{"id":36794,"date":"2024-04-17T15:49:17","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T15:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/?p=36794"},"modified":"2024-04-17T15:49:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T15:49:21","slug":"public-knowledge-warns-congress-dont-paywall-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/public-knowledge-warns-congress-dont-paywall-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Knowledge Warns Congress: Don\u2019t Paywall the Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today, the House Judiciary Committee marked up<\/a> the \u201cProtecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes\u201d (PRO CODES) Act. The bill proposes copyrighting model standards, such as building and electric codes, often referenced in state and local laws. Public Knowledge, along with 22 other organizations<\/a>, warns that restricting access to laws governing safety and fire standards will imperil the safety of ordinary Americans and drive up costs for basic access to the law. The markup follows a letter warning lawmakers<\/a> against adopting the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following can be attributed to Meredith Rose, Senior Policy Counsel at Public Knowledge:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou cannot paywall the law. This bill is an attempt to lock up the text of the law, with the only \u2018public\u2019 access allowed through inaccessible, non-searchable, siloed, data-harvesting, non-ADA compliant \u2018reading rooms.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMoreover, this bill is being rammed through without a hearing, despite repeated promises of a hearing and a host of unanswered questions: How are these standards actually developed? How ubiquitous are they? What does the process of obtaining access to a standard look like? How are organizations behind these codes funded, and do they lobby legislatures to have their standards enacted into law? And what are the actual costs of development?

\u201cRight now, we have none<\/em> of these answers in the public record. Instead, we are being asked to support legislation on blind reassurances<\/em>. \u2018Just trust me\u2019 is not a basis for passing legislation that will prevent millions of Americans from seeing and fulfilling their legal obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, the House Judiciary Committee marked up the \u201cProtecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes\u201d (PRO CODES) Act. The bill proposes copyrighting model standards, such as building and electric codes, often referenced in state and local laws. Public Knowledge, along with 22 other organizations, warns that restricting access to laws governing safety and fire standards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-36794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release","tag-copyright-reform"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPublic Knowledge Warns Congress: Don\u2019t Paywall the Law - Public Knowledge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Public Knowledge promotes freedom of expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works. 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