I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9592 

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

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024 

Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana (for himself and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability 

A BILL 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL REGISTER MODERNIZATION. 

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

8 44, United States Code, is amended— 

9 (1) in section 1502— 


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1 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘print2 ing’’ and inserting ‘‘publishing’’; and 

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

4 and inserting ‘‘publishing’’; 

5 (2) in section 1507— 

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

7 certified copies of the document have’’ and in8 serting ‘‘the document has’’; and 

9 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘print10 ed’’ and inserting ‘‘published’’; and 

11 (3) in section 1509, by striking ‘‘printing, re12 printing, wrapping, binding, and distributing’’ each 

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

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

15 United States Code, is amended— 

16 (1) by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end of the defini17 tion for ‘‘person’’ and inserting a semicolon; and 

18 (2) by inserting after the definition for ‘‘per19 son’’ the following: 

20 ‘‘ ‘publish’ means to circulate for sale or dis21 tribution to the public, as determined by the Admin22 istrative Committee of the Federal Register; and’’. 

23 (c) FILING DOCUMENTS WITH OFFICE AMEND24 MENT.—Section 1503 of title 44, United States Code, is 

25 amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘§ 1503. Filing documents with Office; notation of 

2 time; public inspection; transmission for 

3 publishing 

4 ‘‘The original document required or authorized to be 

5 published by section 1505 shall be filed with the Office 

6 of the Federal Register for publication at times estab7 lished by the Administrative Committee of the Federal 

8 Register by regulation. The Archivist of the United States 

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

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

11 be immediately available for public inspection. The origi12 nal shall be retained by the National Archives and Records 

13 Administration and shall be available for inspection under 

14 regulations prescribed by the Archivist, unless such origi15 nal is disposed of in accordance with disposal schedules 

16 submitted by the Administrative Committee and author17 ized by the Archivist pursuant to regulations issued under 

18 chapter 33; however, originals of proclamations of the 

19 President and Executive orders shall be permanently re20 tained by the Administration as part of the National Ar21 chives of the United States. The Office shall transmit to 

22 the Government Publishing Office, as provided by this 

23 chapter, each document required or authorized to be pub24 lished by section 1505. Every Federal agency shall cause 

25 to be transmitted for filing the original of all such docu26 ments issued, prescribed, or promulgated by the agency.’’. 


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1 (d) FEDERAL REGISTER AMENDMENT.—Section 

2 1504 of title 44, United States Code, is amended to read 

3 as follows: 

4 ‘‘§ 1504. ‘Federal Register’; publishing; contents; dis5 tribution; price; physical copies 

6 ‘‘Documents required or authorized to be published 

7 by section 1505 shall be published immediately by the 

8 Government Publishing Office in a serial publication des9 ignated the ‘Federal Register’. The Director of the Gov10 ernment Publishing Office shall make available the facili11 ties of the Government Publishing Office for the prompt 

12 publication of the Federal Register in the manner and at 

13 the times required by this chapter and the regulations pre14 scribed under it. The contents of the daily issues shall con15 stitute all documents, required or authorized to be pub16 lished, filed with the Office of the Federal Register up to 

17 the time of the day immediately preceding the day of pub18 lication fixed by regulations under this chapter. There 

19 shall be published with each document a copy of the nota20 tion, required to be made by section 1503, of the day and 

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

22 made available for public inspection. Distribution shall be 

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

24 fixed by regulations prescribed under this chapter. The 

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


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1 by the Administrative Committee of the Federal Register 

2 established by section 1506 without reference to the re3 strictions placed upon and fixed for the sale of Govern4 ment publications by sections 1705 and 1708. The Gov5 ernment Publishing Office shall print two physical copies 

6 of each published Federal Register issue. Each copy shall 

7 be stored in a separate facility to ensure the preservation 

8 of the Federal Register for the purposes of continuity of 

9 government.’’. 

10 (e) DOCUMENTS TO BE PUBLISHED IN FEDERAL

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

12 is amended— 

13 (1) in subsection (b)— 

14 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘COM15 MENTS’’ and inserting ‘‘NEWS COMMENTARY’’; 

16 and 

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

18 ‘‘news commentary’’; 

19 (2) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub20 section (d); 

21 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol22 lowing new subsection: 

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

24 of operations event in which the Government Publishing 

25 Office does not fulfill the publication requirements of this 


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1 chapter, the Office of the Federal Register may establish 

2 an alternative method to publish the Federal Register 

3 until such time that the Government Publishing Office re4 sumes publication.’’; and 

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

6 matter following paragraph (2)— 

7 (A) by inserting ‘‘telecommunications, the 

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

9 (B) by striking ‘‘and two duplicate origi10 nals or two certified copies’’ and inserting ‘‘doc11 ument’’. 

12 (f) ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL

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

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

15 follows: 

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

17 Committee of the Federal Register shall consist of the Ar18 chivist of the United States or Acting Archivist, who shall 

19 chair the committee, an officer of the Department of Jus20 tice designated by the Attorney General, and the Director 

21 of the Government Publishing Office or Acting Director 

22 of the Government Publishing Office. The Director of the 

23 Federal Register shall act as secretary of the committee. 

24 The committee shall prescribe, with the approval of the 

25 President or their designee, regulations for carrying out 


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1 this chapter. The regulations shall provide for, among 

2 other things, the following: 

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

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

5 Register. 

6 ‘‘(2) The manner and form in which the Fed7 eral Register shall be published. 

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

9 submit documents for publication in the Federal 

10 Register and special editions of the Federal Reg11 ister. 

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

13 distribution to Members of Congress, officers and 

14 employees of the United States, or Federal agency, 

15 for official use, and the number which shall be avail16 able for distribution to the public. 

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

18 copies of, and subscriptions to, the Federal Register 

19 and any reprints and bound volumes of it. 

20 ‘‘(6) The manner and form by which the Fed21 eral Register may receive information and comments 

22 from the public, if practicable and efficient. 

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


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1 (g) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS AMEND2 MENT.—Section 1510 of title 44, United States Code, is 

3 amended to read as follows: 

4 ‘‘§ 1510. Code of Federal Regulations 

5 ‘‘(a) SPECIAL EDITION FOR CODIFICATION OF AGEN6 CY DOCUMENTS.—The Administrative Committee of the 

7 Federal Register, with the approval of the President or 

8 their designee, may require, from time to time as it con9 siders necessary, the preparation and publication in a spe10 cial edition of the Federal Register a complete codification 

11 of the documents of each agency of the Government hav12 ing general applicability and legal effect, issued or promul13 gated by the agency by publication in the Federal Register 

14 or by filing with the Administrative Committee, and which 

15 are relied upon by the agency as authority for, or are in16 voked or used by it in the discharge of, its activities or 

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

18 dates specified by the Administrative Committee. 

19 ‘‘(b) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS.—A codifica20 tion prepared under subsection (a) of this section shall be 

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

22 Regulations’. The Administrative Committee shall regu23 late the manner and forms of publishing this codification. 

24 ‘‘(c) SUPPLEMENTATION, COLLATION, AND REPUBLI25 CATION.—The Administrative Committee shall regulate 


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1 the supplementation and the collation and republication 

2 of the codification with a view to keeping the Code of Fed3 eral Regulations as current as practicable. Each unit of 

4 codification shall be supplemented and republished at least 

5 once each calendar year. The Office of the Federal Reg6 ister may create updates of each unit of codification from 

7 time to time and make the same available electronically 

8 or may provide public access using an electronic edition 

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

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

11 ‘‘(d) PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION BY THE FED12 ERAL REGISTER.—The Office of the Federal Register 

13 shall prepare and publish the codifications, supplements, 

14 collations, indices, and user aids authorized by this sec15 tion. 

16 ‘‘(e) PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE.—The codified docu17 ments of the several agencies published in the Code of 

18 Federal Regulations under this section, as amended by 

19 documents subsequently filed with the Office and pub20 lished in the daily issues of the Federal Register, shall 

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

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

23 of publication. 


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

2 with approval of the President or their designee, shall 

3 issue regulations for carrying out this section. 

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

5 codification of the text of Presidential documents pub6 lished and periodically compiled in supplements to title 3 

7 of the Code of Federal Regulations.’’. 

8 (h) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

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

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

11 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.’’. 

Æ 


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