IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1654 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 13, 2019 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Register Mod3 ernization Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FEDERAL REGISTER MODERNIZATION. 

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

6 44, United States Code, is amended— 

7 (1) in section 1502— 

8 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘print9 ing’’ and inserting ‘‘publishing’’; and 

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

11 and inserting ‘‘publishing’’; 

12 (2) in section 1507— 

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

14 certified copies of the document have’’ and in15 serting ‘‘the document has’’; and 

16 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘print17 ed’’ and inserting ‘‘published’’; and 

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

19 by striking ‘‘printing, reprinting, wrapping, binding, 

20 and distributing’’ and inserting ‘‘publishing’’, each 

21 place it appears. 

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

23 United States Code, is amended— 

24 (1) by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end of the defini25 tion for ‘‘person’’ and inserting a semicolon; and 


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1 (2) by inserting after the definition for ‘‘per2 son’’ the following: 

3 ‘‘ ‘publish’ means to circulate for sale or dis4 tribution to the public; and’’. 

5 (c) FILING DOCUMENTS WITH OFFICE AMEND6 MENT.—Section 1503 of title 44, United States Code, is 

7 amended to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘§ 1503. Filing documents with Office; notation of 

9 time; public inspection; transmission for 

10 publishing 

11 ‘‘The original document required or authorized to be 

12 published by section 1505 shall be filed with the Office 

13 of the Federal Register for publication at times estab14 lished by the Administrative Committee of the Federal 

15 Register by regulation. The Archivist of the United States 

16 shall cause to be noted on the original of each document 

17 the day and hour of filing. Upon filing, the document shall 

18 be immediately available for public inspection in the Of19 fice. The original shall be retained by the National Ar20 chives and Records Administration and shall be available 

21 for inspection under regulations prescribed by the Archi22 vist, unless such original is disposed of in accordance with 

23 disposal schedules submitted by the Administrative Com24 mittee and authorized by the Archivist pursuant to regula25 tions issued under chapter 33; however, originals of procVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 Mar 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1654.RFS H1654

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1 lamations of the President and Executive orders shall be 

2 permanently retained by the Administration as part of the 

3 National Archives of the United States. The Office shall 

4 transmit to the Government Publishing Office, as provided 

5 by this chapter, each document required or authorized to 

6 be published by section 1505. Every Federal agency shall 

7 cause to be transmitted for filing the original of all such 

8 documents issued, prescribed, or promulgated by the agen9 cy.’’. 

10 (d) FEDERAL REGISTER AMENDMENT.—Section 

11 1504 of title 44, United States Code, is amended to read 

12 as follows: 

13 ‘‘§ 1504. ‘Federal Register’; publishing; contents; dis14 tribution; price 

15 ‘‘Documents required or authorized to be published 

16 by section 1505 shall be published immediately by the 

17 Government Publishing Office in a serial publication des18 ignated the ‘Federal Register’. The Director of the Gov19 ernment Publishing Office shall make available the facili20 ties of the Government Publishing Office for the prompt 

21 publication of the Federal Register in the manner and at 

22 the times required by this chapter and the regulations pre23 scribed under it. The contents of the daily issues shall be 

24 indexed and constitute all documents, required or author25 ized to be published, filed with the Office of the Federal 


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1 Register up to the time of the day immediately preceding 

2 the day of publication fixed by regulations under this 

3 chapter. There shall be published with each document a 

4 copy of the notation, required to be made by section 1503, 

5 of the day and hour when, upon filing with the Office, 

6 the document was made available for public inspection. 

7 Distribution shall be made at a time in the morning of 

8 the day of distribution fixed by regulations prescribed 

9 under this chapter. The prices to be charged for the Fed10 eral Register may be fixed by the Administrative Com11 mittee of the Federal Register established by section 1506 

12 without reference to the restrictions placed upon and fixed 

13 for the sale of Government publications by sections 1705 

14 and 1708.’’. 

15 (e) DOCUMENTS TO BE PUBLISHED IN FEDERAL

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

17 is amended— 

18 (1) in subsection (b)— 

19 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘COM20 MENTS’’ and inserting ‘‘NEWS COMMENTARY’’; 

21 and 

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

23 ‘‘news commentary’’; 

24 (2) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub25 section (d); 


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1 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol2 lowing new subsection: 

3 ‘‘(c) ALTERNATIVE PUBLICATION.—In a continuity 

4 of operations event in which the Government Publishing 

5 Office does not fulfill the publication requirements of this 

6 chapter, the Office of the Federal Register may establish 

7 a website to publish the Federal Register until such time 

8 that the Government Publishing Office resumes publica9 tion.’’; and 

10 (4) in subsection (d), as so redesignated, in the 

11 matter following paragraph (2)— 

12 (A) by inserting ‘‘telecommunications, the 

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

14 (B) by striking ‘‘and two duplicate origi15 nals or two certified copies’’ and inserting ‘‘doc16 ument’’. 

17 (f) ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL

18 REGISTER AMENDMENT.—Subsection (a) of section 1506 

19 of title 44, United States Code, is amended to read as 

20 follows: 

21 ‘‘(a) COMPOSITION; DUTIES.—The Administrative 

22 Committee of the Federal Register shall consist of the Ar23 chivist of the United States or Acting Archivist, who shall 

24 chair the committee, an officer of the Department of Jus25 tice designated by the Attorney General, and the Director 


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1 of the Government Publishing Office or Acting Director 

2 of the Government Publishing Office. The Director of the 

3 Federal Register shall act as secretary of the committee. 

4 The committee shall prescribe, with the approval of the 

5 President, regulations for carrying out this chapter. The 

6 regulations shall provide for, among other things— 

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

8 under section 1505(b) to be published in the Federal 

9 Register; 

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

11 Register shall be published; 

12 ‘‘(3) the manner and form in which agencies 

13 submit documents for publication in the Federal 

14 Register and special editions of the Federal Reg15 ister; 

16 ‘‘(4) subject to subsection (b), the manner of 

17 distribution to Members of Congress, officers and 

18 employees of the United States, or Federal agency, 

19 for official use, and the number which shall be avail20 able for distribution to the public; 

21 ‘‘(5) the prices to be charged for individual cop22 ies of, and subscriptions to, the Federal Register 

23 and any reprints and bound volumes of it; 


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

2 Register may receive information and comments 

3 from the public, if practicable and efficient; and 

4 ‘‘(7) special editions of the Federal Register.’’. 

5 (g) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS AMEND6 MENT.—Section 1510 of title 44, United States Code, is 

7 amended to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘§ 1510. Code of Federal Regulations 

9 ‘‘(a) SPECIAL EDITION FOR CODIFICATION OF AGEN10 CY DOCUMENTS.—The Administrative Committee of the 

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

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

13 preparation and publication in a special edition of the Fed14 eral Register a complete codification of the documents of 

15 each agency of the Government having general applica16 bility and legal effect, issued or promulgated by the agency 

17 by publication in the Federal Register or by filing with 

18 the Administrative Committee, and which are relied upon 

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

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

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

22 the Administrative Committee. 

23 ‘‘(b) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS.—A codifica24 tion prepared under subsection (a) of this section shall be 

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


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1 Regulations’. The Administrative Committee shall regu2 late the manner and forms of publishing this codification. 

3 ‘‘(c) SUPPLEMENTATION, COLLATION, AND REPUBLI4 CATION.—The Administrative Committee shall regulate 

5 the supplementation and the collation and republication 

6 of the codification with a view to keeping the Code of Fed7 eral Regulations as current as practicable. Each unit of 

8 codification shall be supplemented and republished at least 

9 once each calendar year. The Office of the Federal Reg10 ister may create updates of each unit of codification from 

11 time to time and make the same available electronically 

12 or may provide public access using an electronic edition 

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

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

15 ‘‘(d) PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION BY THE FED16 ERAL REGISTER.—The Office of the Federal Register 

17 shall prepare and publish the codifications, supplements, 

18 collations, indices, and user aids authorized by this sec19 tion. 

20 ‘‘(e) PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE.—The codified docu21 ments of the several agencies published in the Code of 

22 Federal Regulations under this section, as amended by 

23 documents subsequently filed with the Office and pub24 lished in the daily issues of the Federal Register, shall 

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


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

2 of publication. 

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

4 with approval of the President, shall issue regulations for 

5 carrying out this section. 

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

7 codification of the text of Presidential documents pub8 lished and periodically compiled in supplements to title 3 

9 of the Code of Federal Regulations.’’. 

10 (h) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

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

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

13 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.’’. 

14 SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

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

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

17 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

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

19 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

20 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, proVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 Mar 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1654.RFS H1654

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1 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

2 vote on passage. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 12, 

2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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