[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 12, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H2671-H2673]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FEDERAL REGISTER MODERNIZATION ACT
Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 1654) to amend title 44, United States Code, to modernize
the Federal Register, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 1654
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 ``Federal Register
Modernization Act''.
SEC. 2. FEDERAL REGISTER MODERNIZATION.
(a) References to Printing.--Chapter 15 of title 44, United
States Code, is amended--
(1) in section 1502--
(A) in the heading, by striking ``printing'' and inserting
``publishing''; and
(B) by striking ``printing and distribution'' and inserting
``publishing'';
(2) in section 1507--
(A) by striking ``the duplicate originals or certified
copies of the document have'' and inserting ``the document
has''; and
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``printed'' and inserting
``published''; and
(3) in section 1509, in subsections (a) and (b), by
striking ``printing, reprinting, wrapping, binding, and
distributing'' and inserting ``publishing'', each place it
appears.
(b) Publish Defined.--Section 1501 of title 44, United
States Code, is amended--
(1) by striking ``; and'' at the end of the definition for
``person'' and inserting a semicolon; and
(2) by inserting after the definition for ``person'' the
following:
`` `publish' means to circulate for sale or distribution to
the public; and''.
(c) Filing Documents With Office Amendment.--Section 1503
of title 44, United States Code, is amended to read as
follows:
``Sec. 1503. Filing documents with Office; notation of time;
public inspection; transmission for publishing
``The original document required or authorized to be
published by section 1505 shall be filed with the Office of
the Federal Register for publication at times established by
the Administrative Committee of the Federal Register by
regulation. The Archivist of the United States shall cause to
be noted on the original of each document the day and hour of
filing. Upon filing, the document shall be immediately
available for public inspection in the Office. The original
shall be retained by the National Archives and Records
Administration and shall be available for inspection under
regulations prescribed by the Archivist, unless such original
is disposed of in accordance with disposal schedules
submitted by the Administrative Committee and authorized by
the Archivist pursuant to regulations issued under chapter
33; however, originals of proclamations of the President and
Executive orders shall be permanently retained by the
Administration as part of the National Archives of the United
States. The Office shall transmit to the Government
Publishing Office, as provided by this chapter, each document
required or authorized to be published by section 1505. Every
Federal agency shall cause to be transmitted for filing the
original of all such documents issued, prescribed, or
promulgated by the agency.''.
(d) Federal Register Amendment.--Section 1504 of title 44,
United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 1504. `Federal Register'; publishing; contents;
distribution; price
``Documents required or authorized to be published by
section 1505 shall be published immediately by the Government
Publishing Office in a serial publication designated the
`Federal Register'. The Director of the Government Publishing
Office shall make available the facilities of the Government
Publishing Office for the prompt publication of the Federal
Register in the manner and at the times required by this
chapter and the regulations prescribed under it. The contents
of the daily issues shall be indexed and constitute all
documents, required or authorized to be published, filed with
the Office of the Federal Register up to the time of the day
immediately preceding the day of publication fixed by
regulations under this chapter. There shall be published with
each document a copy of the notation, required to be made by
section 1503, of the day and hour when, upon filing with the
Office, the document was made available for public
inspection. Distribution shall be made at a time in the
morning of the day of distribution fixed by regulations
prescribed under this chapter. The prices to be charged for
the Federal Register may be fixed by the Administrative
Committee of the Federal Register established by section 1506
without reference to the restrictions placed upon and fixed
for the sale of Government publications by sections 1705 and
1708.''.
(e) Documents To Be Published in Federal Register.--Section
1505 of title 44, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (b)--
(A) in the heading, by striking ``Comments'' and inserting
``News Commentary''; and
(B) by striking ``comments'' and inserting ``news
commentary'';
(2) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d);
(3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new
subsection:
``(c) Alternative Publication.--In a continuity of
operations event in which the Government Publishing Office
does not fulfill
[[Page H2672]]
the publication requirements of this chapter, the Office of
the Federal Register may establish a website to publish the
Federal Register until such time that the Government
Publishing Office resumes publication.''; and
(4) in subsection (d), as so redesignated, in the matter
following paragraph (2)--
(A) by inserting ``telecommunications, the Internet,''
after ``the press, the radio,''; and
(B) by striking ``and two duplicate originals or two
certified copies'' and inserting ``document''.
(f) Administrative Committee of the Federal Register
Amendment.--Subsection (a) of section 1506 of title 44,
United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
``(a) Composition; Duties.--The Administrative Committee of
the Federal Register shall consist of the Archivist of the
United States or Acting Archivist, who shall chair the
committee, an officer of the Department of Justice designated
by the Attorney General, and the Director of the Government
Publishing Office or Acting Director of the Government
Publishing Office. The Director of the Federal Register shall
act as secretary of the committee. The committee shall
prescribe, with the approval of the President, regulations
for carrying out this chapter. The regulations shall provide
for, among other things--
``(1) the documents which shall be authorized under section
1505(b) to be published in the Federal Register;
``(2) the manner and form in which the Federal Register
shall be published;
``(3) the manner and form in which agencies submit
documents for publication in the Federal Register and special
editions of the Federal Register;
``(4) subject to subsection (b), the manner of distribution
to Members of Congress, officers and employees of the United
States, or Federal agency, for official use, and the number
which shall be available for distribution to the public;
``(5) the prices to be charged for individual copies of,
and subscriptions to, the Federal Register and any reprints
and bound volumes of it;
``(6) the manner and form by which the Federal Register may
receive information and comments from the public, if
practicable and efficient; and
``(7) special editions of the Federal Register.''.
(g) Code of Federal Regulations Amendment.--Section 1510 of
title 44, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 1510. Code of Federal Regulations
``(a) Special Edition for Codification of Agency
Documents.--The Administrative Committee of the Federal
Register, with the approval of the President, may require,
from time to time as it considers necessary, the preparation
and publication in a special edition of the Federal Register
a complete codification of the documents of each agency of
the Government having general applicability and legal effect,
issued or promulgated by the agency by publication in the
Federal Register or by filing with the Administrative
Committee, and which are relied upon by the agency as
authority for, or are invoked or used by it in the discharge
of, its activities or functions, and are in effect as to
facts arising on or after dates specified by the
Administrative Committee.
``(b) Code of Federal Regulations.--A codification prepared
under subsection (a) of this section shall be published and
shall be designated as the `Code of Federal Regulations'. The
Administrative Committee shall regulate the manner and forms
of publishing this codification.
``(c) Supplementation, Collation, and Republication.--The
Administrative Committee shall regulate the supplementation
and the collation and republication of the codification with
a view to keeping the Code of Federal Regulations as current
as practicable. Each unit of codification shall be
supplemented and republished at least once each calendar
year. The Office of the Federal Register may create updates
of each unit of codification from time to time and make the
same available electronically or may provide public access
using an electronic edition that allows a user to select a
specific date and retrieve the version of the codification in
effect as of that date.
``(d) Preparation and Publication by the Federal
Register.--The Office of the Federal Register shall prepare
and publish the codifications, supplements, collations,
indices, and user aids authorized by this section.
``(e) Prima Facie Evidence.--The codified documents of the
several agencies published in the Code of Federal Regulations
under this section, as amended by documents subsequently
filed with the Office and published in the daily issues of
the Federal Register, shall be prima facie evidence of the
text of the documents and of the fact that they are in effect
on and after the date of publication.
``(f) Regulations.--The Administrative Committee, with
approval of the President, shall issue regulations for
carrying out this section.
``(g) Exception.--This section does not require
codification of the text of Presidential documents published
and periodically compiled in supplements to title 3 of the
Code of Federal Regulations.''.
(h) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--The table of
sections for chapter 15 of title 44, United States Code, is
amended by striking the items related to sections 1502, 1503,
and 1504 and inserting the following:
``1502. Custody and publishing of Federal documents; appointment of
Director.
``1503. Filing documents with Office; notation of time; public
inspection; transmission for publishing.
``1504. `Federal Register'; publishing; contents; distribution;
price.''.
SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of
complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall
be determined by reference to the latest statement titled
``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act,
submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the
Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such
statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) and the gentleman from North
Carolina (Mr. Meadows) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia.
General Leave
Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material on this measure.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia?
There was no objection.
Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
H.R. 1654, the Federal Register Modernization Act, is a good-
government bill that will reduce waste and save taxpayer money. I thank
my good friend from North Carolina, Representative Meadows, for his
work on this important measure.
The bill would modernize the Federal Register to take advantage of
modern technology and increase efficiency. The bill would give the
Office of the Federal Register the flexibility to publish the Federal
Register electronically.
It also allows agencies to stop sending unnecessary paper copies of
documents when they send materials to be published in the Federal
Register. That one step alone could save significant sums of money that
could be used more efficiently to address the needs of the American
public.
H.R. 1654 also makes certain technical changes, of course, to a
statute that was originally written in 1935 and does need some
updating.
This is exactly the kind of legislation Congress should be passing.
It is bipartisan; it is noncontroversial; and it would make modest
improvements to bring the Federal Government into the digital age so
that information is more accessible to the public.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MEADOWS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Democratic governments must be transparent and accountable to the
American people. Recordkeeping laws are vital to both. In support of
transparency and accountability, the Federal Register Act of 1935, as
my friend from the District of Columbia mentioned earlier, was created,
and it actually created the Federal Register.
The Federal Register, a lot of people are not aware, is a daily
publication of government information, such as Presidential documents,
rules, proposed rules, and public notices. The Federal Register
provides official notice of a document's existence to the public.
The Federal Register also provides the building blocks for the Code
of Federal Regulations, which makes it easier for the public to find
Federal regulations by compiling them all in one place.
In 1994, the Government Publishing Office began publishing the
Federal Register online. When I got here, I actually got a paper copy
of these Federal Registers, and I didn't know what to do with them. I
mean, they were just reams and reams.
The gentlewoman from the District of Columbia is right. This is a
good-government, efficient way, hopefully, that gives the Federal
Register the ability to save American taxpayer money.
That online Register now includes navigational aids and links to
related content, and it is fully searchable and downloadable.
Congress has previously taken steps to make the Federal Register more
efficient. In 2017, Congress passed the
[[Page H2673]]
Federal Register Printing Savings Act. That law saved taxpayer dollars
by actually requiring the GPO to provide only printed copies to Member
offices that subscribe or request a copy of a specific issue.
H.R. 1654 continues in this spirit of reform with a commonsense
change for the GPO and other agencies and gives them greater
flexibility to make sure that we can save with online publications.
This bill also eliminates the requirements that agencies provide the
National Archives with multiple copies of the documents submitted to
the Federal Register. That requirement made sense when paper copies
were mailed or delivered for publication, but now agencies can simply
do that by sending duplicate copies electronically to comply with the
law.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this particular piece
of legislation. I thank the gentlewoman for her support, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I think it should be noted that all the bill does is
give flexibility, flexibility to publish the Federal Register
electronically, so I suspect that there will still be paper copies.
But apparently, the Office of the Federal Register doesn't think it
can go online with the Federal Register, so that is very disturbing
this late into the digital age.
I regard this bill, the bill of my good friend, I regard it as not
prescient, because it should have happened a long time ago, but
absolutely necessary, and I commend him for this bill.
Madam Speaker, I am prepared to yield back. Unless my good friend has
something further today, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. MEADOWS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her comments,
and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1654, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. MEADOWS. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
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