II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1078 

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

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 9, 2019 

Mr. PERDUE (for himself and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

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— 

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

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

14 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 shall be filed with the Office 

6 of the Federal Register for publication at times estab7 lished by the Administrative Committee of the Federal 

8 Register by regulation. The Archivist of the United States 

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

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

11 be immediately available for public inspection in the Of12 fice. 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; however, originals of proc19 lamations of the President and Executive orders shall be 

20 permanently retained by the Administration as part of the 

21 National Archives of the United States. The Office shall 

22 transmit to the Government Publishing Office, as provided 

23 by this chapter, each document required or authorized to 

24 be published by section 1505. Every Federal agency shall 

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


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1 documents issued, prescribed, or promulgated by the agen2 cy.’’. 

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 shall be published immediately by the 

10 Government Publishing Office in a serial publication des11 ignated the ‘Federal Register’. The Director of the Gov12 ernment Publishing Office shall make available the facili13 ties of the Government Publishing Office for the prompt 

14 publication of the Federal Register in the manner and at 

15 the times required by this chapter and the regulations pre16 scribed under it. The contents of the daily issues shall be 

17 indexed and constitute all documents, required or author18 ized to be published, filed with the Office of the Federal 

19 Register up to the time of the day immediately preceding 

20 the day of publication fixed by regulations under this 

21 chapter. There shall be published with each document a 

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

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

24 the document was made available for public inspection. 

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


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1 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 without reference to the restrictions placed upon and fixed 

6 for the sale of Government publications by sections 1705 

7 and 1708.’’. 

8 (e) DOCUMENTS TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE FED9 ERAL REGISTER.—Section 1505 of title 44, United States 

10 Code, 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’’; 

17 (2) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub18 section (d); 

19 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol20 lowing new subsection: 

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

22 of operations event in which the Government Publishing 

23 Office does not fulfill the publication requirements of this 

24 chapter, the Office of the Federal Register may establish 

25 a website to publish the Federal Register until such time 


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1 that the Government Publishing Office resumes publica2 tion.’’; and 

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

4 matter following paragraph (2)— 

5 (A) by inserting ‘‘telecommunications, the 

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

7 (B) by striking ‘‘and two duplicate origi8 nals or two certified copies’’ and inserting ‘‘doc9 ument’’. 

10 (f) ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL

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

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

13 follows: 

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

15 Committee of the Federal Register shall consist of the Ar16 chivist of the United States or Acting Archivist, who shall 

17 chair the committee, an officer of the Department of Jus18 tice designated by the Attorney General, and the Director 

19 of the Government Publishing Office or Acting Director 

20 of the Government Publishing Office. The Director of the 

21 Federal Register shall act as secretary of the committee. 

22 The committee shall prescribe, with the approval of the 

23 President, regulations for carrying out this chapter. The 

24 regulations shall provide for, among other things— 


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

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

3 Register; 

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

5 Register shall be published; 

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

7 submit documents for publication in the Federal 

8 Register and special editions of the Federal Reg9 ister; 

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

11 distribution to Members of Congress, officers and 

12 employees of the United States, or Federal agency, 

13 for official use, and the number which shall be avail14 able for distribution to the public; 

15 ‘‘(5) the prices to be charged for individual cop16 ies of, and subscriptions to, the Federal Register 

17 and any reprints and bound volumes of it; 

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

19 Register may receive information and comments 

20 from the public, if practicable and efficient; and 

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

22 (g) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS AMEND23 MENT.—Section 1510 of title 44, United States Code, is 

24 amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘§ 1510. Code of Federal Regulations 

2 ‘‘(a) SPECIAL EDITION FOR CODIFICATION OF AGEN3 CY DOCUMENTS.—The Administrative Committee of the 

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

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

6 preparation and publication in a special edition of the Fed7 eral Register a complete codification of the documents of 

8 each agency of the Government having general applica9 bility and legal effect, issued or promulgated by the agency 

10 by publication in the Federal Register or by filing with 

11 the Administrative Committee, and which are relied upon 

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

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

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

15 the Administrative Committee. 

16 ‘‘(b) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS.—A codifica17 tion prepared under subsection (a) of this section shall be 

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

19 Regulations’. The Administrative Committee shall regu20 late the manner and forms of publishing this codification. 

21 ‘‘(c) SUPPLEMENTATION, COLLATION, AND REPUBLI22 CATION.—The Administrative Committee shall regulate 

23 the supplementation and the collation and republication 

24 of the codification with a view to keeping the Code of Fed25 eral Regulations as current as practicable. Each unit of 

26 codification shall be supplemented and republished at least 


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1 once each calendar year. The Office of the Federal Reg2 ister may create updates of each unit of codification from 

3 time to time and make the same available electronically 

4 or may provide public access using an electronic edition 

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

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

7 ‘‘(d) PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION BY THE FED8 ERAL REGISTER.—The Office of the Federal Register 

9 shall prepare and publish the codifications, supplements, 

10 collations, indices, and user aids authorized by this sec11 tion. 

12 ‘‘(e) PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE.—The codified docu13 ments of the several agencies published in the Code of 

14 Federal Regulations under this section, as amended by 

15 documents subsequently filed with the Office and pub16 lished in the daily issues of the Federal Register, shall 

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

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

19 of publication. 

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

21 with approval of the President, shall issue regulations for 

22 carrying out this section. 

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

24 codification of the text of Presidential documents pubVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Apr 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1078.IS S1078

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1 lished and periodically compiled in supplements to title 3 

2 of the Code of Federal Regulations.’’. 

3 (h) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

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

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

6 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.’’. 

7 SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

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

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

10 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

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

12 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

13 by the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, pro14 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

15 vote on passage. 

Æ 


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