SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Guidance Out Of 
Darkness Act’’ or the ‘‘GOOD Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
It is the purpose of this Act to increase the trans-
parency of agency guidance documents and to make guid-
ance documents more readily available to the public. 
SEC. 3. PUBLICATION OF GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS ON THE 
INTERNET. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—On the date on which an agency 
issues a guidance document, the head of the agency shall 
publish the guidance document in accordance with sub-
section (c). 
(b) PREVIOUSLY ISSUED GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS.— 
With respect to any guidance document issued by an agen-
cy before the effective date of this Act that is in effect 
on the effective date of this Act, the head of each agency 
shall meet the requirements of subsection (c). 
(c) SINGLE LOCATION.—The head of each agency 
shall: 
(1) Publish any guidance document issued by 
the agency in a single location on an online portal 
designated by the Director of the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget. 
(2) With respect to a guidance document issued 
by an agency, include a hyperlink on the online por-
tal of the agency that provides access to the guid-
ance document published pursuant to paragraph (1). 
(3) Ensure that any guidance document pub-
lished pursuant to paragraph (1) is— 
(A) clearly identified as a guidance docu-
ment; 
(B) sorted into subcategories, as appro-
priate; 
(C) published in a machine-readable and 
open format; and 
(D) searchable. 
(4) Ensure that any hyperlink described in 
paragraph (2) be prominently displayed on the on-
line portal of the agency. 
(d) RESCINDED GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS.—Not later 
than the date on which a guidance document issued by 
an agency is rescinded, the head of the agency shall on 
the online portal described in subsection (c)(1)— 
(1) maintain a copy of the rescinded guidance 
document; and 
(2) indicate— 
(A) that the guidance document is re-
scinded; and 
(B) the date on which the guidance docu-
ment was rescinded.
(e) DEADLINE TO DESIGNATE PORTAL.—Not later 
than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
shall designate an online portal in accordance with sub-
section (c)(1). 
SEC. 4. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 
(a) GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS.—In this Act, the term 
‘‘guidance document’’ shall be construed broadly. 
(b) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW.—Nothing in this Act 
may be construed to affect whether a guidance document 
qualifies as a rule for purposes of chapter 8 of title 5, 
United States Code. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 
meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, 
United States Code. 
(2) GUIDANCE DOCUMENT.—The term ‘‘guid-
ance document’’— 
(A) means an agency statement of general 
applicability (other than a rule that has the 
force and effect of law promulgated in accord-
ance with the notice and public procedure under 
section 553 of title 5, United States Code) 
that—
(i) does not have the force and effect 
of law; and 
(ii) sets forth— 
(I) an agency decision or a policy 
on a statutory, regulatory, or tech-
nical issue; or 
(II) an interpretation of a statu-
tory or regulatory issue; and 
(B) may include any of the following: 
(i) A memorandum. 
(ii) A notice. 
(iii) A bulletin. 
(iv) A directive. 
(v) A news release. 
(vi) A letter. 
(vii) A blog post. 
(viii) A no-action letter. 
(ix) A speech by an agency official. 
(x) An advisory. 
(xi) A manual. 
(xii) A circular. 
(xiii) Any combination of the items 
described in clauses (i) through (xii).
(3) RULE.—The term ‘‘rule’’ has the meaning 
given that term in section 551 of title 5, United 
States Code. 
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
Except as provided in section 3(e), this Act shall take 
effect on the date that is 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act. 
Passed the House of Representatives September 26, 
2018. 
Attest: 
Clerk.