I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5226 

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 

MAY 13, 2016 

Mr. WALBERG (for himself and Mr. NEWHOUSE) 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 2016’’. 


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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) AGGRANDIZEMENT.—The term ‘aggran14 dizement’ means— 

15 ‘‘(A) any communication emphasizing the 

16 importance of the Executive agency or agency 

17 regulatory action that does not have the clear 

18 purpose of informing the public of the sub19 stance or status of the Executive agency or 

20 agency regulatory action; or 

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

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

23 ‘public communication’— 

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

25 oral, or electronic) of disseminating information 

26 to the public, including an agency statement 


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

2 or other social media message; and 

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

4 the Federal Register pursuant to section 553 or 

5 any requirement to publish pursuant to this 

6 section. 

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

8 has the meaning given that term under section 551. 

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

10 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—The head of each Execu11 tive agency shall make publicly available in a search12 able format in a prominent location either on the 

13 website of the Executive agency or in the rule mak14 ing docket on Regulations.gov the following informa15 tion: 

16 ‘‘(A) PENDING AGENCY REGULATORY AC17 TION.—A list of each pending agency regulatory 

18 action and with regard to each such action— 

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

20 agency first began to develop or consider 

21 the agency regulatory action; 

22 ‘‘(ii) the status of the agency regu23 latory action; 


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

2 which the agency regulatory action will be 

3 final and in effect; and 

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

5 regulatory action. 

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

7 pending agency regulatory action, a list of each 

8 public communication about the pending agency 

9 regulatory action issued by the Executive agen10 cy and with regard to each such communica11 tion— 

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

13 ‘‘(ii) the intended audience of the 

14 communication; 

15 ‘‘(iii) the method of communication; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(iv) a copy of the original commu18 nication. 

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

20 agency shall publish the information required under 

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

22 public communication relating to a pending agency 

23 regulatory action is issued and shall maintain the 

24 public availability of such information not less than 


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1 5 years after the date on which the pending agency 

2 regulatory action is finalized. 

3 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR PUBLIC COMMUNICA4 TIONS.—Any public communication issued by an Execu5 tive agency that refers to a pending agency regulatory ac6 tion— 

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

8 is considering alternatives, including alternatives 

9 that may conflict with the intent, objective, or meth10 odology of such agency regulatory action; 

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

12 is accepting or will be accepting comments; 

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

14 agency is the source of the information to the in15 tended recipients; and 

16 ‘‘(4) may not— 

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

18 pending agency regulatory action; or 

19 ‘‘(B) include statements of aggrandizement 

20 for the Executive agency, any Federal em21 ployee, or the pending agency regulatory action. 

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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