I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1729 

To provide the public with access to the laws of the United States, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 27, 2017 

Mr. BRAT (for himself and Mr. MOULTON) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To provide the public with access to the laws of the United 

States, 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 ‘‘Statutes at Large 

5 Modernization Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The United States was established under ‘‘a 

9 government of laws, and not of men’’. 


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1 (2) The rule of law requires that the laws be 

2 available to the people. 

3 (3) Active, permanent laws are codified in the 

4 United States Code, which is maintained by the Of5 fice of the Law Revision Counsel at http:// 

6 uscode.house.gov/. 

7 (4) The United States Code usually does not in8 clude, however, repealed laws, original statutes that 

9 have since been amended, or those with limited du10 ration such as appropriations acts. Furthermore, un11 codified titles of the United States Code are merely 

12 ‘‘evidence’’ of the law before the judicial branch, so 

13 attorneys must consult the United States Statutes at 

14 Large. 

15 (5) The United States Statutes at Large is 

16 compiled by the National Archives and Records Ad17 ministration. It is legal and permanent evidence of 

18 all the laws enacted during a session of Congress be19 ginning with the First Congress in 1789. It also 

20 contains concurrent resolutions, reorganization 

21 plans, proposed and ratified amendments to the 

22 Constitution of the United States, and proclamations 

23 by the President. 

24 (6) The Statutes at Large collection is pub25 lished under the direction of the Office of the FedVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Mar 30, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1729.IH H1729

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1 eral Register through the Congressional Printing 

2 Management Division of the Government Publishing 

3 Office. 

4 (7) The Law Library of Congress has begun to 

5 digitize the Statutes at Large. It has published all 

6 volumes in a text-over-PDF format. They appear as 

7 scanned PDF images with basic search capability. 

8 (8) More resources are needed to adequately re9 fine and structure the embedded data elements that 

10 enable advanced search functions, machine read11 ability, and other useful options. 

12 (9) The Government Publishing Office is the 

13 appropriate entity to lead the online digitization of 

14 the Statutes at Large in collaboration with other 

15 Federal and private entities with expertise in devel16 oping formatting conventions for legislative mate17 rials. 

18 (10) Incorporating relevant digital information 

19 into www.Congress.gov would make it a more useful 

20 and comprehensive research resource. 

21 SEC. 3. PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE LAWS OF THE UNITED 

22 STATES. 

23 (a) ONLINE AVAILABILITY OF STATUTES AT LARGE

24 THROUGH GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE.—Section 

25 728 of title 44, United States Code, is amended— 


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1 (1) in the first undesignated paragraph, by 

2 striking ‘‘The Director’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) PRINT3 ING AND DISTRIBUTION.—The Director’’; 

4 (2) in the second undesignated paragraph, by 

5 striking ‘‘The Director’’ and inserting ‘‘(b) TREA6 TIES AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.— 

7 The Director’’; and 

8 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub9 section: 

10 ‘‘(c) ONLINE ACCESS TO STATUTES AT LARGE.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall make 

12 the Statutes at Large available to the public at no 

13 cost on a website in a searchable, non-proprietary 

14 format. 

15 ‘‘(2) CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION.—The 

16 Director shall ensure that the searchable online edi17 tion of the United States Statutes at Large made 

18 available under this subsection is prepared in con19 sultation and coordination with entities that develop 

20 formatting conventions used for enrolled bills and 

21 other legislative materials, which may include the Li22 brary of Congress, the Office of the Clerk of the 

23 House of Representatives, the Office of the Sec24 retary of the Senate, the Office of the Legislative 

25 Counsel of the House of Representatives, the Office 


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1 of the Legislative Counsel of the Senate, the Office 

2 of the Law Revision Counsel, the Congressional Re3 search Service, the National Archives and Records 

4 Administration, and such other public and private 

5 entities that the Director considers appropriate.’’. 

6 (b) REQUIRING LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS TO INCOR7 PORATE SEARCHABLE STATUTES AT LARGE INTO LEGIS8 LATIVE INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM.—Section 209 

9 of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1996 (2 

10 U.S.C. 180) is amended by adding at the end the following 

11 new subsection: 

12 ‘‘(f) In addition to the legislative information de13 scribed in subsection (b), the relevant electronic informa14 tion made available by the Director of the Government 

15 Publishing Office under section 728(c) of title 44, United 

16 States Code, shall be incorporated into the legislative in17 formation service to the extent practicable.’’. 

18 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

19 authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of fis20 cal years 2018 through 2022 to carry out the provisions 

21 of this Act. 

Æ 


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