IIB 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7219 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 7, 2024 

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

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

To ensure that Federal agencies rely on the best reasonably 

available scientific, technical, demographic, economic, and 

statistical information and evidence to develop, issue or 

inform the public of the nature and bases of Federal 

agency rules and guidance, and for other purposes. 


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HR 7219 RFS

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 ‘‘Information Quality 

5 Assurance Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INFORMATION QUALITY ASSURANCE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter 1 of chapter 35 of 

8 title 44, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

9 end the following: 

10 ‘‘§ 3522. Information Quality Assurance. 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

12 date of the enactment of the Information Quality Assur13 ance Act, the Director shall— 

14 ‘‘(1) with public and Federal agency involve15 ment, update the guidelines issued under subsection 

16 (a) of the Information Quality Act— 

17 ‘‘(A) to provide policy and procedural guid18 ance to the heads of Federal agencies for better 

19 ensuring and maximizing the quality, objec20 tivity, utility, and integrity of influential infor21 mation or evidence— 

22 ‘‘(i) used by the heads of Federal 

23 agencies to develop or issue rules and guid24 ance; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) disseminated to the public to in2 form the public about the nature and bases 

3 of such rules and guidance; and 

4 ‘‘(B) in a manner consistent with— 

5 ‘‘(i) this chapter; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) the amendments made by the 

7 Foundations for Evidence-Based Policy8 making Act of 2018 (Public Law 115– 

9 435); and 

10 ‘‘(2) make the guidelines updated under para11 graph (1) available on the website of the Office of 

12 Management and Budget. 

13 ‘‘(b) CONTENT OF GUIDELINES.—In updating the 

14 guidelines under subsection (a), the Director shall require 

15 that the head of each Federal agency to which the guide16 lines apply, not later than 1 year after the Director up17 dates such guidelines— 

18 ‘‘(1) update any guidelines issued by the head 

19 of the Federal agency under the Information Quality 

20 Act to ensure that, in the case of influential infor21 mation or evidence, the best reasonably available in22 formation and evidence is relied on in developing, 

23 issuing, or informing the public about the rules and 

24 guidance of the Federal agency; 


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1 ‘‘(2) publish the guidelines updated by the head 

2 of the Federal agency under paragraph (1) on the 

3 website of the Federal agency; 

4 ‘‘(3) ensure the administrative mechanisms es5 tablished under subparagraph (B) of section (b)(2) 

6 of the Information Quality Act are available with re7 spect to seeking and obtaining the correction of any 

8 influential information or evidence that the Federal 

9 agency uses to develop or issue a rule or guideline, 

10 or disseminates to the public to inform the public of 

11 the nature and basis of any rule or guidance of the 

12 Federal agency, that does not comply with the 

13 guidelines issued under paragraph (1); and 

14 ‘‘(4) include in the report required under sub15 paragraph (C) of subsection (b)(2) of the Informa16 tion Quality Act the information described under 

17 that subparagraph with respect to any complaints 

18 received by the Federal agency related to the accu19 racy of influential information or evidence the Fed20 eral agency uses to develop, issue, or inform the 

21 public of the nature and bases of rules or guidance. 

22 ‘‘(c) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.— 

23 ‘‘(1) AVAILABILITY.—Except as provided under 

24 paragraph (2), the head of the Federal agency shall 

25 make available in the docket for the rulemaking of 


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1 any rule of the Federal agency, or in the administra2 tive record for any guidance, in a timely manner be3 fore the promulgation of the rule or issuance of the 

4 guidance document— 

5 ‘‘(A) any model, methodology, or source of 

6 scientific, technical, demographic, economic, or 

7 statistical information or evidence upon which 

8 the head of the Federal agency— 

9 ‘‘(i) relied on in developing or issuing 

10 such rule or guidance; or 

11 ‘‘(ii) proposes to rely on in developing 

12 or issuing such rule or guidance; and 

13 ‘‘(B) an identification of whether each 

14 such model, methodology, or source constitutes, 

15 or may constitute, influential information or 

16 evidence. 

17 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The head of the Fed19 eral agency— 

20 ‘‘(i) shall implement paragraph (1) in 

21 a manner consistent with this chapter and 

22 section 552a of title 5; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) may not make available in the 

24 docket for the rulemaking of any rule of 

25 the Federal agency, or in the administraVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:00 May 08, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7219.RFS H7219

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1 tive record for any guidance, information 

2 that is prohibited from being disclosed to 

3 the public under any statute. 

4 ‘‘(B) EXPLANATION TO BE INCLUDED IN

5 DOCKET OR ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD.—If the 

6 head of the Federal agency does not make a 

7 model, methodology, or source available under 

8 paragraph (1)(A) pursuant to paragraph 

9 (2)(A), the head of the Federal agency shall in10 clude in the docket for the rulemaking or the 

11 administrative record for the guidance docu12 ment— 

13 ‘‘(i) an explanation as to why such in14 formation cannot be made publicly avail15 able, including a citation to the applicable 

16 law and policy; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) a description of any steps being 

18 taken to increase access to such informa19 tion, even if the information cannot be 

20 made public. 

21 ‘‘(3) FORMAT OF SOURCE.—The head of each 

22 Federal agency shall make any model, methodology, 

23 or source required to be made available under para24 graph (1)(A) available as an open Government data 

25 asset. 


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1 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 ‘‘(1) EVIDENCE.—The term ‘evidence’ has the 

3 meaning given that term in section 3561. 

4 ‘‘(2) INFLUENTIAL INFORMATION OR EVI5 DENCE.—The term ‘influential information or evi6 dence’ means information or evidence (including sci7 entific, technical, demographic, economic, financial, 

8 and statistical information or evidence) that the 

9 head of the Federal agency can reasonably deter10 mine will have or does have a clear or substantial 

11 impact on— 

12 ‘‘(A) developing or issuing a proposed or 

13 final rule of the Federal agency; or 

14 ‘‘(B) informing the public of the nature 

15 and basis of any rule or guidance of the Fed16 eral agency. 

17 ‘‘(3) INFORMATION QUALITY ACT.—The term 

18 ‘Information Quality Act’ means section 515 of the 

19 Treasury and General Government Appropriations 

20 Act, 2001 (Public Law 106–554).’’. 

21 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

22 subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, 


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1 is amended by adding after the item relating to section 

2 3521 the following: 

‘‘3522. Information Quality Assurance.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 6, 2024. 

Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, 

Clerk. 


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