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S. 960 · 115th Congress

Preserving Data in Government Act of 2017

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IntroducedPassed one chamberPassed both chambersBecame law (gold)Resolution agreed to (full, dark)Failed or vetoed (gray)

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Never voted on. It didn't reach a floor vote before the 115th Congress ended, so it expired. A bill has to be introduced again to be considered in a new Congress.

3 cosponsors · 1 D, 2 R

1 signed on when it was introduced; the rest joined later. Cosponsors who withdrew aren't shown.

This bill requires that any open government data that is made available to the public for at least 90 consecutive days must: (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.

What it does: CRS summary · Introduced in Senate · Apr 27, 2017

Preserving Data in Government Act of 2017

This bill requires that any open government data that is made available to the public for at least 90 consecutive days must: (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 open government data 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 to update it or correct an error. Any substantial alteration of the data's contents shall be recorded in a log that is made available to the public in an open format along with the data.

An agency may remove such data from public availability if:

  • the agency determines that the data is too costly to maintain or does not provide sufficient value to the public,
  • the agency publishes specified notice at least six months in advance of such removal, and
  • the data is available for download on the worldwide public domain for at least six months before such removal.

This bill shall not apply to such data that is required to be removed from public availability or altered under another provision of law.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov

About this bill and sources

Official title: Preserving Data in Government Act of 2017

Latest action (Apr 27, 2017): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Policy area: Government Operations and Politics · Origin: Senate · Introduced: Apr 27, 2017

Official page on Congress.gov · Bill text (GovInfo) · Status record (XML)

No recorded floor vote found.