New Calif. Law Requires No-Cost Access to Some Medical Research
Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has signed a bill (AB 609) that requires certain state-funded health care research reports to be made public at no cost, the Los Angeles Times' "The Economy Hub" reports.
The law applies to research projects that receive funding beginning on Jan. 1, 2015 (Hiltzik, "The Economy Hub," Los Angeles Times, 10/6).
Details of AB 609
The original version of the bill, by Assembly members Mike Gatto (D-Burbank) and Brian Nestande (R-Palm Desert), called for no-cost public access to all state-funded research (California Healthline, 8/6/13).
However, the bill faced opposition that resulted in a "watered down" final version of the legislation, according to "The Economy Hub." Specifically, the law:
- Applies only to research that has been funded by the California Department of Public Health; and
- Gives commercial publishers exclusive rights to research for up to a year, at which point the findings can be released to the public at no cost.
Nanette Farag, chief of staff for Nestande, said the bill's authors were hesitant to impose an embargo shorter than one year because doing so might cause a conflict for California researchers applying for federal grant funding. NIH's policies include a 12-month embargo.
Farag said the alteration to only include DPH-funded research will be "a good test case" to see the law's effect over time ("The Economy Hub," Los Angeles Times, 10/6).
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