S 116 · 112th Congress 2011–2013, ended

Public Access to Historical Records Act

Fact sheet

Latest action · Jan 25, 2011 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

  1. IntroducedJan 25, 2011
  2. Passed SenateNot reached
  3. Passed HouseNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Public Access to Historical Records Act - Directs the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to establish an official dataset on the historical temperature record.

Requires NASA to utilize the raw data related to temperature that is collected by applicable stations and vessels and to quantify the statistical uncertainty of each temperature observation and any subsequent products based on that observation.

Requires the gaps that exist in temperature station and temperature reading data to be clearly and fully identified.

Creates a panel to assist the Administrator in the establishment of the dataset.

Requires the Administrator, at least once every three years, to contract with an appropriate independent entity to perform a verification and validation of the dataset and requires the publication of any algorithms utilized, and any determinations made, in verifying and validating the dataset.

Requires persons and entities engaged in global climate research funded by the federal government to utilize the dataset as a source of data on the historical temperature record.

Directs the Secretary of Commerce to provide for the immediate release of: (1) all raw temperature station data from cooperative observers and automated stations collected by the National Climatic Data Center, and (2) an analysis of the differences between raw and final temperature datasets collected by the Center.

Cosponsors 1

Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Jan 25, 2011.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
R-WYJohn BarrassoOriginalJan 25, 2011

Actions 2

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Jan 25, 2011Introduced in Senate
  2. Jan 25, 2011Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. Jan 25, 2011Introduced in Senate

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.