Peter Suber on "New Bill to Block Open Access to Publicly-Funded Research"

Open Access expert, Berkman Fellow, and Editor of SPARC’s Open Access Newsletter, Peter Suber, reports on recent legislation that was in the House of Representatives nine days before Christmas.

Suber Writes:

The Research Works Act (HR 3699) is a new bill to repeal the open-access policy at the NIH and block similar policies at other federal agencies. Co-sponsored by Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), it was introduced on December 16, 2011, and referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Read Suber’s Ongoing Post on Google+

Read the Legislation via THOMAS

Track the Legislation on GovTrack.us

Worth Noting: One of the bills co-sponsors, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), has been one a very vocal anti-SOPA supporter.

Additional Reading:

• Why Is Open-Internet Champion Darrell Issa Supporting an Attack on Open Science? (via The Atlantic)

• Publishers Applaud ‘Research Works Act,’ Bipartisan Legislation To End  Government Mandates on Private-Sector  Scholarly Publishing (News Release from AAP)