Title: Preserving Data in Government Act of 2020
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

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.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4500 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4500

  To amend title 44, United States Code, to preserve and protect open 
                        Government data assets.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 6, 2020

Mr. Peters (for himself and Mr. Gardner) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 44, United States Code, to preserve and protect open 
                        Government data assets.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Preserving Data in Government Act of 
2020''.

SEC. 2. PRESERVING OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA ASSETS.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United 
States Code, is amended--
            (1) in section 3502--
                    (A) in paragraph (22), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in paragraph (23), by striking the period at 
                the end and inserting ``; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(24) the term `open format' means a technical format that 
        is not encumbered by restrictions that would impede use or 
        reuse.''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 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 of title 44, United States Code, is amended 
by inserting after the item relating to section 3521 the following:

``3522. Requirement to preserve open Government data assets.''.
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