BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 609
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Date of Hearing: May 24, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 609 (Nestande) - As Amended: May 9, 2013
Policy Committee:
AccountabilityVote:8 - 2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill establishes minimum publication requirements for
people who receive funding for research from a state agency.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires grant recipients to provide public access to any
publication of a state agency-funded invention or technology
by ensuring that an electronic version of the final
peer-reviewed manuscript is submitted to the funding agency or
to an appropriate publicly accessible database approved by the
agency.
2)Requires that the manuscript be made publicly available within
12 months.
3)States the intent of the Legislature for all grantees to abide
by the publication requirements outlined in the California
Code of Regulations for stem cell research California
Institute of Regenerative Medicine grants.
4)Exempts grantees that receive funding from an agency that has
an existing publication requirement that meets or exceeds the
requirements in this bill.
FISCAL EFFECT
The exact amount state agencies spend on funding research each
year is unknown. It is likely it is at least $250 million,
based on research funding state agencies provide the University
of California. It is also unknown how much of that funding
results in peer-reviewed articles and papers.
AB 609
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However, to the extent that individuals receiving grant funding
for research would be required to pay approximately $3,000 in
fees associated with a peer review process and to publish their
findings on an open access database, it could result in cost
pressure in excess of $250,000 due to agencies increasing their
grant amounts to cover publishing costs.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . This bill requires free online public access to the
final peer-reviewed manuscripts or published version that was
the product of a state agency's research grant as soon as
practicable, but not later than 12 months after publication in
peer-reviewed journals.
The author intends to provide free access to published results
of California taxpayer-funded research for free. Specifically,
the author states that the cost to purchase academic journal
subscriptions or articles is expensive and that state-funded
research should be shared with the public.
2)Support . Supporters, which include UC, various organizations,
professors and researchers, state that requiring open access
would provide the public access to important research and spur
innovation and economic growth. They contend the results of
publically-funded research should be made available to the
public.
3)Opposition . The Association of American Publishers, Inc. (AAP)
opposes this bill. AAP argues that while the government may
currently fund original research, the publishers pay for the
cost of publication and the peer review processes and recoups
those costs through subscriptions and the purchase price of
individual journals. Under this legislation, those costs
would now be borne by the researcher and the agencies funding
the research. The AAP further argues that providing free
access to journal articles would harm not-for-profit and
commercial publishers and negatively impact journal publishing
jobs in California.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 609
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