Washington, D.C. – Today the Senate passed the Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act, championed by Senators Ben Sasse (R-NE) and Brian Schatz (D-HI).

The bill was incorporated into a package of amendments (S.Amdt.1003) representing the final negotiated Senate FY18 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (S. 1519; H.R. 2810). You can find the new bill text incorporated as Sec. 6012 on page 1013 of the Congressional Record here.

“The Data Coalition and our member companies have been diligently working with both Senate and House champions since February 2015 to get the OPEN Government Data Act signed into law,” said Hudson Hollister, Executive Director of the Data Coalition. “By requiring all federal agencies to publish their information in open, machine-readable formats, this reform will bring about greater efficiency within government and unprecedented transparency outside government.”

The NDAA is expected to be passed by the House of Representatives and signed by the President, meaning that the OPEN Government Data Act is likely to become law.

This version of the OPEN Government Data Act closely mirrors the original bill introduced earlier this year (S.760; H.R. 1770), but incorporates some changes based on input from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), ensuring support from the Administration going forward.

View the original bill (S.760) here.

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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