Congress should publish Statutes-at-Large as open data | R Street Institute | Free Markets. Real Solutions.

"Two years ago, Congress began publishing the U.S. Code in the XML markup language, a remarkably versatile format that can be read both by people and by machines. That small step was hailed as a win for those seeking a more transparent and open government. The XML data have been used by Web developers and social entrepreneurs to build platforms that allow citizens to search the U.S. Code for specific laws. This should lead to increased transparency, and may even make the lawmaking process more efficient and less error-prone. A new bill sponsored by Reps. Dave Brat, R-Va., and Seth Moulton, D-Mass., proposes to do the same with the U.S. Statutes-at-Large as been done with the U.S. Code. H.R. 4006 would put the Statutes-at-Large online in a searchable format and direct the National Archives to work with both private and public agencies to have them in XML format by 2020 ..."