘applicable agency library’’ means the libraries of— 
(A) the Executive departments listed in 
section 101 of title 5, United States Code; 
(B) the military departments listed in sec-
tion 102 of title 5, United States Code; and 
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(C) any agency with a scientific focus, in-
cluding the Environmental Protection Agency 
and the National Aeronautics and Space Ad-
ministration. 
(4) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 
the Director of the Office of Management and Budg-
et. 
(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion may be construed as requiring the disclosure of mat-
ters that are otherwise not subject to disclosure under sec-
tion 552(b) of title 5, United States Code (commonly re-
ferred to as the Freedom of Information Act). 
Æ 
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