G:\CMTE\JD\15\IP\SLW\SLW_502.XML ..................................................................... (Original Signature of Member) 115TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. ll To amend title 17, United States Code, to provide additional responsibilities for the Register of Copyrights, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Ml. llllll introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on llllllllllllll A BILL To amend title 17, United States Code, to provide additional responsibilities for the Register of Copyrights, and for other purposes. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE. 4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Register of Copyrights 5 Selection and Accountability Act of 2017’’. 6 SECTION 2. REGISTER OF COPYRIGHTS. 7 (a) AMENDMENTS.—Section 701 of title 17, United 8 States Code, is amended— G:\VHLC\032017\032017.234.xml March 20, 2017 (4:07 p.m.) VerDate Nov 24 2008 16:07 Mar 20, 2017 Jkt 000000 (653453 7) PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SLWALKER\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\SLW_502.X G:\CMTE\JD\15\IP\SLW\SLW_502.XML 2 1 (1) in subsection (a)— 2 (A) by striking ‘‘(a) All administrative’’ 3 4 and inserting the following: ‘‘(a) REGISTER AND DIRECTOR.— 5 ‘‘(1) IN 6 administrative’’; (B) by striking ‘‘director’’ and inserting 7 ‘‘Director’’; 8 (C) by inserting after the first sentence the 9 following: ‘‘The Register of Copyrights shall be 10 a citizen of the United States with a profes- 11 sional background and experience in copyright 12 law and shall be appointed by the President, by 13 and with the advice and consent of the Sen- 14 ate.’’; and 15 (D) in the last sentence, by striking ‘‘shall 16 be appointed’’ and all that follows through ‘‘and 17 shall act’’ and inserting ‘‘shall act’’; 18 (2) in subsection (b), by redesignating para- 19 graphs (1) through (5) as subparagraphs (A) 20 through (E), respectively, and adjusting the margins 21 accordingly; 22 23 (3) by redesignating subsection (b) as paragraph (2), and adjusting the margins accordingly; 24 25 (4) in paragraph (2), as so redesignated, by inserting ‘‘DUTIES.—’’ before ‘‘In addition’’; G:\VHLC\032017\032017.234.xml March 20, 2017 (4:07 p.m.) VerDate Nov 24 2008 GENERAL.—All 16:07 Mar 20, 2017 Jkt 000000 (653453 7) PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SLWALKER\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\SLW_502.X G:\CMTE\JD\15\IP\SLW\SLW_502.XML 3 1 2 (5) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following: 3 ‘‘(3) OATH.—The Register of Copyrights shall, 4 before taking office, take an oath to discharge faith- 5 fully the duties of the Copyright Office described in 6 paragraph (2). 7 ‘‘(4) REMOVAL.— 8 ‘‘(A) IN 9 Register of Copy- rights may be removed from office by the Presi- 10 dent. 11 ‘‘(B) NOTIFICATION.—The President shall 12 provide notification to both Houses of Congress 13 of a removal under subparagraph (A). 14 ‘‘(5) TERM 15 OF OFFICE.— ‘‘(A) IN 16 GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- graph (B), the Register of Copyrights— 17 ‘‘(i) shall be appointed for a term of 18 10 years; and 19 ‘‘(ii) may serve until a successor is ap- 20 pointed, confirmed, and taken the oath of 21 office. 22 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—The Register of Copy- 23 rights may not continue to serve after the date 24 on which Congress adjourns sine die after the G:\VHLC\032017\032017.234.xml March 20, 2017 (4:07 p.m.) VerDate Nov 24 2008 GENERAL.—The 16:07 Mar 20, 2017 Jkt 000000 (653453 7) PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SLWALKER\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\SLW_502.X G:\CMTE\JD\15\IP\SLW\SLW_502.XML 4 1 date on which the 10-year period described in 2 subparagraph (A)(i) ends. 3 ‘‘(C) REAPPOINTMENT.—An individual ap- 4 pointed to the position of Register of Copy- 5 rights, by and with the advice and consent of 6 the Senate, may be reappointed to that position 7 in accordance with the requirements of this sec- 8 tion.’’; 9 (6) by redesignating subsections (c) through (f) 10 as subsections (b) through (e), respectively; 11 12 (7) in subsection (b), as so redesignated, by inserting ‘‘SEAL.—’’ before ‘‘The Register’’; 13 (8) in subsection (c), as so redesignated, by in- 14 serting ‘‘ANNUAL REPORT.—’’ before ‘‘The Reg- 15 ister’’; 16 (9) in subsection (d), as so redesignated, by in- 17 serting ‘‘APPLICABILITY 18 ‘‘Except as provided’’; and OF TITLE 5.—’’ before 19 (10) in subsection (e), as so redesignated, by 20 inserting ‘‘COMPENSATION.—’’ before ‘‘The Reg- 21 ister’’. 22 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by sub- 23 section (a) shall apply with respect to any vacancy for the 24 Register of Copyrights after January 1, 2017. If a Reg25 ister of Copyrights is appointed during the period begin- G:\VHLC\032017\032017.234.xml March 20, 2017 (4:07 p.m.) VerDate Nov 24 2008 16:07 Mar 20, 2017 Jkt 000000 (653453 7) PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SLWALKER\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\SLW_502.X G:\CMTE\JD\15\IP\SLW\SLW_502.XML 5 1 ning on January 1, 2017 and ending on the day before 2 the date of the enactment of this Act, that Register shall 3 meet the requirements of the amendments made by this 4 Act or shall be replaced in accordance with such amend5 ments. G:\VHLC\032017\032017.234.xml March 20, 2017 (4:07 p.m.) VerDate Nov 24 2008 16:07 Mar 20, 2017 Jkt 000000 (653453 7) PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SLWALKER\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\SLW_502.X