CONGRESS ASKED FOR HEARINGS ON OWENS BILL

[LOVE () vm temple edu <LOVE () vm temple edu>]

Taxpayer Assets Project
Information Policy Note
June 12, 1993

     WASHINGTON, June 12.  Today 15 citizen groups wrote to
Representative Gary Condit (D-CA) asking for hearings on HR 629,
the Improvement of Information Access Act (IIA Act, sometimes
referred to as the "Owens bill" after its sponor, Rep. Major
Owens of NY).

     Condit is the new Chair of the House Subcommittee on
Government Information.  This subcommittee has bottled HR 629
up for the past two years, due primarily to opposition to the
bill by lobbyists for commercial data vendors.

     Groups calling for hearings include the Taxpayer Assets
Project, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, Public
Citizen, Center for Media Education, Association of Research
Libraries, Center for Civic Networking, the Information Trust,
Consumer Federation of America, FAIR, Government Accountability
Project, National Writers Union, Environmental Research
Foundation, Federation of American Scientists, Essential
Information, and the National Coordinating Committee for the
Promotion of History.

     The letter follows:

----------------------------------------
June 12, 1993

Representative Gary Condit
Chair, Subcommittee on Government Information,
  Justice and Agriculture
Committee on Government Operations
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC  20515

Dear Representative Condit:

We are writing to request that you hold a hearing of the
Subcommittee on Government Information, Justice and Agriculture
to consider HR 629, the Improvement of Information Access Act
(IIA Act).  This legislation, first introduced in 1991, is a very
important proposal that would broaden public access to government
information resources.  The IIA Act reflects the views and needs
of the research, education and library community.  The issues
addressed in the bill are relevant to public access to government
information in an era when computers are increasingly important.

The IIA Act addresses the following issues:

1.   AGENCIES ARE GIVEN A MANDATE TO USE MODERN COMPUTER
     TECHNOLOGIES TO DISSEMINATE GOVERNMENT INFORMATION

Agencies are required to disseminate information in diverse modes
and through appropriate outlets, including federal depository
libraries, national computer networks such as the Internet, and
other outlets.  They must assure free or low-cost public access
to Government information.  Agency dissemination efforts must
ensure the timeliness, usefulness, and reliability of the
information for the public.  Agencies are given a mandate to
provide data users with adequate documentation, software,
indexes, or other resources that will permit and broaden public
access to Government information.

     Why are these measures needed?

     While some agencies have taken bold and imaginative
     steps to broaden public access to Government
     information through the use of  modern information
     technologies, other agencies actively resist efforts to
     broaden public access.  This bill would give federal
     agencies a mandate to provide the types of information
     services and products that are important to data users.

2.   STANDARDS

Agencies would be required to disseminate information products
and services in standardized record formats.  Agencies would be
required to report annually on efforts to develop or implement
standards for file and record formats, software query command
structures, user interfaces, and other matters that make
information easier to obtain and use, and also on agency
provisions for protecting access to records stored with
technologies that are superseded or obsolete.

The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and
the National Records and Archives Administration (NARA) would be
required to develop and periodically revise voluntary performance
standards for public access to government records.

     Why are these measures needed?

     Many federal agencies have not yet developed standards
     for information systems, and thus it is often difficult
     for agencies to share data or for the public to obtain
     access to agency information resources.

3.   PRICING

The IIA Act would set a government wide limit on the prices the
federal government can charge on information products and
services.   This price limit would be the incremental cost of
dissemination, which is defined to exclude the costs of data
collection.  Agencies would not be allowed to impose royalties or
other fees on the redissemination of federal government
information.

     Why are these measures needed?

     As federal agencies are faced with difficult fiscal
     pressures, they are looking at information resources as
     a source of income.  Many agencies price electronic
     information products and services far above
     dissemination costs, and impose royalties and
     restrictions on the redissemination of information.
     Such policies erode the public's right-to-know, and
     lead to a society where information is rationed to the
     most affluent.  The IIA Act limits user fees on
     information products and services to dissemination
     costs, which is the policy which has long been used for
     information published in paper formats.  Limiting the
     prices for information products and services to the
     costs of dissemination is also consistent with the
     recently revised OMB Circular A-130.


4.   PUBLIC NOTICE

Perhaps most importantly, the IIA Act would make the federal
management of information resources more democratic.  Every year
federal agencies would be required to publish a report which
describes:

-    the plans to introduce or discontinue information products
     and services,

-    the efforts to develop or implement standards for file and
     record formats, software query command structures and other
     matters that make information easier to obtain and use,

-    the status of agency efforts to create and disseminate
     comprehensive indexes or bibliographies of their information
     products and services,

-    the means by which the public may access the agency's
     information,

-    the plans for preserving access to electronic information
     that is stored in technologies that may be superseded or
     obsolete, and

-    the agency plans to keep the public aware of its information
     resources, services and products.


Agencies would be required to solicit public comments on this
plan, including comments on the types of information collected
and disseminated, the agency's methods of storing information,
their outlets for disseminating information, the prices they
charge for information and the "validity, reliability,
timeliness, and usefulness to the public of the information."
The agency would be required to summarize the comments it
receives and report each year what it has done to respond to the
comments received in the previous year.

     Why are these measures needed?

     It is essential that federal agencies become more
     involved with citizens at the grass roots as they
     design information policies.  Citizens have important
     information regarding the way Government information is
     used, and they also have important insights regarding
     emerging information technologies.  When issues such as
     standards are involved, it is essential to have regular
     and frequent input from citizens regarding the choice
     of standards, particularly since technologies are
     rapidly changing.  These public notice provisions will
     empower citizens at the grass roots to shape federal
     policies in ways that benefit the public.


     HEARINGS ARE NEEDED ON HR 629


While this important legislation has broad backing from the right
to know community, and has been endorsed by such groups as Public
Citizen, the American Library Assocation, Computer Professionals
for Social Responsiblity (CPSR) and the Taxpayer Assets Project,
the Subcommittee on Government Information should schedule or
conduct a hearing on  this bill.


Sincerely,

James Love, Taxpayer Assets Project; P.O. Box 19367, Washington,
DC  20036; 202/387-8030; love () essential org

Paul Wolfson, Public Citizen; 2000 P Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC  20036; 202/833-3000

Pam Gilbert, Congress Watch; 215 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE,
Washington, DC  20003; 202/546-4996
666 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Suite 303, Washington, DC  20003;
202/544-9240; rotenberg () washofc cpsr org

Marc Rotenberg, Computer Professionals for Social Responsiblity
Tom Devine, Government Accountability Project, 810 First Street,
NE, Suite 630, Washington, DC  20002; 202/408-0034

Prue Adler, Association of Research Libraries, 21 Dupont Circle,
NW, Washington, DC  20036; 202/296-8656l; prue () cni org

Jeff Chester, Center for Media Education, P.O. Box 330039,
Washington, DC  20033; 202/628-2620; cme () digex net

Richard Civille, Center for Civic Networking, P.O. Box 65272
Washington, DC  20035; 202/362-3831; rciville () cap gwu edu

Page Miller, National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of
History; 400 A Street, SE, Washington, DC  20003; 202/544-2422
Scott Armstrong, The Information Trust, 1330 Connecticut Avenue,
NW, Suite 220, Washington, DC  20036; 202/296-4833

Brad Stillman, Legislative Counsel, Consumer Federation of
America, 1424 16th Street, NW, Suite 604, Washington, DC  20036
202/387-6121; bstillman () essential org

Janine Jackson, FAIR, 130 West 25th Street, New York, NY  10011;
212/633-6700

John Richard, Essential Information, P.O. Box 19405, Washington,
DC  20036; 202/387-8034; jrichard () essential org

Jonathan Tasini, National Writers Union, 739 West 186th Street
Apartment 1A, New York, NY  10033; 212/927-1208;
76450.2377 () compuserve com

Peter Montague, Environmental Research Foundation, P.O. Box 5036
Annapolis, MD  21403; erf () igc apc org

Steven Aftergood, Federation of American Scientists, 307
Massacusetts Ave., NE, Washington, DC  20002; 202/675-1012
jstone () igc apc org
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