[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 121 (Wednesday, July 1, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4154-S4155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 2401. Mr. PERDUE (for himself and Mr. Whitehouse) submitted an 
amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 2301 proposed by Mr. 
Inhofe to the bill S. 4049, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2021 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. __. 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 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;

[[Page S4155]]

       ``(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.''.
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