H. R. 9592 

One Hundred Eighteenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and twenty-four 

An Act 

To amend title 44, United States Code, to modernize the Federal Register, and 

for other purposes. 

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 of 2024’’. 

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, by striking ‘‘printing, reprinting, wrapping, binding, and distributing’’ each place it appears and 

inserting ‘‘publishing’’. 

(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, as determined by the Administrative Committee 

of the Federal Register; and’’. 

(c) FILING DOCUMENTS WITH OFFICE AMENDMENT.—Section 

1503 of title 44, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

‘‘§ 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 
H. R. 9592—2 

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. 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: 

‘‘§ 1504. ‘Federal Register’; publishing; contents; distribution; 

price; physical copies 

‘‘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 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. The Government Publishing Office shall print at least two physical copies 

of each published Federal Register issue. Of those, not less than 

two copies shall be stored, each in a separate facility, to ensure 

the preservation of the Federal Register for the purposes of continuity of government.’’. 

(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: 
H. R. 9592—3 

‘‘(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 an alternative method 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 or their 

designee, regulations for carrying out this chapter. The regulations 

shall provide for, among other things, the following: 

‘‘(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. 

‘‘(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: 

‘‘§ 1510. Code of Federal Regulations 

‘‘(a) SPECIAL EDITION FOR CODIFICATION OF AGENCY DOCU- MENTS.—The Administrative Committee of the Federal Register, 

with the approval of the President or their designee, 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 
H. R. 9592—4 

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 or their designee, 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 
H. R. 9592—5 

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; physical copies.’’. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.