I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1004 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2017 

Mr. WALBERG (for himself, Mr. CARTER of Georgia, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. 

NEWHOUSE, Mr. GOSAR, and Mr. FARENTHOLD) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government 

Reform 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION RELATING TO 

2 PENDING REGULATORY ACTIONS. 

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

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

5 following new section: 

6 ‘‘§ 307. Information regarding pending agency regu7 latory action 

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

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

10 ‘agency regulatory action’ means guidance, policy 

11 statement, directive, rule making, or adjudication 

12 issued by an Executive agency. 

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

14 ‘public communication’— 

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

16 oral, or electronic) of disseminating information 

17 to the public, including an agency statement 

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

19 or other social media message; and 

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

21 the Federal Register pursuant to section 553 or 

22 any requirement to publish pursuant to this 

23 section. 

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

25 has the meaning given that term under section 551. 

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


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1 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—The head of each Execu2 tive agency shall make publicly available in a search3 able format in a prominent location either on the 

4 website of the Executive agency or in the rule mak5 ing docket on Regulations.gov the following informa6 tion: 

7 ‘‘(A) PENDING AGENCY REGULATORY AC8 TION.—A list of each pending agency regulatory 

9 action and with regard to each such action— 

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

11 agency first began to develop or consider 

12 the agency regulatory action; 

13 ‘‘(ii) the status of the agency regu14 latory action; 

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

16 which the agency regulatory action will be 

17 final and in effect; and 

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

19 regulatory action. 

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

21 pending agency regulatory action, a list of each 

22 public communication about the pending agency 

23 regulatory action issued by the Executive agen24 cy and with regard to each such communica25 tion— 


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

2 ‘‘(ii) the intended audience of the 

3 communication; 

4 ‘‘(iii) the method of communication; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(iv) a copy of the original commu7 nication. 

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

9 agency shall publish the information required under 

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

11 public communication relating to a pending agency 

12 regulatory action is issued and shall maintain the 

13 public availability of such information not less than 

14 5 years after the date on which the pending agency 

15 regulatory action is finalized. 

16 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR PUBLIC COMMUNICA17 TIONS.— 

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

19 issued by an Executive agency that refers to a pend20 ing agency regulatory action— 

21 ‘‘(A) shall specify whether the Executive 

22 agency is considering alternatives; 

23 ‘‘(B) shall specify whether the Executive 

24 agency is accepting or will be accepting com25 ments; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) shall expressly disclose that the Exec2 utive agency is the source of the information to 

3 the intended recipients. 

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

5 issued by an Executive agency that refers to a pend6 ing agency regulatory action, other than an impar7 tial communication that requests comment on or 

8 provides information regarding the pending agency 

9 regulatory action, may not— 

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

11 against the pending agency regulatory action, 

12 for the submission of information to form part 

13 of the record of review for the pending agency 

14 regulatory action; 

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

16 party, to undertake advocacy in support of or 

17 against the pending agency regulatory action; 

18 or 

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

20 or propaganda purposes within the United 

21 States unless otherwise authorized by law. 

22 ‘‘(d) REPORTING.— 

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

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

25 communicated about a pending agency regulatory 


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1 action during the previous fiscal year shall submit to 

2 each committee of Congress with jurisdiction over 

3 the activities of the Executive agency a report indi4 cating— 

5 ‘‘(A) the number pending agency regu6 latory actions the Executive agency issued pub7 lic communications about during that fiscal 

8 year; 

9 ‘‘(B) the average number of public commu10 nications issued by the Executive agency for 

11 each pending agency regulatory action during 

12 that fiscal year; 

13 ‘‘(C) the 5 pending agency regulatory ac14 tions with the highest number of public commu15 nications issued by the Executive agency in that 

16 fiscal year; and 

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

18 for the pending agency regulatory actions iden19 tified in subparagraph (C). 

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

21 an Executive agency that is required to submit a re22 port under paragraph (1) shall make the report pub23 licly available in a searchable format in a prominent 

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


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1 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

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

3 Code, is amended by adding after the item relating to sec4 tion 306 the following new item: 

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

Æ 


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