[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3577 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3577

  To amend title 44, United States Code, to restrict the printing and 
        distribution of paper copies of Congressional documents.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 18, 2015

   Mr. Peters (for himself and Mr. Murphy of Florida) introduced the 
     following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House 
Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period 
    to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 44, United States Code, to restrict the printing and 
        distribution of paper copies of Congressional documents.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Unnecessary Government Printing 
Reform Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. RESTRICTIONS ON PRINTING AND DISTRIBUTION OF PAPER COPIES OF 
              CONGRESSIONAL DOCUMENTS.

    (a) Printing and Distribution of Documents by Director of the 
Government Publishing Office.--
            (1) Restrictions.--Chapter 7 of title 44, United States 
        Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
        section:
``Sec. 742. Restrictions on printing and distribution of paper copies
    ``(a) Mandatory Use of Electronic Format for Distribution of 
Congressional Documents.--Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
chapter, the Director of the Government Publishing Office shall make 
any document of the House of Representatives or Senate which is subject 
to any of the provisions of this chapter available only in an 
electronic format which is accessible through the Internet, and may not 
print or distribute a printed copy of the document except as provided 
in subsection (b).
    ``(b) Permitting Printing and Distribution of Printed Copies Upon 
Request.--Notwithstanding subsection (a), at the request of any person 
to whom the Director of the Government Publishing Office would have 
been required to provide a printed copy of a document under this 
chapter had subsection (a) not been in effect, the Director may print 
and distribute a copy of a document or report for the use of that 
person, except that--
            ``(1) the number of printed copies the Director may provide 
        to the person may not exceed the number of printed copies the 
        Director would have provided to the person had subsection (a) 
        not been in effect; and
            ``(2) the Director may print and distribute copies to the 
        person only upon payment by the person of the costs of printing 
        and distributing the copies, except that this paragraph shall 
        not apply to an office of the House of Representatives or 
        Senate (including the office of a Member of Congress).''.
            (2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections of chapter 7 
        of such title is amended by adding at the end following new 
        item:

``742. Restrictions on printing and distribution of paper copies.''.
    (b) Provision of Documents in Electronic Format Deemed To Meet 
Requirements of House and Senate Rules Regarding Distribution of 
Printed Copies.--
            (1) In general.--If any rule or regulation of the House of 
        Representatives or Senate requires a Member or committee to 
        provide printed copies of any document (including any bill or 
        resolution) for the use of the House or Senate or for the use 
        of any office of the House or Senate, the Member or committee 
        shall be considered to have met the requirement of the rule or 
        regulation if the Member or committee makes the document 
        available to the recipient in an electronic format.
            (2) Exercise of rulemaking authority of senate and house.--
        This subsection is enacted by Congress--
                    (A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the 
                Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, and 
                as such it is deemed a part of the rules of each House, 
                respectively, and it supersedes other rules only to the 
                extent that it is inconsistent with such rules; and
                    (B) with full recognition of the constitutional 
                right of either House to change the rules (so far as 
                relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, 
                in the same manner, and to the same extent as in the 
                case of any other rule of that House.
    (c) Effective Date.--This section and the amendments made by this 
section shall apply with respect to documents produced after the 
expiration of the 30-day period which begins on the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
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