I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4195 

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 (for himself, Mr. CUMMINGS, and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 

Government Reform 

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. 

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; 

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 Printing 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 Printing Office in a serial publication 

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

12 make available the facilities of the Government Printing 

13 Office for the prompt publication of the Federal Register 

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

15 and the regulations prescribed under it. The contents of 

16 the daily issues shall constitute all documents, required 

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

18 Federal Register up to the time of the day immediately 

19 preceding the day of publication fixed by regulations under 

20 this chapter. There shall be published with each document 

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

22 1503 of this title, of the day and hour when, upon filing 

23 with the Office, the document was made available for pub24 lic inspection. Distribution shall be made at a time in the 

25 morning of the day of distribution fixed by regulations 


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1 prescribed under this chapter. The prices to be charged 

2 for the Federal Register may be fixed by the Administra3 tive Committee of the Federal Register established by sec4 tion 1506 of this title without reference to the restrictions 

5 placed upon and fixed for the sale of Government publica6 tions by sections 1705 and 1708 of this title.’’. 

7 (e) DOCUMENTS TO BE PUBLISHED IN FEDERAL

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

9 is amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (b)— 

11 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘COM12 MENTS’’ and inserting ‘‘NEWS COMMENTARY’’; 

13 and 

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

15 ‘‘news commentary’’; and 

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

17 paragraph (2)— 

18 (A) by inserting ‘‘telecommunications, the 

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

20 (B) by striking ‘‘and two duplicate origi21 nals or two certified copies’’ and inserting ‘‘doc22 ument’’. 

23 (f) ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL

24 REGISTER AMENDMENT.—Section 1506 of title 44, 

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


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1 ‘‘§ 1506. Administrative Committee of the Federal 

2 Register; establishment and composition; 

3 powers and duties 

4 ‘‘The Administrative Committee of the Federal Reg5 ister shall consist of the Archivist of the United States 

6 or Acting Archivist, who shall chair the committee, an offi7 cer of the Department of Justice designated by the Attor8 ney General, and the Public Printer or Acting Public 

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

10 secretary of the committee. The committee shall prescribe, 

11 with the approval of the President, regulations for car12 rying out this chapter. The regulations shall provide for, 

13 among other things— 

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

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

16 the Federal Register; 

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

18 Register shall be published; 

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

20 Congress, officers and employees of the United 

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

22 number which shall be available for distribution to 

23 the public; 

24 ‘‘(4) the prices to be charged for individual cop25 ies of, and subscriptions to, the Federal Register 

26 and any reprints and bound volumes of it; 


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1 ‘‘(5) 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 ‘‘(6) 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, and user aids authorized by this section. 

19 ‘‘(e) PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE.—The codified docu20 ments of the several agencies published in the Code of 

21 Federal Regulations under this section, as amended by 

22 documents subsequently filed with the Office and pub23 lished in the daily issues of the Federal Register, shall 

24 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.’’. 

Æ 


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