IV 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 727 
Directing the Clerk of the House of Representatives to provide members 
of the public with Internet access to certain Congressional Research 
Service publications, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 10, 2012 
Mr. LANCE (for himself, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois, Mr. COOPER, 
and Mr. SCHIFF) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on House Administration 
RESOLUTION 
Directing the Clerk of the House of Representatives to pro-
vide members of the public with Internet access to cer-
tain Congressional Research Service publications, and for 
other purposes. 
Resolved, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Public Access to Congressional Research Service Reports 
Resolution of 2012’’ or the ‘‘Congressional Research Serv-
ice Electronic Accessibility Resolution of 2012’’. 
(b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:18 Jul 11, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR727.IH
HR727
rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
•HRES 727 IH 
(1) The Congressional Research Service, a spe-
cial reference unit within the Library of Congress, 
offers invaluable research and analysis to Members 
of Congress on all current and emerging issues of 
national policy. 
(2) The Congressional Research Service staff of 
approximately 700 employees, including lawyers, 
economists, reference librarians, and social, natural, 
and physical scientists, are governed by require-
ments for accuracy, objectivity, balance, and non-
partisanship. 
(3) The Congressional Research Service has a 
responsibility to ensure that Members of Congress 
have available the best possible information and 
analysis on which to base the policy decisions the 
American people have elected them to make. 
(4) It is often burdensome, difficult, and time- 
consuming for citizens to obtain access to objective 
and nonpartisan policy analysis on issues affecting 
their interests. 
(5) It will enhance our democracy to provide 
citizens with access to unbiased and accurate CRS 
documents on legislation and other critical issues be-
fore Congress. 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:18 Jul 11, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR727.IH
HR727
rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
•HRES 727 IH 
(6) Allowing public access to CRS will empower 
citizens and enable Members of Congress to become 
even more effective ‘‘representatives’’ of the public’s 
concerns and goals. 
SEC. 2. AVAILABILITY OF CERTAIN CONGRESSIONAL RE-
SEARCH SERVICE INFORMATION. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF DATA-
BASE OF INFORMATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Clerk of the House of 
Representatives, in consultation with the Director of 
the Congressional Research Service, shall establish 
and maintain a centralized, searchable, bulk down-
loadable, electronic database consisting of— 
(A) all of the information described in 
paragraph (2) that is available to Members, of-
ficers, employees, and offices of the House of 
Representatives through the Congressional Re-
search Service Web site; and 
(B) in accordance with subsection (b), an 
index of the information described in subpara-
graph (A). 
(2) INFORMATION
DESCRIBED.—The informa-
tion described in this paragraph is as follows: 
(A) Congressional Research Service Issue 
Briefs. 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:18 Jul 11, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR727.IH
HR727
rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
•HRES 727 IH 
(B) Congressional Research Service Re-
ports. 
(C) Congressional Research Service Au-
thorization of Appropriations Products and Ap-
propriations Products. 
(D) Materials intended or available for 
general congressional distribution that are the 
same or substantially similar in content to CRS 
Reports, Issue Briefs, and Appropriations Prod-
ucts. 
(3) SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR MATERIALS IN-
CLUDED.—With respect to each issue brief, product, 
or report included in the database under this sub-
section, the Clerk shall include— 
(A) the name and identification number; 
(B) the dates of initial release and updates 
(if any); and 
(C) the Congressional Research Service di-
vision or divisions that were responsible for its 
production. 
(4) UPDATES.—The Clerk, in consultation with 
the Director, shall ensure that the information in 
the database under this subsection is updated auto-
matically and electronically to reflect the availability 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:18 Jul 11, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR727.IH
HR727
rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
•HRES 727 IH 
of new information and updates to existing informa-
tion described in paragraph (2). 
(5) INITIAL INFORMATION.—The initial estab-
lishment of the database under this subsection shall 
include all of the contents described in paragraph 
(1) as of the date on which this resolution is agreed 
to. 
(b) INDEX OF DATABASE INFORMATION.—In addi-
tion to the database under subsection (a), the Clerk, in 
consultation with the Director, shall establish and main-
tain contemporaneously a Web site containing a search-
able, sortable index of all of the information in the data-
base in both human-readable and machine-readable for-
mats (such as XML) that includes for each issue brief, 
product, or report in the database— 
(1) the name and identification number; 
(2) the dates of initial release and updates (if 
any); and 
(3) the Congressional Research Service division 
or divisions that were responsible for its production. 
(c) LIMITATIONS.— 
(1) CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.—Subsections 
(a) and (b) do not apply to— 
(A) any information that is confidential, as 
determined by— 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:18 Jul 11, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR727.IH
HR727
rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
•HRES 727 IH 
tation of such technology as may be necessary to fa-
cilitate the automatic redaction of information under 
this subsection. 
(d) FURNISHING OF NECESSARY INFORMATION.— 
The Clerk shall consult with the Director to ensure that 
the Clerk is provided with all of the information necessary 
to carry out this section in such format as the Clerk con-
siders appropriate. 
SEC. 3. OTHER METHODS OF PUBLIC ACCESS. 
(a) ACCESS THROUGH WEB SITES OF MEMBERS AND 
COMMITTEES.—Each official public Web site of a Member 
of the House of Representatives, a committee of the House 
of Representatives, or a joint committee of the Congress 
shall permit members of the public to use the Web site 
to obtain the information contained in the database estab-
lished under section 2, in the same manner and to the 
same extent as Members, officers, employees, and offices 
of the House of Representatives may obtain such informa-
tion through the Congressional Research Service Web site. 
(b) REGULATIONS.—Subsection (a) shall be carried 
out in accordance with regulations promulgated by the 
Committee on House Administration of the House of Rep-
resentatives. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act— 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:18 Jul 11, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR727.IH
HR727
rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
•HRES 727 IH 
(1) the term ‘‘Clerk’’ means the Clerk of the 
House of Representatives; 
(2) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 
the Congressional Research Service; and 
(3) the term ‘‘Member of the House of Rep-
resentatives’’ includes a Delegate or Resident Com-
missioner to the Congress. 
SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This resolution shall take effect upon the expiration 
of the 6-month period which begins on the date on which 
the resolution is agreed to, without regard to whether the 
regulations described in section 3(b) or any other regula-
tions have been promulgated prior to the expiration of 
such period. 
Æ 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
01:18 Jul 11, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\HR727.IH
HR727
rfrederick on DSK6VPTVN1PROD with BILLS