Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act of 2017
Latest action. Committee on Rules and Administration. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 115-613.
Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act of 2017
(Sec. 2) This bill amends federal copyright law to require the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint a Register of Copyrights from a list of at least three individuals recommended by a panel composed of:
the Speaker of the House of Representatives;
the President pro tempore of the Senate;
the majority and minority leaders of the House and the Senate; and
the Librarian of Congress.
(Currently, the Register of Copyrights is appointed by the Librarian of Congress.)
To be eligible for appointment, the individual must be a citizen of the United States with a professional background and experience in copyright law and must be capable of identifying and supervising a chief information officer responsible for managing modern information technology systems.
The bill limits the term of office for the Register of Copyrights to 10 years, but the individual may be reappointed subject to the same requirements established in this bill.
The President may remove the Register of Copyrights from office and must notify both chambers of Congress of any such removal.
(Sec. 3) Nothing in this bill may be construed to impact the mandatory deposit requirements under which owners of a copyright or of an exclusive right of publication must deposit in the U.S. Copyright Office two copies or phonorecords of works published in the United States for the use or disposition of the Library of Congress.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on April 26, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on September 26, 2018: Committee on Rules and Administration. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 115-613.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
ROBERT GOODLATTE (R-VA) introduced it on March 23, 2017, and 33 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 23, 2017, 3458 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2906 days ago, on September 26, 2018.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers