II 

Calendar No. 712 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7528 

[Report No. 118–306] 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 7, 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, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

AN ACT 

To amend section 206 of the E-Government Act of 2002 

to improve the integrity and management of mass comments and computer-generated comments in the regulatory review process, 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 ‘‘Comment Integrity 

5 and Management Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

2 The purpose of this Act is to help Federal agencies 

3 manage mass and computer-generated comments in the 

4 Federal regulatory process. This should in no way be un5 derstood to discourage mass comments, which are a vital 

6 part of the regulatory process. 

7 SEC. 3. IMPROVING INTEGRITY AND MANAGEMENT OF 

8 MASS COMMENTS AND COMPUTER-GEN9 ERATED COMMENTS IN THE REGULATORY 

10 REVIEW PROCESS. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.— Section 206 of the E–Govern12 ment Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–347; 44 U.S.C. 3501 

13 note) is amended by— 

14 (1) redesignating subsection (e) as subsection 

15 (f); and 

16 (2) inserting after subsection (d) the following: 

17 ‘‘(e) INFORMATION INTEGRITY.— 

18 ‘‘(1) VERIFICATION OF ELECTRONIC SUBMIS19 SIONS.—With respect to each comment accepted by 

20 electronic means under subsection (c), in accordance 

21 with the guidance established by Director in para22 graph (3), the head of an agency shall verify, to the 

23 greatest extent possible, at the time the comment is 

24 submitted, whether the comment has been submitted 

25 by a human being. 


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1 ‘‘(2) IDENTIFICATION AND MANAGEMENT OF

2 MASS COMMENTS.— 

3 ‘‘(A) IDENTIFICATION OF MASS COM4 MENTS.—With respect to each comment accept5 ed by electronic means under subsection (c) by 

6 the head of an agency, the head of the agency 

7 shall— 

8 ‘‘(i) to the extent practicable, reason9 ably determine whether such comment is a 

10 mass comment; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) in the case that the agency has 

12 made a reasonable determination that the 

13 comment is a mass comment, indicate on 

14 any publicly available copy of the comment, 

15 or comment variations, (through a label or 

16 indicator, and in a machine and human 

17 readable format) that the comment is part 

18 of a mass comment submission; and 

19 ‘‘(B) HANDLING OF MASS COMMENTS.— 

20 Notwithstanding subsection (d)(2)(A), instead 

21 of making available through the electronic dock22 et of the agency each comment identified as a 

23 mass comment under paragraph (2), the head 

24 of an agency may— 


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1 ‘‘(i) make available through such 

2 docket only a single representative sample 

3 of each such mass comment; or 

4 ‘‘(ii) in the case where mass com5 ments take the form of variations on cer6 tain standardized but not identical lan7 guage the agency make available through 

8 such docket a single copy of one of the 

9 variations of the mass comment. 

10 ‘‘(C) NUMBER OF SUBMISSIONS.—In case 

11 in which the head of an agency makes available 

12 through such docket a single representative 

13 sample or a single copy of one of the variations 

14 of a mass comment under subparagraph (B), 

15 the head of the agency shall indicate (through 

16 a label or indicator, and in a machine and 

17 human readable format), on the sample or copy 

18 made available, the number of submissions that 

19 were determined to be identical, or sub20 stantively identical to the sample or copy made 

21 available on such docket. 

22 ‘‘(3) OMB GUIDANCE.— 

23 ‘‘(A) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 240 days 

24 after the date of the enactment of this sub25 section, the Director, in consultation with the 


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1 Administrator of General Services, shall issue 

2 guidance to the heads of each agency on the im3 plementation of the requirements of this sub4 section. 

5 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS OF GUIDANCE.—The 

6 guidance issued pursuant to subparagraph (A) 

7 shall include recommendations for agencies on 

8 how to best manage comments accepted by elec9 tronic means, including recommendations on 

10 how to do the following: 

11 ‘‘(i) Use technology tools and proce12 dures that verify, to the greatest extent 

13 possible, whether a comment is being sub14 mitted by a human being. 

15 ‘‘(ii) Identify mass comments, includ16 ing how to leverage software tools to iden17 tify whether a comment is a mass com18 ment. 

19 ‘‘(iii) Indicate (through a label or in20 dicator, and in a machine- and human21 readable format), that a comment is a 

22 mass comment. 

23 ‘‘(iv) Use new technology to offer new 

24 opportunities for public participation in the 

25 rulemaking process. 


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1 ‘‘(C) UPDATES.—The Director, in con2 sultation with the Administrator of General 

3 Services, may update the guidance issued pur4 suant to subparagraph (A), as determined nec5 essary by the Director. 

6 ‘‘(4) POLICIES CONCERNING POSTING AND CON7 SIDERATION OF COMPUTER-GENERATED COMMENTS

8 AND MASS COMMENTS.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

10 after the date of the enactment of this sub11 section, the head of each agency shall establish 

12 a policy with respect to the posting and consid13 eration of computer-generated comments and 

14 mass-comments during the rulemaking process 

15 of the agency that is consistent with— 

16 ‘‘(i) the requirements of paragraph 

17 (2); and 

18 ‘‘(ii) the guidance issued under para19 graph (3). 

20 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY OF POLICY.—Not later 

21 than 60 days after the date on which the head 

22 of an agency establishes a policy pursuant to 

23 subparagraph (A), the head of the agency shall, 

24 to the extent practicable, post the policy on the 

25 website through which an agency makes comVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:27 Dec 18, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\H7528.RS H7528

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1 ments available pursuant to subsection 

2 (d)(2)(A). 

3 ‘‘(C) UPDATE TO POLICY.—The policy es4 tablished pursuant to subparagraph (A)— 

5 ‘‘(i) shall be updated as necessary to 

6 make such guidance consistent with any 

7 updates to the guidance issued under para8 graph (3); and 

9 ‘‘(ii) may be updated by the head of 

10 the agency, in consultation with the Direc11 tor, as the head of the agency determines 

12 appropriate. 

13 ‘‘(5) EXCEPTION TO TIME LIMITATION FOR IM14 PLEMENTATION.—The requirement described under 

15 subsection (f) shall not apply to this subsection. 

16 ‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

17 ‘‘(A) COMMENT.—The term ‘comment’ 

18 means a submission under section 553(c) of 

19 title 5, United States Code. 

20 ‘‘(B) COMPUTER-GENERATED COMMENT.— 

21 The term ‘computer-generated comment’ means 

22 a comment the substance of which is primarily 

23 generated by computer software, including 

24 through the use of artificial intelligence, rather 

25 than by a human being. 


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1 ‘‘(C) MASS COMMENT.—The term ‘mass 

2 comment’ means a comment submitted as part 

3 of an organized submission of a large volume of 

4 identical, or substantively identical, comments 

5 submitted by different signatories or entities.’’. 

6 (b) UPDATE TO WEBSITES, INFORMATION SYSTEMS

7 OF AGENCIES.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 

9 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the head 

10 of each agency subject to the requirements of section 

11 206(e) of the E-Government Act, as added by sub12 section (a), shall update any website of the agency, 

13 and any information system of the agency, as nec14 essary to ensure compliance with the requirements 

15 of such section. 

16 (2) REGULATIONS.GOV.—The Administrator of 

17 General Services, acting through the eRulemaking 

18 Program Management Office, shall update Regula19 tions.gov as necessary to ensure compliance with the 

20 requirements of section 206(e) of the E–Government 

21 Act, as added by subsection (a). 

22 (3) ERULEMAKING SYSTEM.—The Adminis23 trator of General Services shall update the shared 

24 eRulemaking system on behalf of participating agen25 cies. 


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1 (c) GAO REPORT ON COMPUTER-GENERATED COM2 MENTS.— 

3 (1) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

5 General of the United States shall submit to the 

6 Committee on Oversight and Accountability of the 

7 House of Representatives and the Committee on 

8 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

9 Senate a report on the identification of computer10 generated comments under section 206(e) of the E– 

11 Government Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–347; 44 

12 U.S.C. 3501 note), that includes the following: 

13 (A) Recommendations on how to identify if 

14 a submission under that section is a computer15 generated comment. 

16 (B) Any effect that computer-generated 

17 comments have on the rulemaking process. 

18 (C) The extent to which the public uses 

19 computer-generated comments to participate in 

20 the rulemaking process at the time the report 

21 is submitted. 

22 (D) How prevalent computer-generated 

23 comments are at the time the report is sub24 mitted. 


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1 (E) How prevalent the Comptroller Gen2 eral anticipates computer-generated comments 

3 will be 5 years after the date on which the re4 port is submitted. 

5 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act, 

6 or the amendments made by this Act, may be construed 

7 as affecting the consideration of a mass comment by the 

8 head of an agency during the rulemaking process. 

9 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

10 (1) COMMENT.—The term ‘‘comment’’ means a 

11 submission under section 553(c) of title 5, United 

12 States Code. 

13 (2) COMPUTER-GENERATED COMMENTS.—The 

14 term ‘‘computer-generated comment’’ means a com15 ment the substance of which is primarily generated 

16 by computer software, including through the use of 

17 artificial intelligence, rather than by a human being. 

18 (3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

19 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg20 et. 

21 (4) MASS COMMENT.—The term ‘‘mass com22 ment’’ means a comment submitted as part of an or23 ganized submission of a large volume of identical, or 

24 substantively identical, comments submitted by dif25 ferent signatories or entities. 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Comment Integrity and 

3 Management Act of 2024’’. 

4 SEC. 2. REPORT ON THE INTEGRITY AND MANAGEMENT OF 

5 MASS COMMENTS, COMPUTER-GENERATED 

6 COMMENTS, AND FALSELY ATTRIBUTED COM7 MENTS IN THE REGULATORY REVIEW PROC8 ESS. 

9 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

10 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis11 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Services. 

12 (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the mean13 ing given the term in section 3502 of title 44, United 

14 States Code. 

15 (3) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT16 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional commit17 tees’’ means the Committee on Homeland Security 

18 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Com19 mittee on Oversight and Accountability of the House 

20 of Representatives. 

21 (4) COMMENT.—The term ‘‘comment’’ means a 

22 submission under section 553(c) of title 5, United 

23 States Code. 

24 (5) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means the 

25 Director of the Office of Management and Budget. 


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1 (6) MASS COMMENT.—The term ‘‘mass comment’’ 

2 means a comment submitted as part of an organized 

3 submission of a large volume of identical, or sub4 stantively identical, comments submitted by different 

5 signatories or entities. 

6 (b) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 240 days after 

7 the date of enactment of this Act, and annually during the 

8 5-year period thereafter, the Director, in consultation with 

9 the Administrator, shall submit a report to the appropriate 

10 congressional committees and post a report on the website 

11 of the Office of Management and Budget on— 

12 (1) the prevalence of mass comments, computer13 generated comments, and falsely attributed comments 

14 in the rulemaking process; 

15 (2) the effect of mass comments, computer-gen16 erated comments, and falsely attributed comments on 

17 the rulemaking process; 

18 (3) leading practices, including policies and 

19 technologies, that agencies are using to identify and 

20 respond to mass comments, computer-generated com21 ments, and falsely attributed comments in the rule22 making process; and 

23 (4) agency efforts to respond to mass comments, 

24 computer-generated comments, and falsely attributed 

25 comments. 


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1 (c) GAO REPORT ON COMPUTER-GENERATED COM2 MENTS.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

3 of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 

4 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 

5 report on computer-generated comments that includes— 

6 (1) recommendations on how to identify a com7 puter-generated comment; 

8 (2) any effects that computer-generated com9 ments have on the rulemaking process; 

10 (3) the extent to which the public uses computer11 generated comments to participate in the rulemaking 

12 process at the time the report is submitted; 

13 (4) how prevalent computer-generated comments 

14 are at the time the report is submitted; and 

15 (5) how prevalent the Comptroller General of the 

16 United States anticipates computer-generated com17 ments will be 5 years after the date on which the re18 port is submitted. 

19 SEC. 3. NO NEW FUNDS. 

20 No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated 

21 for the purpose of carrying out this Act. 


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Calendar No. 712 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7528 

[Report No. 118–306] 

AN ACT 

To amend section 206 of the E-Government Act of 

D

other purposes. ments in the regulatory review process, and for of mass comments and computer-generated com2002 to improve the integrity and management 

ECEMBER 17 (legislative day, DECEMBER 16), 2024 

Reported with an amendment 


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