IIB 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7528 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MAY 7, 2024 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs 
AN ACT 
To amend section 206 of the E-Government Act of 2002 
to improve the integrity and management of mass com-
ments and computer-generated comments in the regu-
latory review process, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Comment Integrity 
and Management Act of 2024’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to help Federal agencies 
manage mass and computer-generated comments in the 
Federal regulatory process. This should in no way be un-
derstood to discourage mass comments, which are a vital 
part of the regulatory process. 
SEC. 3. IMPROVING INTEGRITY AND MANAGEMENT OF 
MASS 
COMMENTS 
AND 
COMPUTER-GEN-
ERATED COMMENTS IN THE REGULATORY 
REVIEW PROCESS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.— Section 206 of the E–Govern-
ment Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–347; 44 U.S.C. 3501 
note) is amended by— 
(1) redesignating subsection (e) as subsection 
(f); and 
(2) inserting after subsection (d) the following: 
‘‘(e) INFORMATION INTEGRITY.— 
‘‘(1) VERIFICATION
OF
ELECTRONIC
SUBMIS-
SIONS.—With respect to each comment accepted by 
electronic means under subsection (c), in accordance 
with the guidance established by Director in para-
graph (3), the head of an agency shall verify, to the 
greatest extent possible, at the time the comment is 
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submitted, whether the comment has been submitted 
by a human being. 
‘‘(2) IDENTIFICATION
AND
MANAGEMENT
OF 
MASS COMMENTS.— 
‘‘(A) IDENTIFICATION
OF
MASS
COM-
MENTS.—With respect to each comment accept-
ed by electronic means under subsection (c) by 
the head of an agency, the head of the agency 
shall— 
‘‘(i) to the extent practicable, reason-
ably determine whether such comment is a 
mass comment; and 
‘‘(ii) in the case that the agency has 
made a reasonable determination that the 
comment is a mass comment, indicate on 
any publicly available copy of the comment, 
or comment variations, (through a label or 
indicator, and in a machine and human 
readable format) that the comment is part 
of a mass comment submission; and 
‘‘(B) HANDLING
OF
MASS
COMMENTS.— 
Notwithstanding subsection (d)(2)(A), instead 
of making available through the electronic dock-
et of the agency each comment identified as a 
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mass comment under paragraph (2), the head 
of an agency may— 
‘‘(i) make available through such 
docket only a single representative sample 
of each such mass comment; or 
‘‘(ii) in the case where mass com-
ments take the form of variations on cer-
tain standardized but not identical lan-
guage the agency make available through 
such docket a single copy of one of the 
variations of the mass comment. 
‘‘(C) NUMBER OF SUBMISSIONS.—In case 
in which the head of an agency makes available 
through such docket a single representative 
sample or a single copy of one of the variations 
of a mass comment under subparagraph (B), 
the head of the agency shall indicate (through 
a label or indicator, and in a machine and 
human readable format), on the sample or copy 
made available, the number of submissions that 
were determined to be identical, or sub-
stantively identical to the sample or copy made 
available on such docket. 
‘‘(3) OMB GUIDANCE.— 
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‘‘(A) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 240 days 
after the date of the enactment of this sub-
section, the Director, in consultation with the 
Administrator of General Services, shall issue 
guidance to the heads of each agency on the im-
plementation of the requirements of this sub-
section. 
‘‘(B) 
CONTENTS
OF
GUIDANCE.—The 
guidance issued pursuant to subparagraph (A) 
shall include recommendations for agencies on 
how to best manage comments accepted by elec-
tronic means, including recommendations on 
how to do the following: 
‘‘(i) Use technology tools and proce-
dures that verify, to the greatest extent 
possible, whether a comment is being sub-
mitted by a human being. 
‘‘(ii) Identify mass comments, includ-
ing how to leverage software tools to iden-
tify whether a comment is a mass com-
ment. 
‘‘(iii) Indicate (through a label or in-
dicator, and in a machine- and human- 
readable format), that a comment is a 
mass comment. 
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‘‘(iv) Use new technology to offer new 
opportunities for public participation in the 
rulemaking process. 
‘‘(C) UPDATES.—The Director, in con-
sultation with the Administrator of General 
Services, may update the guidance issued pur-
suant to subparagraph (A), as determined nec-
essary by the Director. 
‘‘(4) POLICIES CONCERNING POSTING AND CON-
SIDERATION OF COMPUTER-GENERATED COMMENTS 
AND MASS COMMENTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 
after the date of the enactment of this sub-
section, the head of each agency shall establish 
a policy with respect to the posting and consid-
eration of computer-generated comments and 
mass-comments during the rulemaking process 
of the agency that is consistent with— 
‘‘(i) the requirements of paragraph 
(2); and 
‘‘(ii) the guidance issued under para-
graph (3). 
‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY OF POLICY.—Not later 
than 60 days after the date on which the head 
of an agency establishes a policy pursuant to 
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subparagraph (A), the head of the agency shall, 
to the extent practicable, post the policy on the 
website through which an agency makes com-
ments 
available 
pursuant 
to 
subsection 
(d)(2)(A). 
‘‘(C) UPDATE TO POLICY.—The policy es-
tablished pursuant to subparagraph (A)— 
‘‘(i) shall be updated as necessary to 
make such guidance consistent with any 
updates to the guidance issued under para-
graph (3); and 
‘‘(ii) may be updated by the head of 
the agency, in consultation with the Direc-
tor, as the head of the agency determines 
appropriate. 
‘‘(5) EXCEPTION TO TIME LIMITATION FOR IM-
PLEMENTATION.—The requirement described under 
subsection (f) shall not apply to this subsection. 
‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) COMMENT.—The term ‘comment’ 
means a submission under section 553(c) of 
title 5, United States Code. 
‘‘(B) COMPUTER-GENERATED COMMENT.— 
The term ‘computer-generated comment’ means 
a comment the substance of which is primarily 
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generated by computer software, including 
through the use of artificial intelligence, rather 
than by a human being. 
‘‘(C) MASS
COMMENT.—The term ‘mass 
comment’ means a comment submitted as part 
of an organized submission of a large volume of 
identical, or substantively identical, comments 
submitted by different signatories or entities.’’. 
(b) UPDATE TO WEBSITES, INFORMATION SYSTEMS 
OF AGENCIES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the head 
of each agency subject to the requirements of section 
206(e) of the E-Government Act, as added by sub-
section (a), shall update any website of the agency, 
and any information system of the agency, as nec-
essary to ensure compliance with the requirements 
of such section. 
(2) REGULATIONS.GOV.—The Administrator of 
General Services, acting through the eRulemaking 
Program Management Office, shall update Regula-
tions.gov as necessary to ensure compliance with the 
requirements of section 206(e) of the E–Government 
Act, as added by subsection (a). 
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(3) ERULEMAKING
SYSTEM.—The Adminis-
trator of General Services shall update the shared 
eRulemaking system on behalf of participating agen-
cies. 
(c) GAO REPORT ON COMPUTER-GENERATED COM-
MENTS.— 
(1) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 
General of the United States shall submit to the 
Committee on Oversight and Accountability of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 
Senate a report on the identification of computer- 
generated comments under section 206(e) of the E– 
Government Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–347; 44 
U.S.C. 3501 note), that includes the following: 
(A) Recommendations on how to identify if 
a submission under that section is a computer- 
generated comment. 
(B) Any effect that computer-generated 
comments have on the rulemaking process. 
(C) The extent to which the public uses 
computer-generated comments to participate in 
the rulemaking process at the time the report 
is submitted. 
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(D) How prevalent computer-generated 
comments are at the time the report is sub-
mitted. 
(E) How prevalent the Comptroller Gen-
eral anticipates computer-generated comments 
will be 5 years after the date on which the re-
port is submitted. 
(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act, 
or the amendments made by this Act, may be construed 
as affecting the consideration of a mass comment by the 
head of an agency during the rulemaking process. 
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) COMMENT.—The term ‘‘comment’’ means a 
submission under section 553(c) of title 5, United 
States Code. 
(2) COMPUTER-GENERATED
COMMENTS.—The 
term ‘‘computer-generated comment’’ means a com-
ment the substance of which is primarily generated 
by computer software, including through the use of 
artificial intelligence, rather than by a human being. 
(3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 
the Director of the Office of Management and Budg-
et. 
(4) MASS COMMENT.—The term ‘‘mass com-
ment’’ means a comment submitted as part of an or-
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ganized submission of a large volume of identical, or 
substantively identical, comments submitted by dif-
ferent signatories or entities. 
Passed the House of Representatives May 6, 2024. 
Attest: 
KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, 
Clerk. 
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