South OC Times

Washington – This week, the Pro Codes Act (H.R. 1631) authored by Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) passed through the House Judiciary Committee. H.R. 1631, co-led by Congresswoman Deborah Ross (NC-02), ensures free public access to technical standards incorporated into law or regulations while protecting the copyrights of the private entities that develop and update these standards. This bill strikes the right balance of ensuring that technical standard organizations (SDOs) maintain copyright protections for the compilation of technical codes and provide accessibility for the public. Under this bill, those who invest in code development will still be able to sell their materials in certain formats so long as they are simultaneously providing public access to the information for free.

"Standards in federal rules and regulations matter, and never more so than when they are at the crossroads of streamlining public access or blocking it," said Rep. Issa. “The Pro Codes Act harmonizes the need to make our standards accessible with safeguarding the copyrights of those who create these regulations. My thanks to Rep. Ross for her work in our success in the Judiciary Committee.”

“I firmly believe that codes that have been incorporated into law should always be available to the public at no cost,” said Congresswoman Ross. “The Pro Codes Act strikes a critical balance between enabling public access to codes and ensuring copyrights are protected and organizations are properly compensated and incentivized to create and update the standards we need to keep the American people safe and healthy. I thank Congressman Issa for his partnership on this issue, and I am pleased to see this bipartisan legislation advance out of committee today.”

The full text of the bill can be found here.