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S 4015 111th Congress Senate

Public Access to Historical Records Act

Official title: A bill to provide for the establishment, on-going validation, and utilization of an official set of data on the historical temperature record, and for other purposes.

Introduced: December 8, 2010 See on congress.gov
Science, Technology, Communications Atmospheric science and weatherCensus and government statisticsClimate change and greenhouse gasesEnvironmental assessment, monitoring, researchGovernment information and archives
This bill died when the 111th Congress ended
It never became law before the 111th Congress (2009–2010) adjourned, and bills don't carry over to the next Congress. It would have to be reintroduced. You can still save it for reference, but it won't receive updates.
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Dec 8, 2010
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Dec 8, 2010
Introduced in Senate
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 Latest action December 8, 2010

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

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 of NASA, 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.

 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 4015: Public Access to Historical Records Act. 111th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/111-S-4015/
MLA
"S. 4015: Public Access to Historical Records Act." 111th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/111-S-4015/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 4015, 111th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/111-S-4015/.
Markdown link
[S. 4015: Public Access to Historical Records Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/111-S-4015/)
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