Today Congressman Seth Moulton, D-Mass, and I introduced the Statutes at Large Modernization Act, which will allow ordinary Americans to access and search the entire legal history of the United States online.
This simple step will enable citizens to have better knowledge of the laws that affect their daily lives.
Groups that work to improve government transparency and accountability, like the Sunlight Foundation, R Street Institute, Demand Progress, Liberty Coalition, Data Transparency Coalition, OpentheBooks.com, Niskanen Center, and OpenGov Foundation, have all endorsed this bill for that very reason.
A searchable legal database is also a valuable tool because it allows us a peek back at the laws that governed earlier generations of Americans.
I introduced this bill because I believe that the ability to access and search U.S. law contributes to a well-informed populace, which is vital for a democracy to function well.
4 comments
Hidden laws were always popular with those governing. It was one of the grievances of the Revolution.
I like it. It would be handy to have all the laws in a more accessible form.
Thanks , I guess, but does anyone else see the irony in having to pass a law to easily access and provide information ON the laws that purport to govern us past and present in the first place? A quote from Tacitus the Roman senator and a historian of the Roman Empire comes to mind – “The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.”
My favorite is the Paperwork Reduction Act that requires a notice of compliance on various kinds of paperwork.