CGA NEWS
(7-23-14)
To: CGA
From: A۰P۰L۰U Congressional and Governmental Affairs Staff
· CGA Tech-IP Team Call on Thursday, July 24; CGA Invited to Join
· More Sections of FIRST Act Pass in House of Representatives
· Secret Science Reform Act Community Letter Available for Sign-on
· CGA Tech-IP Team Call on Thursday, July 24; CGA Invited to Join
CGA who are interested are welcome to join the CGA Tech-IP team call
this Thursday, July 24 at 3 p.m. ET. For those calling in, please use
(800) 264-8432 and the participant code is 854677#. The agenda
includes:
* TROL Act (patent demand letters)
* TRANSFER Act (technology transfer proof-of-concept funding)
* TEACH Act (instructional materials accessibility for the disabled)
* Net Neutrality (FCC rulemaking related to differential
treatment and pricing of internet content)
· More Sections of FIRST Act Pass in House of Representatives
On July 22, 2014, the House of Representatives passed by voice vote
two more pieces of legislation taken from noncontroversial portions of
the Frontiers in Innovation, Research, Science, and Technology (FIRST)
Act of 2014 (H.R.4186) and the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of
2014 (H.R.4159).
Last week, legislation to reauthorize the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) (H.R.5035), was pulled from the floor
due to a misunderstanding. This bill was placed back on the calendar
and passed by voice vote under suspension of the rules. Among other
things, this legislation reauthorizes NIST for FY15 at funding levels
consistent with the House-passed FY15 Commerce, Justice, Science
Appropriations bill.
The Department of Energy Laboratory Modernization and Technology
Transfer Act (H.R.5120) also passed by voice vote on July 22. This
legislation, among other things, requires the Secretary of Energy to
assess the role and effectiveness of the Technology Transfer
Coordinator position, and recommend changes to improve the transfer of
new energy technologies to the private sector. This is taken from
section 643 of the America COMPETES Reauthorization, This legislation
also gives authority to the directors of the National Laboratories to
enter into public-private research and development partnerships for
commercialization.
· Secret Science Reform Act Community Letter Available for Sign-on
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is
circulating the attached community letter regarding the Secret Science
Reform Act (H.R.4012). This legislation, which passed the House
Science, Space and Technology committee last month, prohibits the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from proposing, finalizing, or
disseminating regulations or assessments based upon science unless the
data used is reproducible and publicly available. This legislation has
also been introduced in the Senate (S.2613) by Senator John Barrasso
(R-WY), and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Environment
and Public Works (EPW).
The community letter will go to House leadership, and the Senate EPW
Committee. APLU has signed onto the letter. If you would like to
include your institution, please e-mail Sara Spizzirri
(
sspizzir@aaas.org) by July 28.
AAAS EPA Secret Science
