Skip to main content
H.R. 1349 112th Congress House

Public Online Information Act of 2011

Official title: To establish an advisory committee to issue nonbinding governmentwide guidelines on making public information available on the Internet, to require publicly av… Show full official titleShow less

Official title: To establish an advisory committee to issue nonbinding governmentwide guidelines on making public information available on the Internet, to require publicly available Government information held by the executive branch to be made available on the Internet, to express the sense of Congress that publicly available information held by the legislative and judicial branches should be available on the Internet, and for other purposes.

Introduced: April 4, 2011 See on congress.gov
Government Operations and Politics Administrative law and regulatory proceduresAdvisory bodiesCivil actions and liabilityFreedom of information
More subjectsShow fewer subjects
Government information and archivesInternet and video servicesInternet, web applications, social mediaLegal fees and court costsOffice of Management and Budget (OMB)
This bill died when the 112th Congress ended
It never became law before the 112th Congress (2011–2012) 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 3 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Apr 8, 2011
Referred to the Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement Reform .
Apr 4, 2011
Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Apr 4, 2011
Introduced in House
 Ask about this bill AI · grounded in the bill text

Have a question about what this bill does? Ask in plain English; the answer is drawn from the bill's actual text and official record, and it'll tell you when something isn't in the text rather than guess.

AI answers can be imperfect; always confirm against the full bill text.

 Latest action April 8, 2011

Referred to the Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement Reform .

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Public Online Information Act of 2011 - Establishes a Public Online Information Advisory Committee to: (1) coordinate and encourage the government's efforts to make information from all three branches of government available on the Internet, and (2) issue and update nonbinding guidelines on how the government should make public information available.

Directs the government to make public records available on the Internet at no charge, except as imposed by federal law before this Act's enactment. Requires: (1) public records to be permanently available on the Internet; (2) current information technology capabilities to be applied to the means by which records are made available and to the formats in which they are available; and (3) each agency to publish on the Internet a comprehensive, searchable, machine processable list of all records it makes publicly available.

Delineates the roles of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Administrator of the Office of Electronic Government, and the chief information officers of independent regulatory agencies, including granting narrow case-by-case exceptions to the Internet publication requirement if an agency requests an exception and demonstrates that: (1) there is a clear and convincing reason for the record to not be made available on the Internet, and (2) on balance the harm caused by disclosure significantly outweighs the public's interest in having the record available on the Internet.

Directs the Inspector General of each agency to conduct periodic reviews regarding agency compliance with Internet publication requirements. Sets forth provisions regarding enforcement of public access by private individuals or organizations.

Urges: (1) judicial and legislative agencies to adopt or adapt the Advisory Committee's recommendations, and (2) the Government Printing Office (GPO) to make all of its publications permanently available on the Internet in a multiplicity of formats.

 Related & companion bills 1
 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 2
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 1349: Public Online Information Act of 2011. 112th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/112-HR-1349/
MLA
"H.R. 1349: Public Online Information Act of 2011." 112th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/112-HR-1349/.
Bluebook (legal)
H.R. 1349, 112th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/112-HR-1349/.
Markdown link
[H.R. 1349: Public Online Information Act of 2011](https://openamerica.io/bill/112-HR-1349/)
Report a problem