Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 5183 - National Institute of Standards and Technology Authorization Act

(House)
(Ro (D) New Jersey)

The Administration supports House passage of H.R. 5183, but will seek amendments in the Senate to:

—    authorize the Secretary of Commerce to transfer other Department of Commerce agencies, programs, and activities to the newly-established Technology Administration as he deems appropriate, in order to provide maximum management flexibility and effectiveness;

—    conform the appropriation authorizations to the 1989 Budget request for Japanese Technical Literature Act activities, the new Office of the Under Secretary for Technology, and the Regional Manufacturing Technology Centers;

—    delete the prohibition on merging the Fire Research and Building Technology Centers;

—    delete the requirement that minimum amounts of authorized appropriations be used for specified activities, which unduly limits management flexibility;

—    lessen the restrictions on contracting activities of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) to increase management flexibility;

—    delete sections 301(2) and 302 (which would authorize laboratories to enter into cooperative agreements covering certain intellectual property, including copyrightable software, and to reward Federal employees who develop such software), unless there is an accompanying amendment of section 105 of Title 17, U.S. Code, which would allow an exception to the prohibition on Federal employees from obtaining copyrights for work produced in the course of their duties; and

—      amend section 303 to clarify that inventors (or coinventors) working in a Federal laboratory under the sponsorship of the Federal Government should receive at least 15 percent of the royalties or other income the agency receives on account of any such invention, if the inventor (or coinventor) has assigned his or her rights in the invention to the United States. (The Administration supports section 303, which would allow foreign scientists to share in royalties.)

The Administration would oppose H.R. 5183 if amended to impose additional restrictions upon NTIS contracting.