{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.schatz.senate.gov/press-releases/senate-passes-schatz-sasse-data-transparency-legislation", "Senate Passes Schatz-Sasse Data Transparency Legislation", "2016-12-12", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "HI", "Brian Schatz", "S001194", "www.schatz.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Senate Passes Schatz-Sasse Data Transparency Legislation \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tMonday, December 12, 2016\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON \u2013 The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act, legislation introduced by U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai\u2018i) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.). The bipartisan bill will require public data to be accessible at\u00a0Data.gov\u00a0so individuals, organizations, and other government offices can utilize it.\u201cPublic information belongs to the public, and it\u2019s the government\u2019s job to make sure that data is available and easily accessible in today\u2019s ever-changing digital world,\u201d\u00a0said Senator Schatz.\u00a0\u201cI 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.\u201d \u201cI'm proud to work across the aisle with Senator Schatz to bring a 21st century solution to this city's antiquated, 20th century approach to data,\u201d\u00a0said Senator Sasse.\u00a0\u201cBecause transparency keeps Washington accountable to the people, government data should be made public unless an administration makes a compelling reason not to. After passing the Senate with bipartisan support, we have momentum to carry this important work into the new year.\u201d The OPEN Government Data Act will require, by default, the data included at\u00a0Data.gov\u00a0to 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.\u201cThe passage of the OPEN Government Data Act marks another milestone in the open data movement,\u201d\u00a0said Hudson Hollister, Executive Director of the Data Coalition.\u00a0\u201cThis bill builds on open data reforms such as the DATA Act. Our Coalition and the emerging open data industry thank Senators Sasse and Schatz for their leadership.\u201dSupporters of the legislation include: the Sunlight Foundation, the Data Coalition, Center for Data Innovation, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and BSA/The Software Alliance.\r\n###", 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.schatz.senate.gov/press-releases/senate-passes-schatz-sasse-data-transparency-legislation"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4005061239004135, "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"}