Taxpayers Have a Right to Access the Results of Publicly Funded Research

摘要

Late last year, two usually strong proponents of government transparency introduced a bill to limit public access to the results of taxpayer-funded research, disappointing many in the open government community. The Research Works Act (H.R. 3699), sponsored by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.-49) and committee member Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.-14), would prevent federal agencies from conditioning research grants to ensure that members of the public receive timely, equitable, online access to the results of taxpayer-funded research and would reverse the National Institutes of Health's (NIH's) popular Public Access Policy.