I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1654 

To amend title 44, United States Code, to modernize the Federal Register, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 8, 2019 

Mr. MEADOWS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committee on 

the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend title 44, United States Code, to modernize the 

Federal Register, 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 ‘‘Federal Register Mod5 ernization Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL REGISTER MODERNIZATION. 

7 (a) REFERENCES TO PRINTING.—Chapter 15 of title 

8 44, United States Code, is amended— 

9 (1) in section 1502— 


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1 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘print2 ing’’ and inserting ‘‘publishing’’; and 

3 (B) by striking ‘‘printing and distribution’’ 

4 and inserting ‘‘publishing’’; 

5 (2) in section 1507 is amended— 

6 (A) by striking ‘‘the duplicate originals or 

7 certified copies of the document have’’ and in8 serting ‘‘the document has’’; and 

9 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘print10 ed’’ and inserting ‘‘published’’; and 

11 (3) in section 1509, in subsections (a) and (b) 

12 of, by striking ‘‘printing, reprinting, wrapping, bind13 ing, and distributing’’ and inserting ‘‘publishing’’, 

14 each place it appears. 

15 (b) PUBLISH DEFINED.—Section 1501 of title 44, 

16 United States Code, is amended— 

17 (1) by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end of the defini18 tion for ‘‘person’’ and inserting a semicolon; and 

19 (2) by inserting after the definition for ‘‘per20 son’’ the following: 

21 ‘‘ ‘publish’ means to circulate for sale or dis22 tribution to the public; and’’. 

23 (c) FILING DOCUMENTS WITH OFFICE AMEND24 MENT.—Section 1503 of title 44, United States Code, is 

25 amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘§ 1503. Filing documents with Office; notation of 

2 time; public inspection; transmission for 

3 publishing 

4 ‘‘The original document required or authorized to be 

5 published by section 1505 of this title shall be filed with 

6 the Office of the Federal Register for publication at times 

7 established by the Administrative Committee of the Fed8 eral Register by regulation. The Archivist of the United 

9 States shall cause to be noted on the original of each docu10 ment the day and hour of filing. Upon filing, the document 

11 shall be immediately available for public inspection in the 

12 Office. The original shall be retained by the National Ar13 chives and Records Administration and shall be available 

14 for inspection under regulations prescribed by the Archi15 vist, unless such original is disposed of in accordance with 

16 disposal schedules submitted by the Administrative Com17 mittee and authorized by the Archivist pursuant to regula18 tions issued under chapter 33 of this title; however, origi19 nals of proclamations of the President and Executive or20 ders shall be permanently retained by the Administration 

21 as part of the National Archives of the United States. The 

22 Office shall transmit to the Government Publishing Office, 

23 as provided by this chapter, each document required or 

24 authorized to be published by section 1505 of this title. 

25 Every Federal agency shall cause to be transmitted for 


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1 filing the original of all such documents issued, prescribed, 

2 or promulgated by the agency.’’. 

3 (d) FEDERAL REGISTER AMENDMENT.—Section 

4 1504 of title 44, United States Code, is amended to read 

5 as follows: 

6 ‘‘§ 1504. ‘Federal Register’; publishing; contents; dis7 tribution; price 

8 ‘‘Documents required or authorized to be published 

9 by section 1505 of this title shall be published immediately 

10 by the Government Publishing Office in a serial publica11 tion designated the ‘Federal Register’. The Director of the 

12 Government Publishing Office shall make available the fa13 cilities of the Government Publishing Office for the 

14 prompt publication of the Federal Register in the manner 

15 and at the times required by this chapter and the regula16 tions prescribed under it. The contents of the daily issues 

17 shall constitute all documents, required or authorized to 

18 be published, filed with the Office of the Federal Register 

19 up to the time of the day immediately preceding the day 

20 of publication fixed by regulations under this chapter. 

21 There shall be published with each document a copy of 

22 the notation, required to be made by section 1503 of this 

23 title, of the day and hour when, upon filing with the Of24 fice, the document was made available for public inspec25 tion. Distribution shall be made at a time in the morning 


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1 of the day of distribution fixed by regulations prescribed 

2 under this chapter. The prices to be charged for the Fed3 eral Register may be fixed by the Administrative Com4 mittee of the Federal Register established by section 1506 

5 of this title without reference to the restrictions placed 

6 upon and fixed for the sale of Government publications 

7 by sections 1705 and 1708 of this title.’’. 

8 (e) DOCUMENTS TO BE PUBLISHED IN FEDERAL

9 REGISTER.—Section 1505 of title 44, United States Code, 

10 is amended— 

11 (1) in subsection (b)— 

12 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘COM13 MENTS’’ and inserting ‘‘NEWS COMMENTARY’’; 

14 and 

15 (B) by striking ‘‘comments’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘news commentary’’; and 

17 (2) in subsection (c), in the matter following 

18 paragraph (2)— 

19 (A) by inserting ‘‘telecommunications, the 

20 Internet,’’ after ‘‘the press, the radio,’’; and 

21 (B) by striking ‘‘and two duplicate origi22 nals or two certified copies’’ and inserting ‘‘doc23 ument’’. 


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1 (f) ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL

2 REGISTER AMENDMENT.—Section 1506 of title 44, 

3 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

4 ‘‘§ 1506. Administrative Committee of the Federal 

5 Register; establishment and composition; 

6 powers and duties 

7 ‘‘The Administrative Committee of the Federal Reg8 ister shall consist of the Archivist of the United States 

9 or Acting Archivist, who shall chair the committee, an offi10 cer of the Department of Justice designated by the Attor11 ney General, and the Director of the Government Pub12 lishing Office or Acting Director of the Government Pub13 lishing Office. The Director of the Federal Register shall 

14 act as secretary of the committee. The committee shall 

15 prescribe, with the approval of the President, regulations 

16 for carrying out this chapter. The regulations shall provide 

17 for, among other things— 

18 ‘‘(1) the documents which shall be authorized 

19 under section 1505(b) of this title to be published in 

20 the Federal Register; 

21 ‘‘(2) the manner and form in which the Federal 

22 Register shall be published; 

23 ‘‘(3) the manner of distribution to Members of 

24 Congress, officers and employees of the United 

25 States, or Federal agency, for official use, and the 


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1 number which shall be available for distribution to 

2 the public; 

3 ‘‘(4) the prices to be charged for individual cop4 ies of, and subscriptions to, the Federal Register 

5 and any reprints and bound volumes of it; 

6 ‘‘(5) the manner and form by which the Federal 

7 Register may receive information and comments 

8 from the public, if practicable and efficient; and 

9 ‘‘(6) special editions of the Federal Register.’’. 

10 (g) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS AMEND11 MENT.—Section 1510 of title 44, United States Code, is 

12 amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘§ 1510. Code of Federal Regulations 

14 ‘‘(a) SPECIAL EDITION FOR CODIFICATION OF AGEN15 CY DOCUMENTS.—The Administrative Committee of the 

16 Federal Register, with the approval of the President, may 

17 require, from time to time as it considers necessary, the 

18 preparation and publication in a special edition of the Fed19 eral Register a complete codification of the documents of 

20 each agency of the Government having general applica21 bility and legal effect, issued or promulgated by the agency 

22 by publication in the Federal Register or by filing with 

23 the Administrative Committee, and which are relied upon 

24 by the agency as authority for, or are invoked or used by 

25 it in the discharge of, its activities or functions, and are 


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1 in effect as to facts arising on or after dates specified by 

2 the Administrative Committee. 

3 ‘‘(b) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS.—A codifica4 tion prepared under subsection (a) of this section shall be 

5 published and shall be designated as the ‘Code of Federal 

6 Regulations’. The Administrative Committee shall regu7 late the manner and forms of publishing this codification. 

8 ‘‘(c) SUPPLEMENTATION, COLLATION, AND REPUBLI9 CATION.—The Administrative Committee shall regulate 

10 the supplementation and the collation and republication 

11 of the codification with a view to keeping the Code of Fed12 eral Regulations as current as practicable. Each unit of 

13 codification shall be supplemented and republished at least 

14 once each calendar year. The Office of the Federal Reg15 ister may create updates of each unit of codification from 

16 time to time and make the same available electronically 

17 or may provide public access using an electronic edition 

18 that allows a user to select a specific date and retrieve 

19 the version of the codification in effect as of that date. 

20 ‘‘(d) PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION BY THE FED21 ERAL REGISTER.—The Office of the Federal Register 

22 shall prepare and publish the codifications, supplements, 

23 collations, and user aids authorized by this section. 

24 ‘‘(e) PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE.—The codified docu25 ments of the several agencies published in the Code of 


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1 Federal Regulations under this section, as amended by 

2 documents subsequently filed with the Office and pub3 lished in the daily issues of the Federal Register, shall 

4 be prima facie evidence of the text of the documents and 

5 of the fact that they are in effect on and after the date 

6 of publication. 

7 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Administrative Committee, 

8 with approval of the President, shall issue regulations for 

9 carrying out this section. 

10 ‘‘(g) EXCEPTION.—This section does not require 

11 codification of the text of Presidential documents pub12 lished and periodically compiled in supplements to title 3 

13 of the Code of Federal Regulations.’’. 

14 (h) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

15 The table of sections for chapter 15 of title 44, United 

16 States Code, is amended by striking the items related to 

17 sections 1502, 1503, and 1504 and inserting the following: 

‘‘1502. Custody and publishing of Federal documents; appointment of Director. 

‘‘1503. Filing documents with Office; notation of time; public inspection; transmission for publishing. 

‘‘1504. ‘Federal Register’; publishing; contents; distribution; price.’’. 

18 SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

19 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

20 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

21 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

22 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

23 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 


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1 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro2 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

3 vote on passage. 

Æ 


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