We Stood Up for Access to the Law and Congress Listened: 2024 in Review

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For a while, ever since they lost in court, a number of industry giants have pushed a bill that purported to be about increasing access to the law. In fact, it would give them enormous power over the public ability to access, share, teach, and comment on the law.  

This sounds crazy—no one should be able to own the law. But these industry associations claim there’s a glaring exception to the rule: safety and building codes. The key distinction, they insist, is how these particular laws are developed. Often, when it comes to creating the best practices for an industry, a group of experts comes together to draft model standards. Many of those standards are then “incorporated by reference” into law, making them legal mandates just are surely as the U.S. tax code. 

But unlike most U.S. laws, the industry association that convene the experts claim that they own a copyright in the results, which means they get to control – and charge for—access to them. 

The consequences aren’t hard to imagine. If you are a journalist trying to figure out if a bridge that collapsed violated legal safety standards, you have to get the standards from the industry association, and pay for it. If you are renter who wants to know whether your apartment complies with the fire code, you face the same barrier.  And so on. 

Many organizations are working to remedy the situation, making standards available online for free (or, in some cases, for free but with a “premium” version that offers additional services on top). Courts around the country have affirmed their right to do so. 

Which brings us to the “Protecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes Act” or “Pro Codes.” The Act requires industry associations to make standards incorporated by reference into law available for free to the public. But here’s the kicker – in exchange Congress will affirm that they have a legitimate copyright in those laws.    

This is bad deal for the public. First, access will mean read-only, and subject to licensing limits.  We already know what that looks like: curre

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