{"id":38082,"date":"2025-06-26T15:46:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T15:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/?p=38082"},"modified":"2025-06-26T15:47:40","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T15:47:40","slug":"public-knowledge-opposes-bill-paywalling-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/public-knowledge-opposes-bill-paywalling-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Knowledge Opposes Bill Paywalling the Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yesterday, Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Deborah Ross (D-NC) reintroduced 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>, continues to warn 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u201cThis is an attempt to paywall the law. The only way the public can access the law under this model is by handing over their data to inaccessible, non-searchable, siloed, data-harvesting, non-ADA compliant \u2018reading rooms.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMoreover, despite Rep. Issa ramming the bill through a markup<\/a> last year, we still <\/em>don\u2019t have answers to the most basic 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? We still don\u2019t know, and the bill\u2019s proponents are uninterested in answering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt a time when Americans are fighting rapid erosion of their rights and liberties, this bill would deny them the right to even know what the law is. <\/em>This bill should be consigned to the dustbin of history, where it belongs. Don\u2019t paywall the law.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Deborah Ross (D-NC) reintroduced 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, continues to warn that restricting access to laws […]<\/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-38082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release","tag-copyright-reform"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPublic Knowledge Opposes Bill Paywalling 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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