Part 15: Nonlawyer’s journey through Title 44: – Prices for sales copies of publications
This post, all earlier postings in this series, and my “not a lawyer†disclaimer can be found at http://freegovinfo.info/title44 or through our library under Nonlawyer's Journey through Title 44. 44 USC 1708
TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS CHAPTER 17--DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS Sec. 1708. Prices for sales copies of publications; crediting of receipts; resale by dealers; sales agents The price at which additional copies of Government publications are offered for sale to the public by the Superintendent of Documents shall be based on the cost as determined by the Public Printer plus 50 percent. A discount of not to exceed 25 percent may be allowed to book dealers and quantity purchasers, but the printing may not interfere with prompt execution of work for the Government. The Superintendent of Documents may prescribe terms and conditions under which he authorizes the resale of Government publications by book dealers, and he may designate any Government officer his agent for the sale of Government publications under regulations agreed upon by the Superintendent of Documents and the head of the respective department or establishment of the Government. (Pub. L. 90-620, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1280; Pub. L. 95-94, title IV, Sec. 409(a), Aug. 5, 1977, 91 Stat. 683; Pub. L. 103-69, title II, Sec. 207(b), Aug. 11, 1993, 107 Stat. 708.) Historical and Revision Notes Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., Sec. 72a (June 30, 1932, ch. 314, Sec. 307, 47 Stat. 409). Amendments 1993--Pub. L. 103-69, in first par., struck out at end ``Receipts from general sales of publications in excess of the total costs and expenses incurred in connection with the publication and sale thereof, as determined by the Public Printer, shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of miscellaneous receipts.'' 1977--Pub. L. 95-94 substituted ``Receipts from general sales of publications in excess of the total costs and expenses incurred in connection with the publication and sale thereof, as determined by the Public Printer,'' for ``Surplus receipts from sales''. Effective Date of 1993 Amendment Amendment by Pub. L. 103-69 effective Oct. 1, 1993, see section 207(c) of Pub. L. 103-69, set out as a note under section 309 of this title. Effective Date of 1977 Amendment Section 409(b) of Pub. L. 95-94 provided that: ``The amendment made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall take effect on October 1, 1977.'' Section Referred to in Other Sections This section is referred to in sections 1504, 4102 of this title.Surprising as it may seem, Congress placed limits on how much the Government Printing Office (GPO) could charge for government documents. Those who weren't surprised by Congress setting limits might be surprised that that price is higher than the cost of producing the item. I speculate that the original purpose was to get a little more money for the general treasury. Up until 1993, this section of the law required any funds receive over and above the costs of production be deposited into the US Treasury. Public Law 103-69 deleted that provision, allowing (I believe) excess funds to stay with GPO to be plowed back into the sales program. Unfortunately for the sales program, 1993 was the same year that Public Law 103-40, known as the Government Printing Office Electronic Information Enhancement Act of 1993 passed Congress. That legislation created GPO Access, a wonderful source of free government information (after a short-lived attempt at a pay service) that largely killed bread and butter subscription to titles like the Federal Register and the Congressional Record. But we will save a full discussion of PL 103-40 and related laws until our journey reaches 44 USC ch. 41, Access to Federal Electronic Government Information. Next time we will examine the law of blank forms and tie this hopefully serious look at Title 44 to our Best Titles Ever! Continue reading
FTC collects but does not publish Nicotine data
You may have heard one of many news reports yesterday about increased nicotine content of cigarettes. The data that these news stories used came from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health where a 1996 state law requires cigarette makers to test the nicotine content of their products and report the results annually. Less well reported was this tidbit about the U.S. Federal Trade Commission:
The Federal Trade Commission for three decades regularly released reports on the nicotine and tar content of cigarettes -- reports that frequently came under criticism for failing to adequately reflect the amount of nicotine smokers inhale in actual use. The reports showed that nicotine levels on average had remained stable since 1980, after falling in the preceding decade. The last of those studies was released in September 1999, commission spokeswoman Claudia B. Farrell said yesterday. The Federal Trade Commission has continued collecting data on nicotine, but she did not know why they have not published reports on the findings. -- Cigarettes Pack More Nicotine, by Stephen Smith Boston Globe, August 30, 2006The Los Angles Times reports that, "Massachusetts is one of three states to require tobacco companies to submit information about nicotine testing according to its specifications, and the only state with data going back to 1998." Cigarettes Packing More Nicotine, Report Shows, (From the Associated Press) August 31, 2006. Continue reading
The ready.gov saga continues
A short time ago, we posted a story about reallyready.org the website created by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) to highlight the many inconsistencies and faults on the Department of Homeland Security's emergency preparedness website Ready.gov. Michael Stebbins, director biology policy at FAS, posted an update to the saga on monday. It seems that DHS believes there is some intellectual property infringement going on and so sent a Cease and desist letter (PDF) to FAS. It seems disingenuous to me that, rather than incorporating FAS' analysis of ready.gov and making a much better, more informative emergency preparedness Web site for the public, DHS resorts to CYA scare tactics, trademark infringement letters, and obfuscation.
An unbiased observer would be forgiven for at least suspecting that DHS is not really concerned about confusing the public, they are using these use mark demands as a way to stifle a site that is embarrassing to them. Rather than worry about what they should be worrying about, providing clear information to the public, they are worrying that they look bad. We could hope for more, but the DHS that we are dealing with turns out to be a bunch of petty cover-your-ass bureaucrats more concerned about embarrassment than doing their jobs. I urge you to read my letter back to them and spread the word.Continue reading
USGS maps ransomed and released into the public domain
This is truly an inspiring story. Jared Benedict held 56,000 USGS maps for ransom. that's right, ransom. Benedict purchased the 56,000 public domain maps on CD-ROM from USGS. Then he asked internet denizens to help him recoup his cost of $1600. Once that was met, he sent all of the maps to the Internet Archive for permanent preservation and free access! Doesn't that just give you tons of ideas for capturing and releasing all sorts of other government information? The Internet Archive better be ready for the steady stream of government documents! Continue reading
Apologies for FGI’s technical difficulties
Just wanted to apologize to our loyal readers for the outage over the last 24 hours. In trying to upgrade the functionality of drupal, our CMS, I inadvertantly caused a server crash. We are up and running now. Mia culpa! Continue reading