{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/releases?ContentRecord_id=64333cc6-14bc-469e-ade7-213b956eef71", "Hatch Unveils Innovation Agenda for the 114th Congress", "2014-10-22", "2014", "2014-10", "Republican", "House", "UT", "Orrin Hatch", "H000338", "www.hatch.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "As Republicans seek to end Senate gridlock and advance policies that promote economic growth and make America more prosperous, Sen. Hatch\u2019s innovation agenda is a critical priority for the next Congress.\r\nKey excerpts:\r\nOur constitutional values teach that the federal government has an important role to play in fostering entrepreneurship and economic growth. But it should not be one of heavy-handed regulator.\u00a0 Rather, government\u2019s proper role is to act as a facilitator, creating an environment that encourages research and development to drive our prosperity and quality of life in the decades to come. As chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, I have been working with colleagues and stakeholders to develop an innovation agenda for the coming Congress.\u00a0\r\nOn Addressing Patent Trolls:\r\nIn particular, we must enact legislation to combat abusive patent litigation.\u00a0 ...Through common-sense reforms to our patent laws \u2013 including fee shifting, heightened pleading and discovery standards, and a mechanism to enable recovery of fees against shell companies \u2013 we can ensure that American resources are used to innovate and create jobs, not wasted to settle or litigate frivolous claims.\r\nOn Protecting Trade Secrets:\r\nAnother way to protect America\u2019s innovation is to create a harmonized, uniform federal standard for protecting trade secrets.\r\nTrade secrets, such as customer lists, formulas, and manufacturing processes, are an essential form of intellectual property... It\u2019s time to enact trade secret legislation that enables U.S. companies to protect their trade secrets in federal court.\r\nOn Balancing Privacy and Responsible Data Storage:\u00a0\r\nWe are long overdue to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act \u2013 or ECPA \u2013 to require a warrant for all e-mail content within the United States and to safeguard data stored abroad from improper government access. ... Congress must ensure that law enforcement has the tools to execute search warrants where necessary, so long as officials comply with the laws of the foreign country where the electronic data is stored. ... Overregulation, however, is not the answer. Any new data policies must balance consumer privacy and the benefits of big data in people\u2019s lives.\r\nOn Enhancing America\u2019s Competitive Workforce:\r\nCentral to innovation is enhancing America\u2019s competitive workforce. We can do this by streamlining the hiring process for high-skilled individuals entering the United States \u2026 [and] investing in STEM education and training.\r\nHeading into the 114th Congress, Democrats must drop their insistence on immediate comprehensive reform, particularly when individual elements\u2014like high-skilled immigration\u2014can win broad support and help pave the way for additional and more far-reaching reforms in the future.\r\nThe full remarks are pasted below.\r\n---\r\nSenator Orrin G. Hatch\r\nAn Innovation Agenda for the 114th Congress\r\nRemarks as prepared for delivery\r\nOverstock.com Corporate Office \u2013 Salt Lake City, Utah\r\nTuesday, October 21, 2014\r\nIt\u2019s great to be with you this afternoon. Thank you for taking time from your busy schedules to be here. \u00a0\r\nAs I travel around the state and throughout the country, I am often asked why Congress doesn\u2019t do more to enact pro-technology, pro-innovation policies. After all, in most of our communities, high-tech job growth is consistently faster than other areas of the private sector.\u00a0\r\nHere in Utah, we have nearly 100,000 people working in the tech industry\u2014a sector that is growing at five times the rate of the national economy.\u00a0 Throughout the nation, demand for high-tech jobs is expected to surpass demand for jobs in other sectors until at least 2020.\u00a0 So every state in the country has a vested interest in keeping our technology industry at the forefront of the global economy.\u00a0\r\nAmerica has made extraordinary strides in innovation.\u00a0 For decades, we have been the world\u2019s leader in developing new technologies and advancing the Internet age.\u00a0 But we are not the only nation in the hunt.\u00a0 Across the globe, and particularly in China and other parts of Asia, our international competitors are working furiously to catch up.\u00a0 If the United States is to enjoy continued success in the technology arena, policymakers must ensure a legal and regulatory landscape that will enable our innovators to thrive.\r\nAs we seek to encourage innovation, however, we must also recognize limits on what government can and should do.\u00a0 Our constitutional values teach that the federal government has an important role to play in fostering entrepreneurship and economic growth.\u00a0 But it should not be one of heavy-handed regulator.\u00a0 Rather, government\u2019s proper role is to act as a facilitator, creating an environment that encourages research and development to drive our prosperity and quality of life in the decades to come.\r\nAs chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, I have been working with colleagues and stakeholders to develop an innovation agenda for the coming Congress.\u00a0 Recently, I gave a high-level overview of this agenda during a policy speech at the Reagan Ranch in California.\u00a0 Today I would like to speak in greater detail about some of the initiatives that I believe are critical to ensuring the continued success of our high-tech economy.\u00a0\r\nI.\u00a0 Protect America\u2019s Innovation and Inventiveness\u00a0\r\nFirst, Congress must act to protect America\u2019s innovation and inventiveness.\u00a0 An essential part of fostering innovation is protecting legitimate intellectual property rights.\r\nPatent Litigation Reform\r\nIn particular, we must enact legislation to combat abusive patent litigation.\u00a0 As you well know, patent trolls are having a crippling effect on innovation and growth across all sectors of our economy\u2014ranging from main street businesses to America\u2019s largest technology companies. A recent study found that abusive patent litigation costs our economy $60 billion each year.\u00a0\r\nThrough abusive and meritless litigation, patent trolls\u2014which are often shell companies that do not make or sell anything\u2014seek to extort settlements from innovators throughout the country.\u00a0 These settlements divert capital that could otherwise be used for innovative research or technological development.\u00a0\r\nMany patent trolls target small businesses that do not have the resources to defend themselves in court.\u00a0 Even though these small businesses have done nothing wrong, they often agree to unwarranted settlements to avoid costly litigation. And those who do fight back are forced to spend millions in litigation costs, often with no chance of enforcing a court-ordered award against a judgment-proof plaintiff.\r\nThrough common-sense reforms to our patent laws\u2014including fee shifting, heightened pleading and discovery standards, and a mechanism to enable recovery of fees against shell companies\u2014we can ensure that American resources are used to innovate and create jobs, not wasted to settle or litigate frivolous claims.\r\nI intend to do everything in my power next Congress to pass such legislation.\r\nProtecting Trade Secrets\r\nAnother way to protect America\u2019s innovation is to create a harmonized, uniform federal standard for protecting trade secrets.\u00a0\r\nTrade secrets, such as customer lists, formulas, and manufacturing processes, are an essential form of intellectual property. Yet, trade secrets are the only form of U.S. intellectual property where misuse does not provide its owner with a federal private right of action. Currently, trade secret owners must rely on state courts or federal prosecutors to protect their rights.\u00a0\r\nThe multistate procedural and jurisdictional issues that arise in such cases are costly and complicated, and the Department of Justice lacks the resources to prosecute many such cases. These systemic issues put companies at a great disadvantage, since the victims of trade secret theft need to recover information quickly before it crosses state lines or leaves the country.\r\nUnfortunately, in today\u2019s global information age, there are endless examples of how easy\u2014and rewarding\u2014it can be to steal trade secrets. In June 2013, the Wall Street Journal reported that authorities arrested a former engineer for a medical-device maker after he attempted to relocate to India with trade secrets he stole from his former employer.\u00a0 As a staff engineer, the employee had substantial access to the company\u2019s trade secrets, including a self-administered disposable pen injector still in development. Weeks before quitting, the employee downloaded an estimated 8,000 files, including many related to the pen in development, onto external hard drives and thumb drives. The sheer amount of stolen intellectual property was enormous. \u00a0\r\nWhile the maximum penalty for trade secrets theft is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, few of these thefts actually result in federal prosecutions. And while $250,000 may sound like a steep penalty, most stolen trade secrets amount to tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars in lost profits and sales. Even when thefts are prosecuted, victim companies rarely recover the full extent of their loss.\u00a0\r\nAccording to the FBI, when Greg Chung stole Boeing trade secrets related to the U.S. Space Shuttle and gave them to China, he gave away an estimated $2 billion in trade secrets.\u00a0 Even though Mr. Chung was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison, Boeing received no compensation for its staggering loss of technology.\u00a0\r\nIt is past time to enact trade secret legislation that enables U.S. companies to protect their trade secrets in federal court.\u00a0\r\nCombating Online Piracy\r\nA final priority for protecting America\u2019s innovation and inventiveness is developing policies to foster a voluntary and self-regulatory framework to combat online piracy. For too long we have seen digital thieves steal vast amounts of content on the Internet. A 2014 Business Software Alliance survey confirmed that globally a full 43 percent of PC software was installed without proper licensing. The survey found that the commercial value of these unlicensed installations was $62.7 billion, with emerging economies continuing to account for the majority.\u00a0\r\nNow is the time for Congress and industry stakeholders to come together with a renewed focus to combat online piracy.\r\nII.\u00a0 Ensure Responsible Data Stewardship\u00a0\r\nThe second element of an innovation agenda must involve ensuring responsible data stewardship.\u00a0 With new forms of electronic communication and data storage, policymakers must act so that our nation\u2019s privacy laws correspond to present realities and keep up with technological advances.\r\nMost immediately, we are long overdue to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act\u2014or ECPA\u2014to require a warrant for all e-mail content within the United States and to safeguard data stored abroad from improper government access.\u00a0\r\nEnacted in 1986, ECPA prohibits communications service providers from intercepting or disclosing e-mail, telephone conservations, or data stored electronically, unless such disclosure is authorized. Virtually everyone agrees that Americans should enjoy the same privacy protections in their online communications that they do in their offline communications. But Congress has not adequately updated the law since its enactment and technological developments have resulted in disparate treatment.\r\nAs currently written, ECPA requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant for e-mails that are less than six months old, but only a subpoena to access older electronic communications.\u00a0 Think about your own e-mail account. You might have hundreds of e-mails that you\u2019ve received over many years.\u00a0\r\nAdditionally, ECPA has allowed law enforcement to access e-mail that has been opened with just a subpoena, even though a search warrant would be required for a printout of the same communication sitting on your desk. These conflicting standards should cause great concern to everyone who values personal privacy.\u00a0\r\nTo make matters more complicated, ECPA is silent on the privacy standard for accessing data stored abroad. For that reason alone, Congress should amend the law. Storing digital information around the world \u2013 a practice that did not exist when ECPA became law \u2013 is now routine.\u00a0 Moreover, the federal government has taken advantage of this statutory silence to apply its own standard, requiring access to data abroad if the company storing it has a presence in the United States.\u00a0\r\nThis presents unique challenges for a number of industries, which increasingly face a conflict between American law and the law of the countries where the electronic data is stored. Additionally, if the U.S. expects to extend its warrants extraterritorially, we should not be surprised if other countries\u2014including China and Russia\u2014seek to do the same for e-mails of Americans and others stored in this country. Congress must ensure that law enforcement has the tools to execute search warrants where necessary, so long as officials comply with the laws of the foreign country where the electronic data is stored.\r\nIn addition to updating ECPA, we must support policies that protect consumer privacy while promoting the benefits of data-driven technologies.\u00a0\r\nNew technologies to create, analyze, and disseminate vast quantities of data fuel an increasingly important set of social and economic activities in nearly every sector of our economy. These data-driven technologies offer great potential for improving health care, education, financial services, consumer products, and even sports.\u00a0\r\nThe possibilities of data-driven technologies are endless, and have already provided consumers with more choices. But at the same time our big-data economy presents privacy and transparency challenges that merit everyone\u2019s attention. Some have advocated for new, burdensome regulations. Overregulation, however, is not the answer. Any new data policies must balance consumer privacy and the benefits of big data in people\u2019s lives.\u00a0\r\nIII.\u00a0 Protect America\u2019s Critical Infrastructure\u00a0\r\nA third element of our innovation agenda must be protecting America\u2019s critical infrastructure.\u00a0 Computers control nearly everything we use in our daily lives. They control our cars, phones, water supplies, power grids, financial services, retail networks, food production, and in many respects, our military capabilities. Fortunately, our adversaries have not succeeded in physically damaging our nation\u2019s interdependent critical infrastructure. But we remain vulnerable to persistent threats from cyber criminals.\u00a0\r\nLet me outline a few guiding principles that should be included in any cybersecurity legislation.\u00a0\r\nFirst, Congress must provide proper incentives, like liability protection, to encourage the private sector to share cyber-threat information with the government. Currently, businesses are reluctant to share information because they fear legal repercussions. But the government and the private sector must work together to fend off cyber-attacks.\u00a0\r\nCybersecurity legislation must also strike the right balance between protecting our nation\u2019s computing infrastructure and protecting individual privacy rights. Thus, information sharing between businesses and the government must be tailored to the recipients\u2019 actual security responsibilities.\u00a0\r\nA voluntary, non-regulatory approach is most likely to yield consensus legislation. DHS and other government agencies can provide advice and resources to improve our nation\u2019s cybersecurity posture, but\u2014as in other areas\u2014additional, burdensome regulations are not the answer.\u00a0\r\nFinally, and perhaps most importantly, we must build a strong cybersecurity workforce. Enacting cybersecurity legislation will mean little if there are no trained professionals prepared to tackle our nation\u2019s cyber challenges.\u00a0 We must encourage our young people and attract high-skilled workers from around the world to take up cyber-related disciplines.\r\nIV.\u00a0 Spur High-Tech Investment Through Tax Reform\r\nA fourth part of any innovation agenda is spurring high-tech investment through tax reform. \u00a0\r\nFor example, we should incentivize businesses to invest in research and development by making the R&D tax credit permanent.\u00a0 This tax credit has existed as a temporary provision in the tax code since its inception 33 years ago. In that time, the R&D tax credit has sunset 16 times.\u00a0 In fact, the credit technically does not exist at this moment because it expired at the end of 2013.\u00a0 The temporary nature of the R&D tax credit, along with these frequent sunsets, make it a less reliable \u2013 and hence less effective \u2013 incentive.\u00a0 Congress should make it permanent.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad the House passed a bill to do just that.\u00a0 I\u2019ve introduced legislation in the Senate that would do the same. \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\r\nWe also need to lower the corporate tax rate.\u00a0 At 35 percent, our corporate tax rate is the highest in the developed world and is a chokehold on the economy.\u00a0 That is unacceptable.\u00a0 I hope we can get the corporate tax rate down to 25 percent, if not lower.\r\nIn addition, we need to transition to a territorial tax system.\u00a0 Right now, American companies are taxed on their worldwide income.\u00a0 But the trend in the developed world is to tax corporations in their home country only on the profits they make at home. Japan and the UK were just the latest major countries to transition from a worldwide tax system to a territorial system.\u00a0 If the U.S. transitioned to a territorial tax system, our businesses would be able to compete much more effectively in the global marketplace.\r\nI\u2019m sure all of you have read the news about U.S. corporate inversions, where a U.S. company changes its corporate structure to move its tax domicile offshore and become a foreign company. Such inversions are happening in large measure because of our high corporate tax rate, and our worldwide tax system.\u00a0 And they demonstrate just how dysfunctional the U.S. tax code has become.\r\nBy reforming our tax code, we can boost prosperity and encourage the entrepreneurial spirit that has made this nation great. \u00a0\r\nV.\u00a0 Enhance America\u2019s Competitive Workforce\u00a0\r\nA fifth element central to innovation is enhancing America\u2019s competitive workforce. We can do this by streamlining the hiring process for high-skilled individuals entering the United States to work in STEM-related fields. Equally important is investing in STEM education and training.\u00a0\r\nOur high-skilled worker shortage has become a crisis.\u00a0 In April, for the second year in a row, the government reached its current H-1B quota just five days after it began accepting applications.\u00a0 Employers submitted 172,500 petitions for just 85,000 available visas. American companies were thus unable to hire nearly 90,000 high-skilled workers they need to help grow their domestic businesses, develop innovative technologies, and compete with international competitors.\r\nDespite this growing crisis, Senate Democrats and President Obama have insisted on an all-or-nothing approach to immigration reform.\u00a0 They demand comprehensive reform that addresses all of our immigration problems in a single bill, or nothing at all.\u00a0 I am not opposed to a comprehensive approach. In fact, I joined many colleagues on both sides of the aisle last year to support such a bill in the Senate.\u00a0\r\nBut heading into the 114th Congress, Democrats must drop their insistence on immediate comprehensive reform, particularly when individual elements\u2014like high-skilled immigration\u2014can win broad support and help pave the way for additional and more far-reaching reforms in the future.\r\nVI.\u00a0 Foster a Modern, Competitive, and Open Internet\u00a0\r\nA sixth element of our innovation agenda is fostering a modern, competitive, and open Internet. This requires promoting private-sector innovation and deployment of broadband networks while simultaneously limiting unnecessary and burdensome Internet regulations. Net neutrality is a terrible idea.\u00a0 The last thing we need is government telling ISPs how to carve up bandwidth.\u00a0 Keep the Internet free and it will continue to drive our economy forward.\r\nIn addition to promoting broadband investment, Congress should support policies that encourage increased deployment and adoption of mobile online services and content, including increased access to licensed and unlicensed spectrum.\u00a0\r\nVII.\u00a0 Eliminate Corrosive Barriers to Trade\r\nTo spur innovation we must also seek to eliminate corrosive barriers to trade.\u00a0 U.S. companies doing business overseas face significant tariff barriers and a proliferation of behind-the-border barriers to trade in goods and services. These obstacles include discriminatory technical regulations and standards that deviate from international norms.\u00a0\r\nA more balanced trade environment will require U.S. trading partners to allow cross-border data flows and eliminate data localization mandates and other impediments to digital trade. We must also work with our partners to raise the standard of intellectual property protections across the globe to the level currently found in U.S. law.\u00a0\r\nVIII.\u00a0 Improve Antitrust Review and Standards-setting Processes\r\nA final ingredient in our innovation agenda is improving antitrust review and standards-setting processes. This can be accomplished by promoting responsible enforcement of our nation\u2019s antitrust laws and supporting cost-effective measures to streamline the antitrust review process. We must also ensure that the standards-setting process is functioning effectively and establish policies that enable companies to compete on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.\r\nConclusion\r\nThese priorities form an ambitious and comprehensive innovation agenda.\u00a0 Fostering technological development in the ways I have suggested will strengthen our economy while keeping government in its proper constitutional role\u2014as a helpful partner, not an all-present planner.\u00a0 I welcome your input on how best to implement this strategy going forward.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/releases?ContentRecord_id=64333cc6-14bc-469e-ade7-213b956eef71"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7584969755262136, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}