[Senate Report 115-184]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 261
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 115-184
_______________________________________________________________________
FEDERAL REGISTER PRINTING SAVINGS
ACT OF 2017
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
H.R. 195
TO AMEND TITLE 44, UNITED STATES CODE, TO RESTRICT THE
DISTRIBUTION OF FREE PRINTED COPIES OF THE FEDERAL
REGISTER TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND OTHER OFFICERS
AND EMPLOYEES OF THE UNITED STATES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
November 8, 2017.--Ordered to be printed
_________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
79-010 WASHINGTON : 2017
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
JOHN McCAIN, Arizona CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
RAND PAUL, Kentucky JON TESTER, Montana
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
STEVE DAINES, Montana KAMALA D. HARRIS, California
Christopher R. Hixon, Staff Director
Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Chief Counsel
Daniel J. Spino, Research Assistant
Margaret E. Daum, Minority Staff Director
Stacia M. Cardille, Minority Chief Counsel
Charles A. Moskowitz, Minority Senior Legislative Counsel
Daniel J. Webb, Minority Government Accountability Office Detailee
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 261
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 115-184
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FEDERAL REGISTER PRINTING SAVINGS ACT OF 2017
_______
November 8, 2017.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 195]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (H.R. 195) to amend
title 44, United States Code, to restrict the distribution of
free printed copies of the Federal Register to Members of
Congress and other officers and employees of the United States,
and for other purposes, having considered the same, reports
favorably thereon without amendment and recommends that the
bill do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................2
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................3
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................3
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................3
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Act, as Reported.............4
I. Purpose and Summary
H.R. 195, the Federal Register Printing Savings Act of
2017, ends daily distribution of the printed Federal Register
to Members of Congress or any other office of the United States
Government, unless the office specifically requests a
subscription. The Act also establishes a maximum subscription
length of one year before it would have to be renewed.
II. Background and the Need for Legislation
The Federal Register was first published in 1936 to ensure
Executive Branch actions such as executive orders and
regulations were properly recorded and made publicly
available.\1\ Early editions of the Federal Register were short
in length. For example, the first issue was only 16 pages.\2\
According to the Congressional Budget Office, today the average
Federal Register is around 300 pages and costs $4.50 to produce
and distribute.\3\
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\1\Office of the Fed. Register, A Brief History Commemorating the
70th Anniversary of the Publication of the First Issue of the Federal
Register March 14, 1936, National Archives and Records Administration,
2, https://www.archives.gov/files/federal-register/the-federal-
register/history.pdf [hereinafter Brief History].
\2\Id. at 3.
\3\Cong. Budget Office, Cost Estimate: H.R. 194 Federal Register
Printing Savings Act of 2017 (2017), available at https://www.cbo.gov/
sites/default/files/115th-congress-2017-2018/costestimate/hr195.pdf.
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Since June 8, 1994, the Federal Register has been available
to the public online.\4\ The online version of the Federal
Register is updated daily and has navigational features that
make it more user-friendly than the paper copy.\5\
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\4\Brief History, supra note 1, at 14.
\5\Office of the Fed. Register, About This Site, https://
www.federalregister.gov/reader-aids/government-policy-and-ofr-
procedures/about-this-site (last visited Oct. 16, 2017).
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Despite the electronic availability of the digital Federal
Register, Federal offices and members of Congress still receive
automatic, daily deliveries of physical copies of the Federal
Register.\6\
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\6\Nat'l. Archives & Records Admin., About the Federal Register,
https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/the-federal-register/
about.html (last visited Oct. 16, 2017).
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After declaring ``no one reads this thing,''\7\ President
Obama sought to end automatic printing of the Federal
Register.\8\ Although the Obama Administration could not fully
do so without legislation, it was successful in reducing the
number of Federal agencies that automatically receive the
Federal Register by 85 percent.\9\ Congressional action is
necessary to cease all automatic printing and distribution of
the Federal Register to Government offices. The CBO estimates
that doing so would save about one million dollars each
year.\10\
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\7\Robert Jackel, Federal Register Will No Longer Be Printed, Obama
Says, The Regulatory Review (June 22, 2011), https://
www.theregreview.org/2011/06/22/federal-register-will-no-longer-be-
printed-obama-says/.
\8\Id.
\9\Press Release, Office of Mgmt. & Budget, We Can't Wait:
President Obama to Sign Executive Order to Cut Waste and Promote
Efficient Spending; White House to Announce 2011 SAVE Award Finalists
(Nov. 09, 2011) available at https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-
press-office/2011/11/09/we-cant-wait-president-obama-sign-executive-
order-cut-waste-and-promote-.
\10\Cong. Budget Office, supra note 3.
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The Federal Register Printing Savings Act of 2017 would
halt the wasteful automatic printing and distribution of the
Federal Register to Members of Congress and Government offices.
The Act requires offices that want hard copies to actively
subscribe to the Federal Register and if they do so, it will be
available to them free of charge. The Act also requires the
office to renew its subscription each year. This provision
ensures that a subscription will not be continually and
unnecessary delivered to an office, unless specifically
requested.
III. Legislative History
On January 3, 2017, Representative Steve Russell (R-OK)
introduced H.R. 195, the Federal Register Printing Savings Act
of 2017. H.R. 195 passed the House by voice vote on May 17,
2017.
H.R. 195 was referred to the Senate Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee. The Committee considered H.R.
195 at a business meeting on July 26, 2017. The Act was ordered
reported favorably en bloc by voice vote. Senators present for
the vote were Johnson, Portman, Lankford, Daines, McCaskill,
Tester, Heitkamp, Hassan and Harris.
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Act, as Reported
Section 1. Short title
This section establishes the short title of the Act as the
``Federal Register Printing Savings Act of 2017.''
Sec. 2. Restrictions on distribution of free printed copies of Federal
Register to members of Congress and federal employees
Subsection (a) prohibits members of Congress and any office
of the United States Government from receiving printed copies
of the Federal Register unless they request a copy of a
specific issue or opt for a subscription no longer than one
year. Subsection (b) establishes an effective date for the
amendments made by this Act of January 1, 2018.
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this Act and determined
that the Act will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office's statement that the Act contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs
on state, local, or tribal governments.
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate
August 4, 2017.
Hon. Ron Johnson,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S.
Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 195, the Federal
Register Printing Savings Act of 2017.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew
Pickford.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall.
Enclosure.
H.R. 195--Federal Register Printing Savings Act of 2017
H.R. 195 would amend federal law to prohibit the Government
Publishing Office (GPO) from furnishing a printed copy of the
Federal Register without charge to a Member of Congress or any
employee of the U.S. government unless specifically requested.
The Federal Register compiles and organizes thousands of rules,
regulations, executive orders, presidential documents, and
notices generated by federal departments and agencies.
Using information from the National Archives and Records
Administration and GPO, CBO expects that implementing the bill
would end the distribution of about 1,000 copies of the Federal
Register that are distributed daily for free. The average
Federal Register has 300 pages and costs $4.50 to produce and
distribute. CBO estimates that eliminating those free copies of
the Federal Register would reduce spending that is subject to
appropriation by $1 million annually. Enacting the legislation
would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-
as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 195 would not increase
direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
H.R. 195 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
On February 22, 2017, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for
H.R. 195 as ordered reported by the House Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform on February 14, 2017. The two
versions of legislation are identical, and CBO's estimates of
the budgetary effects are the same.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew
Pickford. The estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss,
Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Act, as Reported
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in brackets, new matter is
printed in italic, and existing law in which no change is
proposed is shown in roman):
UNITED STATES CODE
* * * * * * *
TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS
* * * * * * *
CHAPTER 15--FEDERAL REGISTER AND CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS
* * * * * * *
SEC. 1506. ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL REGISTER;
ESTABLISHMENT AND COMPOSITION; POWERS AND DUTIES.
[The Administrative Committee] (a) Composition; Duties.--
The Administrative Committee of the Federal Register shall
consist of the Archivist of the United States or Acting
Archivist, who shall be chairman, 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, among other things--
(1) * * *
(2) * * *
(3) * * *
(4) [the number of copies] subject to subsection (b),
the number of copies of the Federal Register, which
shall be printed, reprinted, and compiled, the number
which shall be distributed without charge 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; and
(5) * * *
(b) Restrictions on Distribution of Free Printed Copies to
Members of Congress and Officers and Employees of the United
States.--
(1) Prohibit subscription to printed copies without
request.--Under the regulations prescribed to carry out
subsection (a)(4), the Director of the Government
Publishing Office may not provide a printed copy of the
Federal Register without charge to any Member of
Congress or any other office of the United States
during a year unless--
(A) the Member or office requests a printed
copy of a specific issue of the Federal
Register; or
(B) during that year or during the previous
year, the Member or office requested a
subscription to printed copies of the Federal
Register for that year, as described in
paragraph (2).
(2) Administration of subscriptions.--The regulations
prescribed to carry out subsection (a)(4) shall
include--
(A) provisions regarding notifications to
offices of Members of Congress and other
offices of the United States of the
restrictions of paragraph (1);
(B) provisions describing the process by
which Members and other offices may request a
specific issue of the Federal Register for
purposes of paragraph (1)(A); and
(C) provisions describing the process by
which Members and other offices may request a
subscription to the Federal Register for
purposes of paragraph (1)(B), except that such
regulations shall limit the period for such a
subscription to not longer than 1 year.
* * * * * * *