II 

Calendar No. 586 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4809 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 

Received; read twice and placed on the calendar 

AN ACT 

To increase access to agency guidance documents. 

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 ‘‘Guidance Out Of 

5 Darkness Act’’ or the ‘‘GOOD Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 It is the purpose of this Act to increase the trans8 parency of agency guidance documents and to make guid9 ance documents more readily available to the public. 


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1 SEC. 3. PUBLICATION OF GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS ON THE 

2 INTERNET. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—On the date on which an agency 

4 issues a guidance document, the head of the agency shall 

5 publish the guidance document in accordance with sub6 section (c). 

7 (b) PREVIOUSLY ISSUED GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS.— 

8 With respect to any guidance document issued by an agen9 cy before the effective date of this Act that is in effect 

10 on the effective date of this Act, the head of each agency 

11 shall meet the requirements of subsection (c). 

12 (c) SINGLE LOCATION.—The head of each agency 

13 shall: 

14 (1) Publish any guidance document issued by 

15 the agency in a single location on an online portal 

16 designated by the Director of the Office of Manage17 ment and Budget. 

18 (2) With respect to a guidance document issued 

19 by an agency, include a hyperlink on the online por20 tal of the agency that provides access to the guid21 ance document published pursuant to paragraph (1). 

22 (3) Ensure that any guidance document pub23 lished pursuant to paragraph (1) is— 

24 (A) clearly identified as a guidance docu25 ment; 


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1 (B) sorted into subcategories, as appro2 priate; 

3 (C) published in a machine-readable and 

4 open format; and 

5 (D) searchable. 

6 (4) Ensure that any hyperlink described in 

7 paragraph (2) be prominently displayed on the on8 line portal of the agency. 

9 (d) RESCINDED GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS.—Not later 

10 than the date on which a guidance document issued by 

11 an agency is rescinded, the head of the agency shall on 

12 the online portal described in subsection (c)(1)— 

13 (1) maintain a copy of the rescinded guidance 

14 document; and 

15 (2) indicate— 

16 (A) that the guidance document is re17 scinded; and 

18 (B) the date on which the guidance docu19 ment was rescinded. 

20 (e) DEADLINE TO DESIGNATE PORTAL.—Not later 

21 than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

22 the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

23 shall designate an online portal in accordance with sub24 section (c)(1). 


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1 SEC. 4. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 

2 (a) GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS.—In this Act, the term 

3 ‘‘guidance document’’ shall be construed broadly. 

4 (b) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW.—Nothing in this Act 

5 may be construed to affect whether a guidance document 

6 qualifies as a rule for purposes of chapter 8 of title 5, 

7 United States Code. 

8 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 

11 meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, 

12 United States Code. 

13 (2) GUIDANCE DOCUMENT.—The term ‘‘guid14 ance document’’— 

15 (A) means an agency statement of general 

16 applicability (other than a rule that has the 

17 force and effect of law promulgated in accord18 ance with the notice and public procedure under 

19 section 553 of title 5, United States Code) 

20 that— 

21 (i) does not have the force and effect 

22 of law; and 

23 (ii) sets forth— 

24 (I) an agency decision or a policy 

25 on a statutory, regulatory, or tech26 nical issue; or 


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1 (II) an interpretation of a statu2 tory or regulatory issue; and 

3 (B) may include any of the following: 

4 (i) A memorandum. 

5 (ii) A notice. 

6 (iii) A bulletin. 

7 (iv) A directive. 

8 (v) A news release. 

9 (vi) A letter. 

10 (vii) A blog post. 

11 (viii) A no-action letter. 

12 (ix) A speech by an agency official. 

13 (x) An advisory. 

14 (xi) A manual. 

15 (xii) A circular. 

16 (xiii) Any combination of the items 

17 described in clauses (i) through (xii). 

18 (3) RULE.—The term ‘‘rule’’ has the meaning 

19 given that term in section 551 of title 5, United 

20 States Code. 


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1 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 Except as provided in section 3(e), this Act shall take 

3 effect on the date that is 180 days after the date of the 

4 enactment of this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 26, 

2018. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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Calendar No. 586 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4809 

AN ACT 

To increase access to agency guidance documents. 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 

Received; read twice and placed on the calendar 


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