march12b.indd


C&RL News March 2012  164

Corey Williams is assistant director, ALA Office of 
Government Relations, e-mail: cwilliams@alawash.org

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n eCorey Williams

This month’s Washington Hotline picks up 
where the February 2012 installment left 
off—with a major development on the topic 
of open access. 

Open access legislation introduced
On February 9, 2012, members of the U.S. 
Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives 
introduced identical bills with bipartisan sup-
port aimed at improving access to federally 
funded research. In the House, the Federal 
Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) (H.R. 
4004) was introduced by Rep. Mike Doyle 
(D-PA), cosponsored by Reps. Kevin Yoder 
(R-KS) and Lacy Clay (D-MO), and referred 
to the House Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform. In the Senate, a bill 
by the same name (S. 2096) was introduced 
in the Senate by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), 
cosponsored by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR)
and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), and then 
referred to the Senate Committee on Home-
land Security and Government Affairs.

As with FRPAA legislation introduced in 
previous Congresses dating back to 2006, 
these new, identical bills would: 

• require federal departments and agen-
cies with an annual extramural research 
budget of $100 million to develop a policy to 
ensure researchers submit an electronic copy 
of the final manuscript accepted for publica-
tion in a peer-reviewed journal; 

• develop a policy ensuring that research-
ers submit an electronic copy of the final 
manuscripts that have been accepted for 
publication in a peer-reviewed journal;

• ensure that manuscripts are preserved in 
a stable digital repository maintained by that 
agency or in another suitable repository that 
permits free public access, interoperability, 
and long-term preservation; and 

• require that each taxpayer-funded 
manuscript be made available to the public 
online and without cost, no later than six 
months after the article has been published 
in a peer-reviewed journal. 

ALA has a history of strong support for 
this legislation—as it builds on the success of 
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public 
Access Policy implemented in 2008. If you 
recall, the NIH Public Access Policy ensures 
that the public have access to the published 
results of NIH-funded research no later than 
12 months after publication. FRPAA legislation 
would expand the amount of research made 
available and improve access by making it 
accessible by no later than six months after 
publication. 

In addition, FRPAA legislation is the anti-
dote to the anti-open access Research Works 
Act (H.R. 3699), introduced in December 
2011 by Rep. Darrell Issa (D-CA). Additional 
information on the bill is available at www.
ala.org/advocac/research-works-act. ALA will 
continue to voice strong opposition to the 
Research Works Act while enthusiastically 
supporting FRPAA legislation.

National Library Legislative Day, April 
23–24, 2012
Please join the ALA Washington Office staff 
and fellow colleagues and friends of libraries 
for the 2012 National Library Legislative Day. 
Quickly approaching, this year’s event will be 
held April 23 and 24 in Washington, D.C. Each 
year more than 400 library supporters travel to 
D.C. where they receive training and briefings 
to prepare for meetings with their members 
of Congress. Participants can expect to walk 
away with several insider tips on crafting 
compelling advocacy messages, speaking 
with legislators, developing advocacy plans, 
and much more. For additional information 
and to register for this year’s event, please 
visit www.ala.org/nlld.