WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act, legislation introduced by U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.). The bipartisan bill will require public data to be accessible at Data.gov so individuals, organizations, and other government offices can utilize it.
“Public information belongs to the public, and it’s the government’s job to make sure that data is available and easily accessible in today’s ever-changing digital world,” said Schatz. “I thank Senator Sasse for working with me to get this through the Senate, and I look forward to continuing our work in the next Congress.”
The OPEN Government Data Act will require, by default, the data included at Data.gov to be machine-readable format to make it accessible to anyone and easily searchable. It also protects privacy and national security information when making federal government data available to the public while requiring federal agencies use it to improve decision-making.