II 

Calendar No. 149 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1654 

[Report No. 116–57] 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 13, 2019 

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

Governmental Affairs 

JULY 15, 2019 

Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, without amendment 

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, 

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— 


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1 (1) in section 1502— 

2 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘print3 ing’’ and inserting ‘‘publishing’’; and 

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

5 and inserting ‘‘publishing’’; 

6 (2) in section 1507— 

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

8 certified copies of the document have’’ and in9 serting ‘‘the document has’’; and 

10 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘print11 ed’’ and inserting ‘‘published’’; and 

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

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

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

15 place it appears. 

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

17 United States Code, is amended— 

18 (1) by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end of the defini19 tion for ‘‘person’’ and inserting a semicolon; and 

20 (2) by inserting after the definition for ‘‘per21 son’’ the following: 

22 ‘‘ ‘publish’ means to circulate for sale or dis23 tribution to the public; and’’. 


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1 (c) FILING DOCUMENTS WITH OFFICE AMEND2 MENT.—Section 1503 of title 44, United States Code, is 

3 amended to read as follows: 

4 ‘‘§ 1503. Filing documents with Office; notation of 

5 time; public inspection; transmission for 

6 publishing 

7 ‘‘The original document required or authorized to be 

8 published by section 1505 shall be filed with the Office 

9 of the Federal Register for publication at times estab10 lished by the Administrative Committee of the Federal 

11 Register by regulation. The Archivist of the United States 

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

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

14 be immediately available for public inspection in the Of15 fice. The original shall be retained by the National Ar16 chives and Records Administration and shall be available 

17 for inspection under regulations prescribed by the Archi18 vist, unless such original is disposed of in accordance with 

19 disposal schedules submitted by the Administrative Com20 mittee and authorized by the Archivist pursuant to regula21 tions issued under chapter 33; however, originals of proc22 lamations of the President and Executive orders shall be 

23 permanently retained by the Administration as part of the 

24 National Archives of the United States. The Office shall 

25 transmit to the Government Publishing Office, as provided 


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1 by this chapter, each document required or authorized to 

2 be published by section 1505. Every Federal agency shall 

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

4 documents issued, prescribed, or promulgated by the agen5 cy.’’. 

6 (d) FEDERAL REGISTER AMENDMENT.—Section 

7 1504 of title 44, United States Code, is amended to read 

8 as follows: 

9 ‘‘§ 1504. ‘Federal Register’; publishing; contents; dis10 tribution; price 

11 ‘‘Documents required or authorized to be published 

12 by section 1505 shall be published immediately by the 

13 Government Publishing Office in a serial publication des14 ignated the ‘Federal Register’. The Director of the Gov15 ernment Publishing Office shall make available the facili16 ties of the Government Publishing Office for the prompt 

17 publication of the Federal Register in the manner and at 

18 the times required by this chapter and the regulations pre19 scribed under it. The contents of the daily issues shall be 

20 indexed and constitute all documents, required or author21 ized to be published, filed with the Office of the Federal 

22 Register up to the time of the day immediately preceding 

23 the day of publication fixed by regulations under this 

24 chapter. There shall be published with each document a 

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


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

2 the document was made available for public inspection. 

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

4 the day of distribution fixed by regulations prescribed 

5 under this chapter. The prices to be charged for the Fed6 eral Register may be fixed by the Administrative Com7 mittee of the Federal Register established by section 1506 

8 without reference to the restrictions placed upon and fixed 

9 for the sale of Government publications by sections 1705 

10 and 1708.’’. 

11 (e) DOCUMENTS TO BE PUBLISHED IN FEDERAL

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

13 is amended— 

14 (1) in subsection (b)— 

15 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘COM16 MENTS’’ and inserting ‘‘NEWS COMMENTARY’’; 

17 and 

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

19 ‘‘news commentary’’; 

20 (2) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub21 section (d); 

22 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol23 lowing new subsection: 

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

25 of operations event in which the Government Publishing 


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1 Office does not fulfill the publication requirements of this 

2 chapter, the Office of the Federal Register may establish 

3 a website to publish the Federal Register until such time 

4 that the Government Publishing Office resumes publica5 tion.’’; and 

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

7 matter following paragraph (2)— 

8 (A) by inserting ‘‘telecommunications, the 

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

10 (B) by striking ‘‘and two duplicate origi11 nals or two certified copies’’ and inserting ‘‘doc12 ument’’. 

13 (f) ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL

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

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

16 follows: 

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

18 Committee of the Federal Register shall consist of the Ar19 chivist of the United States or Acting Archivist, who shall 

20 chair the committee, an officer of the Department of Jus21 tice designated by the Attorney General, and the Director 

22 of the Government Publishing Office or Acting Director 

23 of the Government Publishing Office. The Director of the 

24 Federal Register shall act as secretary of the committee. 

25 The committee shall prescribe, with the approval of the 


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1 President, regulations for carrying out this chapter. The 

2 regulations shall provide for, among other things— 

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

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

5 Register; 

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

7 Register shall be published; 

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

9 submit documents for publication in the Federal 

10 Register and special editions of the Federal Reg11 ister; 

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

13 distribution to Members of Congress, officers and 

14 employees of the United States, or Federal agency, 

15 for official use, and the number which shall be avail16 able for distribution to the public; 

17 ‘‘(5) the prices to be charged for individual cop18 ies of, and subscriptions to, the Federal Register 

19 and any reprints and bound volumes of it; 

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

21 Register may receive information and comments 

22 from the public, if practicable and efficient; and 

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


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1 (g) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS AMEND2 MENT.—Section 1510 of title 44, United States Code, is 

3 amended to read as follows: 

4 ‘‘§ 1510. Code of Federal Regulations 

5 ‘‘(a) SPECIAL EDITION FOR CODIFICATION OF AGEN6 CY DOCUMENTS.—The Administrative Committee of the 

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

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

9 preparation and publication in a special edition of the Fed10 eral Register a complete codification of the documents of 

11 each agency of the Government having general applica12 bility and legal effect, issued or promulgated by the agency 

13 by publication in the Federal Register or by filing with 

14 the Administrative Committee, and which are relied upon 

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

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

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

18 the Administrative Committee. 

19 ‘‘(b) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS.—A codifica20 tion prepared under subsection (a) of this section shall be 

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

22 Regulations’. The Administrative Committee shall regu23 late the manner and forms of publishing this codification. 

24 ‘‘(c) SUPPLEMENTATION, COLLATION, AND REPUBLI25 CATION.—The Administrative Committee shall regulate 


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1 the supplementation and the collation and republication 

2 of the codification with a view to keeping the Code of Fed3 eral Regulations as current as practicable. Each unit of 

4 codification shall be supplemented and republished at least 

5 once each calendar year. The Office of the Federal Reg6 ister may create updates of each unit of codification from 

7 time to time and make the same available electronically 

8 or may provide public access using an electronic edition 

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

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

11 ‘‘(d) PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION BY THE FED12 ERAL REGISTER.—The Office of the Federal Register 

13 shall prepare and publish the codifications, supplements, 

14 collations, indices, and user aids authorized by this sec15 tion. 

16 ‘‘(e) PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE.—The codified docu17 ments of the several agencies published in the Code of 

18 Federal Regulations under this section, as amended by 

19 documents subsequently filed with the Office and pub20 lished in the daily issues of the Federal Register, shall 

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

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

23 of publication. 


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

2 with approval of the President, shall issue regulations for 

3 carrying out this section. 

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

5 codification of the text of Presidential documents pub6 lished and periodically compiled in supplements to title 3 

7 of the Code of Federal Regulations.’’. 

8 (h) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

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

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

11 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.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

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

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

15 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

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

17 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

18 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro19 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

20 vote on passage. 


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Calendar No. 149 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1654 

[Report No. 116–57] 

AN ACT 

To amend title 44, United States Code, to modposes. ernize the Federal Register, and for other purJULY 15, 2019 

Reported without amendment 


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