IIB 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1004 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 2, 2017 

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

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

To amend chapter 3 of title 5, United States Code, to require 

the publication of information relating to pending agency 

regulatory actions, 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, 


asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

HR 1004 RFS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Regulatory Integrity 

3 Act of 2017’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION RELATING TO 

5 PENDING REGULATORY ACTIONS. 

6 (a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 3 of title 5, United 

7 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 306 the 

8 following new section: 

9 ‘‘§ 307. Information regarding pending agency regu10 latory action 

11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 ‘‘(1) AGENCY REGULATORY ACTION.—The term 

13 ‘agency regulatory action’ means guidance, policy 

14 statement, directive, rule making, or adjudication 

15 issued by an Executive agency. 

16 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC COMMUNICATION.—The term 

17 ‘public communication’— 

18 ‘‘(A) means any method (including written, 

19 oral, or electronic) of disseminating information 

20 to the public, including an agency statement 

21 (written or verbal), blog, video, audio recording, 

22 or other social media message; and 

23 ‘‘(B) does not include a notice published in 

24 the Federal Register pursuant to section 553 or 

25 any requirement to publish pursuant to this 

26 section. 


asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

HR 1004 RFS

1 ‘‘(3) RULE MAKING.—The term ‘rule making’ 

2 has the meaning given that term under section 551. 

3 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION TO BE POSTED ONLINE.— 

4 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—The head of each Execu5 tive agency shall make publicly available in a search6 able format in a prominent location either on the 

7 website of the Executive agency or in the rule mak8 ing docket on Regulations.gov the following informa9 tion: 

10 ‘‘(A) PENDING AGENCY REGULATORY AC11 TION.—A list of each pending agency regulatory 

12 action and with regard to each such action— 

13 ‘‘(i) the date on which the Executive 

14 agency first began to develop or consider 

15 the agency regulatory action; 

16 ‘‘(ii) the status of the agency regu17 latory action; 

18 ‘‘(iii) an estimate of the date of upon 

19 which the agency regulatory action will be 

20 final and in effect; 

21 ‘‘(iv) a brief description of the agency 

22 regulatory action; and 

23 ‘‘(v) if applicable, a list of agency reg24 ulatory actions issued by the Executive 

25 agency, or any other Executive agency, 


asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

HR 1004 RFS

1 that duplicate or overlap with the agency 

2 regulatory action. 

3 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC COMMUNICATION.—For each 

4 pending agency regulatory action, a list of each 

5 public communication about the pending agency 

6 regulatory action issued by the Executive agen7 cy and with regard to each such communica8 tion— 

9 ‘‘(i) the date of the communication; 

10 ‘‘(ii) the intended audience of the 

11 communication; 

12 ‘‘(iii) the method of communication; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(iv) a copy of the original commu15 nication. 

16 ‘‘(2) PERIOD.—The head of each Executive 

17 agency shall publish the information required under 

18 paragraph (1)(A) not later than 24 hours after a 

19 public communication relating to a pending agency 

20 regulatory action is issued and shall maintain the 

21 public availability of such information not less than 

22 5 years after the date on which the pending agency 

23 regulatory action is finalized. 

24 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR PUBLIC COMMUNICA25 TIONS.— 


asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

HR 1004 RFS

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any public communication 

2 issued by an Executive agency that refers to a pend3 ing agency regulatory action— 

4 ‘‘(A) shall specify whether the Executive 

5 agency is considering alternatives; 

6 ‘‘(B) shall specify whether the Executive 

7 agency is accepting or will be accepting com8 ments; and 

9 ‘‘(C) shall expressly disclose that the Exec10 utive agency is the source of the information to 

11 the intended recipients. 

12 ‘‘(2) RESTRICTION.—Any public communication 

13 issued by an Executive agency that refers to a pend14 ing agency regulatory action, other than an impar15 tial communication that requests comment on or 

16 provides information regarding the pending agency 

17 regulatory action, may not— 

18 ‘‘(A) directly advocate, in support of or 

19 against the pending agency regulatory action, 

20 for the submission of information to form part 

21 of the record of review for the pending agency 

22 regulatory action; 

23 ‘‘(B) appeal to the public, or solicit a third 

24 party, to undertake advocacy in support of or 


asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

HR 1004 RFS

1 against the pending agency regulatory action; 

2 or 

3 ‘‘(C) be directly or indirectly for publicity 

4 or propaganda purposes within the United 

5 States unless otherwise authorized by law. 

6 ‘‘(d) REPORTING.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than January 15 

8 of each year, the head of an Executive agency that 

9 communicated about a pending agency regulatory 

10 action during the previous fiscal year shall submit to 

11 each committee of Congress with jurisdiction over 

12 the activities of the Executive agency a report indi13 cating— 

14 ‘‘(A) the number pending agency regu15 latory actions the Executive agency issued pub16 lic communications about during that fiscal 

17 year; 

18 ‘‘(B) the average number of public commu19 nications issued by the Executive agency for 

20 each pending agency regulatory action during 

21 that fiscal year; 

22 ‘‘(C) the five pending agency regulatory ac23 tions with the highest number of public commu24 nications issued by the Executive agency in that 

25 fiscal year; and 


asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

HR 1004 RFS

1 ‘‘(D) a copy of each public communication 

2 for the pending agency regulatory actions iden3 tified in subparagraph (C). 

4 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS.—The head of 

5 an Executive agency that is required to submit a re6 port under paragraph (1) shall make the report pub7 licly available in a searchable format in a prominent 

8 location on the website of the Executive agency.’’. 

9 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

10 The table of sections for chapter 3 of title 5, United States 

11 Code, is amended by adding after the item relating to sec12 tion 306 the following new item: 

‘‘307. Information regarding pending agency regulatory action.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 2, 

2017. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS