Washington, D.C. – Today, for the first time, the OPEN Government Data (OPEN) Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives. The House unanimously approved the bill under suspension of the rules. The OPEN Government Data Act is included as Title II in Speaker Ryan’s Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (FEBP) (HR 4174).

The OPEN Government Data Act sets a presumption that all government information should be open data by default: machine-readable and freely-reusable.

The Data Coalition, along with other advocacy organizations, have strongly supported the OPEN Government Data Act for nearly 3 years. Today’s vote marks a milestone in the open data movement. This bill prioritizes open data, which will increase accountability and improved internal data-driven management.

House Cosponsors of the FEBP Act include Speaker Paul Ryan (WI-1-R), Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (SC-4-R), Reps. Derek Kilmer (WA-6-D), and Blake Farenthold (TX-27-R). The bill now goes to the Senate, which has passed the OPEN Government Data Act twice; once in the 114th Congress (see more) and this past summer as part of the Senate’s National Defense Authorization Act package (see press release).

About the Data Coalition: The Data Coalition is the world’s first, and only, open data trade association. We advocate on behalf of the private sector and the public interest for the publication of government information as standardized, open data. Open data enhances accountability, improves government management, reduces compliance costs, and stimulates innovation. Our members represent a cross-section of the technology industry and implementers, employ over two hundred thousand Americans, and have a combined market capitalization exceeding $1.5 trillion. For more information, visit datacoalition.org.

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