IB 

Union Calendar No. 387 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4195 

[Report No. 113–515] 

To amend chapter 15 of title 44, United States Code (commonly known 

as the Federal Register Act), to modernize the Federal Register, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 11, 2014 

Mr. ISSA, MR. CUMMINGS, and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

JULY 3, 2014 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 


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A BILL 

To amend chapter 15 of title 44, United States Code (commonly known as the Federal Register Act), to modernize 

the Federal Register, and for other purposes. 


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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— 

10 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘print11 ing’’ and inserting ‘‘publishing’’; and 

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

13 and inserting ‘‘publishing’’; 

14 (2) in section 1507 is amended— 

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

16 certified copies of the document have’’ and in17 serting ‘‘the document has’’; and 

18 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘print19 ed’’ and inserting ‘‘published’’; and 

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

21 of, by striking ‘‘printing, reprinting, wrapping, bind22 ing, and distributing’’ and inserting ‘‘publishing’’, 

23 each place it appears. 

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

25 United States Code, is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end of the defini2 tion for ‘‘person’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

3 (2) by inserting after the definition for ‘‘per4 son’’ the following: 

5 ‘‘ ‘publish’ means to circulate for sale or dis6 tribution to the public; and’’. 

7 (c) FILING DOCUMENTS WITH OFFICE AMEND8 MENT.—Section 1503 of title 44, United States Code, is 

9 amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘§ 1503. Filing documents with Office; notation of 

11 time; public inspection; transmission for 

12 publishing 

13 ‘‘The original document required or authorized to be 

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

15 the Office of the Federal Register for publication at times 

16 established by the Administrative Committee of the Fed17 eral Register by regulation. The Archivist of the United 

18 States shall cause to be noted on the original of each docu19 ment the day and hour of filing. Upon filing, the document 

20 shall be immediately available for public inspection in the 

21 Office. The original shall be retained by the National Ar22 chives and Records Administration and shall be available 

23 for inspection under regulations prescribed by the Archi24 vist, unless such original is disposed of in accordance with 

25 disposal schedules submitted by the Administrative ComVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:32 Jul 04, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4195.RH H4195

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1 mittee and authorized by the Archivist pursuant to regula2 tions issued under chapter 33 of this title; however, origi3 nals of proclamations of the President and Executive or4 ders shall be permanently retained by the Administration 

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

6 Office shall transmit to the Government Printing Office, 

7 as provided by this chapter, each document required or 

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

9 Every Federal agency shall cause to be transmitted for 

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

11 or promulgated by the agency.’’. 

12 (d) FEDERAL REGISTER AMENDMENT.—Section 

13 1504 of title 44, United States Code, is amended to read 

14 as follows: 

15 ‘‘§ 1504. ‘Federal Register’; publishing; contents; dis16 tribution; price 

17 ‘‘Documents required or authorized to be published 

18 by section 1505 of this title shall be published immediately 

19 by the Government Printing Office in a serial publication 

20 designated the ‘Federal Register’. The Public Printer shall 

21 make available the facilities of the Government Printing 

22 Office for the prompt publication of the Federal Register 

23 in the manner and at the times required by this chapter 

24 and the regulations prescribed under it. The contents of 

25 the daily issues shall constitute all documents, required 


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1 or authorized to be published, filed with the Office of the 

2 Federal Register up to the time of the day immediately 

3 preceding the day of publication fixed by regulations under 

4 this chapter. There shall be published with each document 

5 a copy of the notation, required to be made by section 

6 1503 of this title, of the day and hour when, upon filing 

7 with the Office, the document was made available for pub8 lic inspection. Distribution shall be made at a time in the 

9 morning of the day of distribution fixed by regulations 

10 prescribed under this chapter. The prices to be charged 

11 for the Federal Register may be fixed by the Administra12 tive Committee of the Federal Register established by sec13 tion 1506 of this title without reference to the restrictions 

14 placed upon and fixed for the sale of Government publica15 tions by sections 1705 and 1708 of this title.’’. 

16 (e) DOCUMENTS TO BE PUBLISHED IN FEDERAL

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

18 is amended— 

19 (1) in subsection (b)— 

20 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘COM21 MENTS’’ and inserting ‘‘NEWS COMMENTARY’’; 

22 and 

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

24 ‘‘news commentary’’; and 


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

2 paragraph (2)— 

3 (A) by inserting ‘‘telecommunications, the 

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

5 (B) by striking ‘‘and two duplicate origi6 nals or two certified copies’’ and inserting ‘‘doc7 ument’’. 

8 (f) ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL

9 REGISTER AMENDMENT.—Section 1506 of title 44, 

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

11 ‘‘§ 1506. Administrative Committee of the Federal 

12 Register; establishment and composition; 

13 powers and duties 

14 ‘‘The Administrative Committee of the Federal Reg15 ister shall consist of the Archivist of the United States 

16 or Acting Archivist, who shall chair the committee, an offi17 cer of the Department of Justice designated by the Attor18 ney General, and the Public Printer or Acting Public 

19 Printer. The Director of the Federal Register shall act as 

20 secretary of the committee. The committee shall prescribe, 

21 with the approval of the President, regulations for car22 rying out this chapter. The regulations shall provide for, 

23 among other things— 


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

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

3 the Federal Register; 

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

5 Register shall be published; 

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

7 Congress, officers and employees of the United 

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

9 number which shall be available for distribution to 

10 the public; 

11 ‘‘(4) the prices to be charged for individual cop12 ies of, and subscriptions to, the Federal Register 

13 and any reprints and bound volumes of it; 

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

15 Register may receive information and comments 

16 from the public, if practicable and efficient; and 

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

18 (g) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS AMEND19 MENT.—Section 1510 of title 44, United States Code, is 

20 amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘§ 1510. Code of Federal Regulations 

22 ‘‘(a) SPECIAL EDITION FOR CODIFICATION OF AGEN23 CY DOCUMENTS.—The Administrative Committee of the 

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

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


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1 preparation and publication in a special edition of the Fed2 eral Register a complete codification of the documents of 

3 each agency of the Government having general applica4 bility and legal effect, issued or promulgated by the agency 

5 by publication in the Federal Register or by filing with 

6 the Administrative Committee, and which are relied upon 

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

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

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

10 the Administrative Committee. 

11 ‘‘(b) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS.—A codifica12 tion prepared under subsection (a) of this section shall be 

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

14 Regulations’. The Administrative Committee shall regu15 late the manner and forms of publishing this codification. 

16 ‘‘(c) SUPPLEMENTATION, COLLATION, AND REPUBLI17 CATION.—The Administrative Committee shall regulate 

18 the supplementation and the collation and republication 

19 of the codification with a view to keeping the Code of Fed20 eral Regulations as current as practicable. Each unit of 

21 codification shall be supplemented and republished at least 

22 once each calendar year. The Office of the Federal Reg23 ister may create updates of each unit of codification from 

24 time to time and make the same available electronically 

25 or may provide public access using an electronic edition 


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

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

3 ‘‘(d) PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION BY THE FED4 ERAL REGISTER.—The Office of the Federal Register 

5 shall prepare and publish the codifications, supplements, 

6 collations, and user aids authorized by this section. 

7 ‘‘(e) PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE.—The codified docu8 ments of the several agencies published in the Code of 

9 Federal Regulations under this section, as amended by 

10 documents subsequently filed with the Office and pub11 lished in the daily issues of the Federal Register, shall 

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

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

14 of publication. 

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

16 with approval of the President, shall issue regulations for 

17 carrying out this section. 

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

19 codification of the text of Presidential documents pub20 lished and periodically compiled in supplements to title 3 

21 of the Code of Federal Regulations.’’. 

22 (h) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

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

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

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

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


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

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


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Union Calendar No. 387 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4195 

[Report No. 113–515] 

A BILL 

To amend chapter 15 of title 44, United States 

other purposes. Act), to modernize the Federal Register, and for Code (commonly known as the Federal Register 

JULY 3, 2014 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


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