Gardner introduces bipartisan bill to preserve taxpayer-supported government data

Federal agencies would be required to maintain publicly available, machine readable datasets used by small businesses, researchers and scientists under bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) on Thursday.

The Preserving Data in Government Act, which Gardner introduced with U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), would keep open access to government data created by taxpayer-funded research. It would require advance public notice of the removal of any publicly available datasets.

“Once data has been published and made available to the public, it should remain available to the public,” Gardner said. “Whether it’s a technology entrepreneur working on their next innovation or a retailer seeking better weather forecasting to help organize shipments, data is utilized to achieve numerous goals and plays a critical role in improving processes and our daily lives.”

Gardner views the bill as helping to bolster government transparency.

While the Federal Records Act requires data produced by federal agencies to be preserved, there’s currently no legal requirement to make taxpayer-funded datasets openly available or machine-readable. Open records requests can be made to obtain the datasets, but the process can be costly and time consuming.

Daniel Castro, the director of the Center for Data Innovation, said government data underpins billions of dollars of economic activity.

“This legislation would create baseline standards for ensuring public access to previously-released government data, while giving federal agencies the flexibility they need to efficiently manage information,” Castro said. “By establishing these protections for existing data, Congress would provide confidence to businesses and investors that the U.S. government will not arbitrarily or capriciously cut off access to public data. Moreover, this bill will help ensure that taxpayers have unfettered access to the data they have paid for.”

Alex Howard, the deputy director of the Sunlight Foundation, said democracies depend on citizens being fully informed about how tax dollars are spent and the performance of government programs and products created by scientific, regulatory and consumer protection agencies.

“In the 21st century, the Internet provides an unprecedented platform to publish government data on all these areas and more, enhancing transparency and accountability,” Howard said. “But it’s clear that we can’t take quality, integrity or openness for granted. At a time when public access to public information online has become shadowed in doubt, this legislation provides a vehicle to preserve and defend the knowledge commons that has grown over the past decades online.”

Research data collected using taxpayer dollars should be publicly accessible and easy to search, Peters added.

“Small businesses and individuals rely on federally produced information for everything from long-term planning to innovative product development to help grow their companies and create jobs,” Peters said.