,,ii #aaith ,,congress #b;d ,session ,s4 #dade ,,in ,,the ,,senate ,,of ,,the ,,united ,,states ,march #ai1 #bjbf,mr4 ,coons 7for himself1 ,mr4 ,cornyn1 ,ms4 ,hirono1 and ,mr4 ,tillis7 introduced the following bill2 which was read twice and referred to the ,committee on the ,judiciary ,a ,,bill ,to amend title #ag1 ,united ,states ,code1 to reaffirm the importance of1 and include requirements for1 works incorporated by reference into law1 and for other purposes4 #a4 ,short title ,this ,act may be cited as the ,protecting and ,enhancing ,public ,access to ,codes ,act of #bjbf or the ,pro ,codes ,act of #bjbf4 #b4 ,findings ,congress finds the following3 7#a7 ,congress1 the executive branch1 and ,state and local governments have long recognized that the people of the ,united ,states benefit greatly from the work of private standards development organizations with expertise in highly specialized areas4 7#b7 ,the organizations described in paragraph 7#a7 create technical standards and voluntary consensus standards through a process requiring openness1 balance1 consensus1 and due process to ensure all interested parties have an opportunity to participate in standards development4 7#c7 ,the standards that result from the process described in paragraph 7#b7 are used by private industry1 academia1 the ,federal ,government1 and ,state and local governments that incorporate those standards by reference into laws and regulations4 7#d7 ,the standards described in paragraph 7#c7 further innovation1 commerce1 and public safety1 all without cost to governments or taxpayers because standards development organizations fund the process described in paragraph 7#b7 through the sale and licensing of their standards4 7#e7 ,congress and the executive branch have repeatedly declared that1 wherever possible1 governments should rely on voluntary consensus standards and have set forth policies and procedures by which those standards are incorporated by reference into laws and regulations and that balance the interests of access with protection for copyright4 7#f7 ,circular ,a-#aai of the ,office of ,management and ,budget entitled ,federal ,participation in the ,development and ,use of ,voluntary ,consensus ,standards and in ,conformity ,assessment ,activities1 issued in revised form on ,january #bg1 #bjaf1 recognizes the benefits of voluntary consensus standards and incorporation by reference1 stating that if a standard is used and published in an agency document1 your agency must observe and protect the rights of the copyright holder and meet any other similar obligations44 7#g7 ,federal agencies have relied extensively on the incorporation by reference system to leverage the value of technical standards and voluntary consensus standards for the benefit of the public1 resulting in more than #bc1jjj sections in the ,code of ,federal ,regulations that incorporate by reference technical and voluntary consensus standards4 7#h7 ,state and local governments have also recognized that technical standards and voluntary consensus standards are critical to protecting public health and safety1 which has resulted in many such governments-- 7,a7 incorporating those standards by reference into their laws and regulations2 or 7,b7 entering into license agreements with standards development organizations to use the standards created by those organizations4 7#i7 ,standards development organizations rely on copyright protection to generate the revenues necessary to fund the voluntary consensus process and to continue creating and updating these important standards4 7#aj7 ,the people of the ,united ,states have a strong interest in-- 7,a7 ensuring that standards development organizations continue to utilize a voluntary consensus process-- 7i7 in which all interested parties can participate2 and 7ii7 that continues to create and update standards in a timely manner to-- 7,i7 account for technological advances2 7,,ii7 address new threats to public health and safety2 and 7,,iii7 improve the usefulness of those standards2 and 7,b7 the provision of access that allows people to read technical and voluntary consensus standards that are incorporated by reference into laws and regulations4 7#aa7 ,as of the date of enactment of this ,act1 many standards development organizations make their standards available to the public free of charge online in a manner that does not substantially disrupt the ability of those organizations to earn revenue from the industries and professionals that purchase copies and subscription-access to those standards 7such as through read-only access71 which ensures that the public may read the current1 accurate version of such a standard without significantly interfering with the revenue model that has long supported those organizations and their creation of1 and investment in1 new standards4 7#ab7 ,through this ,act1 and the amendments made by this ,act1 ,congress intends to balance the goals of furthering the creation of standards and ensuring public access to standards that are incorporated by reference into law or regulation4 #c4 ,works incorporated by reference into law 7a7 ,in general ,chapter #a of title #ag1 ,united ,states ,code1 is amended by adding at the end the following3 #abc4 ,works incorporated by reference into law 7a7 ,definitions ,in this section3 7#a7 ,circular a-#aai ,the term ,circular ,a-#aai means ,circular ,a-#aai of the ,office of ,management and ,budget entitled ,federal ,participation in the ,development and ,use of ,voluntary ,consensus ,standards and in ,conformity ,assessment ,activities1 issued in revised form on ,january #bg1 #bjaf4 7#b7 ,incorporated by reference 7,a7 ,in general ,the term incorporated by reference means1 with respect to a standard1 that the text of a ,federal1 ,state1 local1 or municipal law or regulation-- 7i7 references all or part of the standard2 and 7ii7 does not copy the text of that standard directly into that law or regulation4 7,b7 ,application ,the creation or publication of a work that includes both the text of a law or regulation and all or part of a standard that has been incorporated by reference1 as described in subparagraph 7,a71 shall not affect the status of the standard as incorporated by reference under that subparagraph4 7#c7 ,publicly accessible online 7,a7 ,in general ,the term publicly accessible online1 with respect to material1 means that the material is displayed for review in a readily accessible manner on a public website that conforms with the accessibility requirements of section #ejh of the ,rehabilitation ,act of #aigc 7#bi ,u4,s4,c4 #gid;d71 including the regulations implementing that section as set forth in part #aaid of title #cf1 ,code of ,federal ,regulations1 or any successor regulations4 7,b7 ,rule of construction ,if a user is required to create an account or agree to the terms of service of a website or organization in order to access material online1 that requirement shall not be construed to render the material not publicly accessible online for the purposes of subparagraph 7,a71 if-- 7i7 there is no monetary cost to the user to access that material2 and 7ii7 no personally identifiable information collected pursuant to such a requirement is used without the affirmative and express consent of the user4 7#d7 ,standard ,the term standard means a standard or code that is-- 7,a7 a technical standard1 as that term is defined in section #ab7;d7 of the ,national ,technology ,transfer and ,advancement ,act of #aiie 7#ae ,u4,s4,c4 #bgb note72 or 7,b7 a voluntary consensus standard1 as that term is used for the purposes of ,circular ,a-#aai4 7#e7 ,standards development organization ,the term standards development organization means a holder of a copyright under this title that plans1 develops1 establishes1 or coordinates voluntary consensus standards using procedures that incorporate the attributes of openness1 balance of interests1 due process1 an appeals process1 and consensus in a manner consistent with the requirements of ,circular ,a-#aai4 7b7 ,standards incorporated by reference into law or regulation ,a standard to which copyright protection subsists under section #ajb7;a7 at the time of its fixation shall retain such protection1 notwithstanding that the standard is incorporated by reference1 if the applicable standards development organization1 within a reasonable period of time after obtaining actual or constructive notice that the standard has been incorporated by reference1 makes all portions of the standard so incorporated publicly accessible online at no monetary cost and in a format that includes a searchable table of contents and index1 or equivalent aids to facilitate the location of specific content4 7c7 ,burden of proof ,in any proceeding in which a party asserts that a standards development organization has failed to comply with the requirements under subsection 7b7 for retaining copyright protection with respect to a standard1 the burden of proof shall be on the party making that assertion to prove that the standards development organization has failed to comply with those requirements4 4 7b7 ,technical and conforming amendment ,the table of sections for chapter #a of title #ag1 ,united ,states ,code1 is amended by adding at the end the following3 #abc4 ,works incorporated by reference into law4 4