IIB 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5226 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 15, 2016 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Act of 2016’’. 

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) AGGRANDIZEMENT.—The term ‘aggran17 dizement’ means— 

18 ‘‘(A) any communication emphasizing the 

19 importance of the Executive agency or agency 

20 regulatory action that does not have the clear 

21 purpose of informing the public of the sub22 stance or status of the Executive agency or 

23 agency regulatory action; or 

24 ‘‘(B) any communication that is puffery. 

25 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC COMMUNICATION.—The term 

26 ‘public communication’— 


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

2 oral, or electronic) of disseminating information 

3 to the public, including an agency statement 

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

5 or other social media message; and 

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

7 the Federal Register pursuant to section 553 or 

8 any requirement to publish pursuant to this 

9 section. 

10 ‘‘(4) RULE MAKING.—The term ‘rule making’ 

11 has the meaning given that term under section 551. 

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

13 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—The head of each Execu14 tive agency shall make publicly available in a search15 able format in a prominent location either on the 

16 website of the Executive agency or in the rule mak17 ing docket on Regulations.gov the following informa18 tion: 

19 ‘‘(A) PENDING AGENCY REGULATORY AC20 TION.—A list of each pending agency regulatory 

21 action and with regard to each such action— 

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

23 agency first began to develop or consider 

24 the agency regulatory action; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the status of the agency regu2 latory action; 

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

4 which the agency regulatory action will be 

5 final and in effect; 

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

7 regulatory action; 

8 ‘‘(v) if applicable, a list of agency reg9 ulatory actions issued by the Executive 

10 agency, or any other Executive agency, 

11 that duplicate or overlap with the agency 

12 regulatory action; and 

13 ‘‘(vi) if a regulatory impact analysis 

14 or similar cost-benefit analysis has been 

15 conducted, the findings of such analysis, 

16 including any data or formula used for 

17 purposes of such analysis. 

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

19 pending agency regulatory action, a list of each 

20 public communication about the pending agency 

21 regulatory action issued by the Executive agen22 cy and with regard to each such communica23 tion— 

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


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1 ‘‘(ii) the intended audience of the 

2 communication; 

3 ‘‘(iii) the method of communication; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(iv) a copy of the original commu6 nication. 

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

8 agency shall publish the information required under 

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

10 public communication relating to a pending agency 

11 regulatory action is issued and shall maintain the 

12 public availability of such information not less than 

13 5 years after the date on which the pending agency 

14 regulatory action is finalized. 

15 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR PUBLIC COMMUNICA16 TIONS.—Any public communication issued by an Execu17 tive agency that refers to a pending agency regulatory ac18 tion— 

19 ‘‘(1) shall specify whether the Executive agency 

20 is considering alternatives, including alternatives 

21 that may conflict with the intent, objective, or meth22 odology of such agency regulatory action; 

23 ‘‘(2) shall specify whether the Executive agency 

24 is accepting or will be accepting comments; 


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1 ‘‘(3) shall expressly disclose that the Executive 

2 agency is the source of the information to the in3 tended recipients; and 

4 ‘‘(4) may not— 

5 ‘‘(A) solicit support for or promote the 

6 pending agency regulatory action; 

7 ‘‘(B) be sent through the private email ac8 count of an officer or employee of the Executive 

9 agency; or 

10 ‘‘(C) include statements of aggrandizement 

11 for the Executive agency, any Federal em12 ployee, or the pending agency regulatory action. 

13 ‘‘(d) REPORTING.— 

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

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

16 communicated about a pending agency regulatory 

17 action during the previous fiscal year shall submit to 

18 each committee of Congress with jurisdiction over 

19 the activities of the Executive agency a report indi20 cating— 

21 ‘‘(A) the number pending agency regu22 latory actions the Executive agency issued pub23 lic communications about during that fiscal 

24 year; 


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1 ‘‘(B) the average number of public commu2 nications issued by the Executive agency for 

3 each pending agency regulatory action during 

4 that fiscal year; 

5 ‘‘(C) the 5 pending agency regulatory ac6 tions with the highest number of public commu7 nications issued by the Executive agency in that 

8 fiscal year; and 

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

10 for the pending agency regulatory actions iden11 tified in subparagraph (C). 

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

13 an Executive agency that is required to submit a re14 port under paragraph (1) shall make the report pub15 licly available in a searchable format in a prominent 

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

17 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

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


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1 Code, is amended by adding after the item relating to sec2 tion 306 the following new item: 

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

Passed the House of Representatives September 14, 

2016. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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