II 

Calendar No. 714 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9592 

[Report No. 118–308] 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 13, 2024 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

DECEMBER 17 (legislative day, DECEMBER 16), 2024 

Reported by Mr. PETERS, without amendment 

AN ACT 

To amend title 44, United States Code, to modernize the 

Federal Register, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Register Mod5 ernization Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL REGISTER MODERNIZATION. 

7 (a) REFERENCES TO PRINTING.—Chapter 15 of title 

8 44, United States Code, is amended— 


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1 (1) in section 1502— 

2 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘print3 ing’’ and inserting ‘‘publishing’’; and 

4 (B) by striking ‘‘printing and distribution’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘publishing’’; 

6 (2) in section 1507— 

7 (A) by striking ‘‘the duplicate originals or 

8 certified copies of the document have’’ and in9 serting ‘‘the document has’’; and 

10 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘print11 ed’’ and inserting ‘‘published’’; and 

12 (3) in section 1509, by striking ‘‘printing, re13 printing, wrapping, binding, and distributing’’ each 

14 place it appears and inserting ‘‘publishing’’. 

15 (b) PUBLISH DEFINED.—Section 1501 of title 44, 

16 United States Code, is amended— 

17 (1) by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end of the defini18 tion for ‘‘person’’ and inserting a semicolon; and 

19 (2) by inserting after the definition for ‘‘per20 son’’ the following: 

21 ‘‘ ‘publish’ means to circulate for sale or dis22 tribution to the public, as determined by the Admin23 istrative Committee of the Federal Register; and’’. 


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1 (c) FILING DOCUMENTS WITH OFFICE AMEND2 MENT.—Section 1503 of title 44, United States Code, is 

3 amended to read as follows: 

4 ‘‘§ 1503. Filing documents with Office; notation of 

5 time; public inspection; transmission for 

6 publishing 

7 ‘‘The original document required or authorized to be 

8 published by section 1505 shall be filed with the Office 

9 of the Federal Register for publication at times estab10 lished by the Administrative Committee of the Federal 

11 Register by regulation. The Archivist of the United States 

12 shall cause to be noted on the original of each document 

13 the day and hour of filing. Upon filing, the document shall 

14 be immediately available for public inspection. The origi15 nal shall be retained by the National Archives and Records 

16 Administration and shall be available for inspection under 

17 regulations prescribed by the Archivist, unless such origi18 nal is disposed of in accordance with disposal schedules 

19 submitted by the Administrative Committee and author20 ized by the Archivist pursuant to regulations issued under 

21 chapter 33; however, originals of proclamations of the 

22 President and Executive orders shall be permanently re23 tained by the Administration as part of the National Ar24 chives of the United States. The Office shall transmit to 

25 the Government Publishing Office, as provided by this 


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1 chapter, each document required or authorized to be pub2 lished by section 1505. Every Federal agency shall cause 

3 to be transmitted for filing the original of all such docu4 ments issued, prescribed, or promulgated by the agency.’’. 

5 (d) FEDERAL REGISTER AMENDMENT.—Section 

6 1504 of title 44, United States Code, is amended to read 

7 as follows: 

8 ‘‘§ 1504. ‘Federal Register’; publishing; contents; dis9 tribution; price; physical copies 

10 ‘‘Documents required or authorized to be published 

11 by section 1505 shall be published immediately by the 

12 Government Publishing Office in a serial publication des13 ignated the ‘Federal Register’. The Director of the Gov14 ernment Publishing Office shall make available the facili15 ties of the Government Publishing Office for the prompt 

16 publication of the Federal Register in the manner and at 

17 the times required by this chapter and the regulations pre18 scribed under it. The contents of the daily issues shall con19 stitute all documents, required or authorized to be pub20 lished, filed with the Office of the Federal Register up to 

21 the time of the day immediately preceding the day of pub22 lication fixed by regulations under this chapter. There 

23 shall be published with each document a copy of the nota24 tion, required to be made by section 1503, of the day and 

25 hour when, upon filing with the Office, the document was 


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1 made available for public inspection. Distribution shall be 

2 made at a time in the morning of the day of distribution 

3 fixed by regulations prescribed under this chapter. The 

4 prices to be charged for the Federal Register may be fixed 

5 by the Administrative Committee of the Federal Register 

6 established by section 1506 without reference to the re7 strictions placed upon and fixed for the sale of Govern8 ment publications by sections 1705 and 1708. The Gov9 ernment Publishing Office shall print at least two physical 

10 copies of each published Federal Register issue. Of those, 

11 not less than two copies shall be stored, each in a separate 

12 facility, to ensure the preservation of the Federal Register 

13 for the purposes of continuity of government.’’. 

14 (e) DOCUMENTS TO BE PUBLISHED IN FEDERAL

15 REGISTER.—Section 1505 of title 44, United States Code, 

16 is amended— 

17 (1) in subsection (b)— 

18 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘COM19 MENTS’’ and inserting ‘‘NEWS COMMENTARY’’; 

20 and 

21 (B) by striking ‘‘comments’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘news commentary’’; 

23 (2) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub24 section (d); 


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1 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol2 lowing new subsection: 

3 ‘‘(c) ALTERNATIVE PUBLICATION.—In a continuity 

4 of operations event in which the Government Publishing 

5 Office does not fulfill the publication requirements of this 

6 chapter, the Office of the Federal Register may establish 

7 an alternative method to publish the Federal Register 

8 until such time that the Government Publishing Office re9 sumes publication.’’; and 

10 (4) in subsection (d), as so redesignated, in the 

11 matter following paragraph (2)— 

12 (A) by inserting ‘‘telecommunications, the 

13 Internet,’’ after ‘‘the press, the radio,’’; and 

14 (B) by striking ‘‘and two duplicate origi15 nals or two certified copies’’ and inserting ‘‘doc16 ument’’. 

17 (f) ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL

18 REGISTER AMENDMENT.—Subsection (a) of section 1506 

19 of title 44, United States Code, is amended to read as 

20 follows: 

21 ‘‘(a) COMPOSITION; DUTIES.—The Administrative 

22 Committee of the Federal Register shall consist of the Ar23 chivist of the United States or Acting Archivist, who shall 

24 chair the committee, an officer of the Department of Jus25 tice designated by the Attorney General, and the Director 


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1 of the Government Publishing Office or Acting Director 

2 of the Government Publishing Office. The Director of the 

3 Federal Register shall act as secretary of the committee. 

4 The committee shall prescribe, with the approval of the 

5 President or their designee, regulations for carrying out 

6 this chapter. The regulations shall provide for, among 

7 other things, the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) The documents which shall be authorized 

9 under section 1505(b) to be published in the Federal 

10 Register. 

11 ‘‘(2) The manner and form in which the Fed12 eral Register shall be published. 

13 ‘‘(3) The manner and form in which agencies 

14 submit documents for publication in the Federal 

15 Register and special editions of the Federal Reg16 ister. 

17 ‘‘(4) Subject to subsection (b), the manner of 

18 distribution to Members of Congress, officers and 

19 employees of the United States, or Federal agency, 

20 for official use, and the number which shall be avail21 able for distribution to the public. 

22 ‘‘(5) The prices to be charged for individual 

23 copies of, and subscriptions to, the Federal Register 

24 and any reprints and bound volumes of it. 


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1 ‘‘(6) The manner and form by which the Fed2 eral Register may receive information and comments 

3 from the public, if practicable and efficient. 

4 ‘‘(7) Special editions of the Federal Register.’’. 

5 (g) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS AMEND6 MENT.—Section 1510 of title 44, United States Code, is 

7 amended to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘§ 1510. Code of Federal Regulations 

9 ‘‘(a) SPECIAL EDITION FOR CODIFICATION OF AGEN10 CY DOCUMENTS.—The Administrative Committee of the 

11 Federal Register, with the approval of the President or 

12 their designee, may require, from time to time as it con13 siders necessary, the preparation and publication in a spe14 cial edition of the Federal Register a complete codification 

15 of the documents of each agency of the Government hav16 ing general applicability and legal effect, issued or promul17 gated by the agency by publication in the Federal Register 

18 or by filing with the Administrative Committee, and which 

19 are relied upon by the agency as authority for, or are in20 voked or used by it in the discharge of, its activities or 

21 functions, and are in effect as to facts arising on or after 

22 dates specified by the Administrative Committee. 

23 ‘‘(b) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS.—A codifica24 tion prepared under subsection (a) of this section shall be 

25 published and shall be designated as the ‘Code of Federal 


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1 Regulations’. The Administrative Committee shall regu2 late the manner and forms of publishing this codification. 

3 ‘‘(c) SUPPLEMENTATION, COLLATION, AND REPUBLI4 CATION.—The Administrative Committee shall regulate 

5 the supplementation and the collation and republication 

6 of the codification with a view to keeping the Code of Fed7 eral Regulations as current as practicable. Each unit of 

8 codification shall be supplemented and republished at least 

9 once each calendar year. The Office of the Federal Reg10 ister may create updates of each unit of codification from 

11 time to time and make the same available electronically 

12 or may provide public access using an electronic edition 

13 that allows a user to select a specific date and retrieve 

14 the version of the codification in effect as of that date. 

15 ‘‘(d) PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION BY THE FED16 ERAL REGISTER.—The Office of the Federal Register 

17 shall prepare and publish the codifications, supplements, 

18 collations, indices, and user aids authorized by this sec19 tion. 

20 ‘‘(e) PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE.—The codified docu21 ments of the several agencies published in the Code of 

22 Federal Regulations under this section, as amended by 

23 documents subsequently filed with the Office and pub24 lished in the daily issues of the Federal Register, shall 

25 be prima facie evidence of the text of the documents and 


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1 of the fact that they are in effect on and after the date 

2 of publication. 

3 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Administrative Committee, 

4 with approval of the President or their designee, shall 

5 issue regulations for carrying out this section. 

6 ‘‘(g) EXCEPTION.—This section does not require 

7 codification of the text of Presidential documents pub8 lished and periodically compiled in supplements to title 3 

9 of the Code of Federal Regulations.’’. 

10 (h) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

11 The table of sections for chapter 15 of title 44, United 

12 States Code, is amended by striking the items related to 

13 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; physical copies.’’. 


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Calendar No. 714 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9592 

[Report No. 118–308] 

AN ACT 

To amend title 44, United States Code, to modDposes. ernize the Federal Register, and for other pur- ECEMBER 17 (legislative day, DECEMBER 16), 2024 

Reported without amendment 


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