Searchable Legislation Act of 2019

Searchable Legislation Act of 2019

This bill requires Congress to ensure that all congressional documents and records of votes cast in Congress and congressional committees are created, transmitted, and published in searchable electronic formats, consistent with data standards recommended by such advisory bodies as Congress may establish.

The Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate, acting jointly, shall establish the Congressional Data Task Force (an advisory body) to recommend data standards for the creation, transmission, and publication of information and congressional documents, including bills, resolutions, amendments, reports, laws, and records, in such formats for purposes of this bill.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3403 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3403

 To require all bills, resolutions, and other documents of Congress to 
    be created, transmitted, and published in searchable electronic 
                    formats, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 21, 2019

 Mr. Amash (for himself, Mr. Mooney of West Virginia, Mr. Meadows, Mr. 
Massie, Mr. Loudermilk, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Davidson of Ohio, 
  Mr. McClintock, Mr. McKinley, Mr. Norman, Mr. Cloud, Mr. Tonko, Ms. 
   Norton, and Mr. Huffman) introduced the following bill; which was 
  referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the 
  Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require all bills, resolutions, and other documents of Congress to 
    be created, transmitted, and published in searchable electronic 
                    formats, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; PURPOSES.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Searchable 
Legislation Act of 2019''.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are as follows:
            (1) To establish nonproprietary, machine-readable data 
        standards for the creation, transmission, and publication of 
        Congressional information.
            (2) To encourage the uniform use of nonproprietary, 
        machine-readable data standards, including searchable 
        electronic formats, for Congressional information by Congress 
        and its support agencies and offices.
            (3) To ensure that Congressional information, especially 
        bills, resolutions, orders, and votes, can be freely downloaded 
        in bulk and electronically searched.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING SEARCHABLE ELECTRONIC FORMATS FOR CONGRESSIONAL 
              DOCUMENTS.

    (a) Searchable Electronic Formats.--
            (1) In general.--Chapter 2 of title 1, United States Code, 
        is amended by inserting after section 107 the following new 
        section:
``Sec. 107a. Searchable electronic formats
    ``To the greatest extent practicable, Congress shall ensure that 
all bills, resolutions, orders, and other documents of Congress, and 
all records of votes cast in Congress and committees of Congress, are 
created, transmitted, and published in searchable electronic formats, 
consistent with data standards recommended by such advisory bodies as 
Congress may establish.''.
            (2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 
        2 of title 1, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 
        the item relating to section 107 the following new item:

``107a. Searchable electronic formats.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to the One Hundred Seventeenth Congress and each 
succeeding Congress.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL DATA TASK FORCE.

    (a) Establishment.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Clerk of the House of Representatives and 
the Secretary of the Senate, acting jointly, shall establish an 
advisory body to be known as the ``Congressional Data Task Force'' 
(hereafter referred to as the ``Task Force'').
    (b) Duties.--
            (1) Recommendation of data standards.--The Task Force shall 
        recommend data standards for the creation, transmission, and 
        publication of information and documents of Congress, including 
        bills, resolutions, amendments, reports, laws, and records, in 
        searchable electronic formats for purposes of section 107a of 
        title 1, United States Code (as added by section 2(a)).
            (2) Specifications for standards.--All data standards 
        recommended by the Task Force shall be nonproprietary and 
        machine-readable, and, to the greatest extent possible, shall 
        enable the bulk downloading of information.
            (3) Consultation with experts.--In carrying out its duties, 
        the Task Force shall consult with private entities with 
        expertise in data transparency standards.
    (c) Membership.--
            (1) In general.--The Task Force shall be composed of 
        employee representatives of the Office of the Clerk of the 
        House, the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, the Library 
        of Congress, the Congressional Research Service, the Government 
        Publishing Office, the Center for Legislative Archives, and 
        such other offices of Congress and the legislative branch as 
        the Clerk and Secretary consider appropriate.
            (2) No additional compensation for service.--Members of the 
        Task Force may not receive additional pay, allowances, or 
        benefits by reason of their service on the Task Force.
    (d) No Additional Funding.--No additional funds may be appropriated 
to carry out this section during a fiscal year.
    (e) Termination.--The Task Force shall terminate on the last day of 
the One Hundred Eighteenth Congress.
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