BACKGROUND GPO ACCESS System. The 103d Congress passed Public Law 103-40, which directed the Government Printing Office (GPO) to make Legislative Branch and Executive Branch information, beginning with the Congressional Record and the Federal Register, available via online systems. In response to this mandate, GPO developed its ACCESS system, which was first released to depository libraries and the public in June 1994. This legislation authorizes the Superintendent of Documents to determine what other publications distributed by that office will be made available on the system. With respect to legislative information, ACCESS currently includes, among other documents, the full text of bills and the Congressional Record for the 103d and 104th Congresses, the Congressional Record Index (since 1983), the House and Senate Calendars, committee reports for the 104th, the History of Bills since 1983, the 1994/5 Unified Agenda, and the U.S. Code. In December 1995, the Public Printer eliminated all charges for use of the ACCESS system. GPO plans to replace the current ACCESS software with a more sophisticated commercial retrieval system during the first half of calendar 1996. GPO has also developed plans for making many Executive Branch agency publications available through the ACCESS system. In response to a congressional directive, GPO is developing a plan, which will be subject to congressional approval, for making the Depository Library Program entirely electronic (except for core publications which will also be available in print) by 1998.
LOC THOMAS System. In December 1994, Speaker-elect Gingrich and Chairman-elect Thomas directed the Library of Congress to develop a system for making legislative information available to the public through the Internet.2 In his speech at the inauguration of the THOMAS system the Speaker stated that his intention was to ensure that the public has direct, immediate, and free access to legislative information. In January 1995, the Library released to Congress and the public its THOMAS system, which currently includes the full text of the bills and the Congressional Record for the 103d and 104th Congresses (received from the GPO), and the CRS-prepared bill digest database, which contains information on sponsors and cosponsors; committee, floor, conference, and executive actions; amendments; and summaries of all bills. In response to guidelines established by the House Oversight Committee, and in response to requests from the JCP, the Library is also working to make other legislative information available on THOMAS, including committee reports (projected availability in February 1996), House and Senate procedural rules, etc. The House Oversight Committee has approved specific guidelines for the legislative information that it wishes to be made available on THOMAS, but the Senate has not yet provided its guidelines to the Library.
Senate Initiatives. In February, 1995, staff of the Senate Appropriations Committee asked the Library of Congress to analyze and, if feasible, to develop the means for providing legislative information retrieval services for the Senate in place of its current Senate Legis system. The Library has been working with the Senate Computer Center to develop a plan for implementing this request. The plan currently calls for the Senate Computer Center to continue to pass its legislative information to the Library, and to begin sending its Treaties, Nominations, and Executive Communications files to the Library on a regular production basis. The Library makes its legislative files available to Senate offices now, and will make the Treaties, Nominations, and Executive Communication files available via its SCORPIO retrieval system as early in 1996 as possible. This task is made relatively straight forward because the Senate Legis system and the Library's SCORPIO system are derived from the same software system. When the Library completes the planned replacement of its SCORPIO system, all Senate files would be migrated to the new system.
This plan, if approved by the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, would enable the Senate Computer Center to focus its efforts on the replacement of its current data collection system, which supports the Secretary of the Senate, while the Library focusses on providing retrieval services to the Senate.
House Initiatives. In November 1995, the Committee on House Oversight approved several initiatives that relate to the proposed legislative information system. These included 1) the House Information Systems Program Plan 2) the Policy Guidelines for a Joint Effort Between the Library of Congress and the U.S. House of Representatives to Provide Electronic Access to Legislative Information Created by the U.S. Congress, and 3) the ideas encompassed in the concept of the "CyberCongress" (see Appendix A for a discussion of CyberCongress).
The House Information Systems Program Plan mandates a new information research facility for the House based on the World Wide Web paradigm and replacement of the MicroMIN, MIN, and ISIS systems. MIN and ISIS are two general information systems used extensively by the House community. They provide extensive information, research, and computational services, covering legislative, newswire, periodical publications, geographic and demographic information and services, federal funding information and services, and administrative services. MIN represents over 15 years of user driven development and delivery of services, and is used each month by over 5000 users from almost every House office. ISIS was built, using newer technology and information system approaches, upon H.I.R.'s experience from delivering information services via MIN and driven by user requirements which exceeded the capabilities of the technology used to deliver MIN. See Appendix A for a discussion of the plans to retire MIN and ISIS.
The Policy Guidelines, prepared by The Committee on House Oversight's Computer and Information Services Working Group, are intended to provide the House and the public with more unified and less redundant systems for accessing legislative information. The objectives of these policy guidelines are to 1) provide access for the House and the public to legislative information in electronic formats; 2) improve the timeliness and amount of legislative information made available to the House and the public; 3) establish policies and procedures that ensure that legislative information in electronic formats will be prepared, preserved, maintained and continue to be made available to the House and the public for as long as Congress shall determine; and 4) reduce the duplication of legislative information services supported by the Congress.
The Policy Guidelines propose that the Library make available for retrieval, legislative information that is prepared by, or on behalf of, the entire Congress, or by the committees, subcommittees, or offices of the Congress. The House, through its electronic research services supported by HIR, would provide access to information which is prepared by party organizations or by the House leadership; or which is by, or about an individual Member. The House would also provide access to information which is temporary or subject to frequent change, such as committee and floor schedules.
The committee also approved a resolution stating that "...it is the sense of the Committee that the Chairman should recommend to the Senate Rules and Administration Committee the establishment of a joint Legislative Information Working Group which would review and make recommendations with respect to the integration of the various separate but related initiatives currently being undertaken within the Legislative Branch to provide improved access to legislative information both to the Congress and to the public."
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