Two pieces of legislation that would have a direct impact on Scholarly Communication and Open Access issues and initiatives have been introduced in the 112th Congress. The following is a brief summary of the proposed legislation.
RESEARCH WORKS ACT (H.R. 3699)
A bill called the Research Works Act, H.R. 3699, was introduced in the House of Representatives last December by Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). The Research Works Act was a direct threat to Open Access initiatives and explicitly stated that its intent was "to ensure the continued publication and integrity of peer-reviewed research works by the private sector." The bill, openly supported, initially, by publishing giant Elsevier and opposed by many in the academic world, stalled and the co-sponsors announced in February that they would take no further legislative action, effectively abandoning the Research Works Act.
FEDERAL RESEARCH PUBLIC ACCESS ACT OF 2012 (H.R. 4004), (S. 2096)
Almost a direct counterpoint to the Research Works Act--The Federal Research Public Access Act of 2012, H.R. 4004, introduced this spring by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) seeks to expand the successful, highly-lauded initiative by the National Institute of Health to ensure that the public has unfettered access to research conducted with tax revenue under the auspices of the Federal Government. A related bill, S. 2096, was introduced in the Senate by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX). The American Library Association is tracking developments related to the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2012 here. The Harvard Open Access Project also has more information on the history and progress of the legislation, an earlier version of which was introduced in 2009.
