The free-electron-like state observed in a scanning tunneling spectroscopy study of a chiral p(2×4) monolayer of glycinate ions on the Cu(100) surface [K. Kanazawa et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 740] is shown from density functional theory calculations to originate from a Cu Shockley surface state at the surface Brillouin zone boundary of the clean surface with highly anisotropic dispersion. The presence of the glycinate ions on the surface causes a dramatically enhanced tunneling into this surface state that is otherwise not observed in tunneling on the bare surface.PACS numbers: 68.37. Ef, 68.43.bc, 73.20.At Recently, free-electron-like states arising in layers of organic molecules on metal surfaces at energies close to the Fermi energy have been observed by scanning tunneling and photoemission spectroscopies [1,2,3]. Interest in such delocalized electronic states is high, because of their potential use in molecular electronics applications. In systems where the molecule is more or less physisorbed the observed free-electron like state was simply identified as a metal surface state [3], whereas in systems where the molecule is chemisorbed the origin of the state is not properly understood [1,2].