H. R. 9592 
One Hundred Eighteenth Congress 
of the 
United States of America 
AT THE SECOND SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday, 
the third day of January, two thousand and twenty-four 
An Act 
To amend title 44, United States Code, to modernize the Federal Register, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Register Modernization 
Act of 2024’’. 
SEC. 2. FEDERAL REGISTER MODERNIZATION. 
(a) REFERENCES TO PRINTING.—Chapter 15 of title 44, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) in section 1502— 
(A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘printing’’ and 
inserting ‘‘publishing’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘printing and distribution’’ and 
inserting ‘‘publishing’’; 
(2) in section 1507— 
(A) by striking ‘‘the duplicate originals or certified 
copies of the document have’’ and inserting ‘‘the document 
has’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘printed’’ and inserting 
‘‘published’’; and 
(3) in section 1509, by striking ‘‘printing, reprinting, wrap-
ping, binding, and distributing’’ each place it appears and 
inserting ‘‘publishing’’. 
(b) PUBLISH DEFINED.—Section 1501 of title 44, United States 
Code, is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end of the definition for 
‘‘person’’ and inserting a semicolon; and 
(2) by inserting after the definition for ‘‘person’’ the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘ ‘publish’ means to circulate for sale or distribution to 
the public, as determined by the Administrative Committee 
of the Federal Register; and’’. 
(c) FILING DOCUMENTS WITH OFFICE AMENDMENT.—Section 
1503 of title 44, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘§ 1503. Filing documents with Office; notation of time; public 
inspection; transmission for publishing 
‘‘The original document required or authorized to be published 
by section 1505 shall be filed with the Office of the Federal Register 
for publication at times established by the Administrative Com-
mittee of the Federal Register by regulation. The Archivist of the
H. R. 9592—2 
United States shall cause to be noted on the original of each 
document the day and hour of filing. Upon filing, the document 
shall be immediately available for public inspection. The original 
shall be retained by the National Archives and Records Administra-
tion and shall be available for inspection under regulations pre-
scribed by the Archivist, unless such original is disposed of in 
accordance with disposal schedules submitted by the Administrative 
Committee and authorized by the Archivist pursuant to regulations 
issued under chapter 33; however, originals of proclamations of 
the President and Executive orders shall be permanently retained 
by the Administration as part of the National Archives of the 
United States. The Office shall transmit to the Government Pub-
lishing Office, as provided by this chapter, each document required 
or authorized to be published by section 1505. Every Federal agency 
shall cause to be transmitted for filing the original of all such 
documents issued, prescribed, or promulgated by the agency.’’. 
(d) FEDERAL REGISTER AMENDMENT.—Section 1504 of title 44, 
United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘§ 1504. ‘Federal Register’; publishing; contents; distribution; 
price; physical copies 
‘‘Documents required or authorized to be published by section 
1505 shall be published immediately by the Government Publishing 
Office in a serial publication designated the ‘Federal Register’. 
The Director of the Government Publishing Office shall make avail-
able the facilities of the Government Publishing Office for the 
prompt publication of the Federal Register in the manner and 
at the times required by this chapter and the regulations prescribed 
under it. The contents of the daily issues shall constitute all docu-
ments, required or authorized to be published, filed with the Office 
of the Federal Register up to the time of the day immediately 
preceding the day of publication fixed by regulations under this 
chapter. There shall be published with each document a copy of 
the notation, required to be made by section 1503, of the day 
and hour when, upon filing with the Office, the document was 
made available for public inspection. Distribution shall be made 
at a time in the morning of the day of distribution fixed by regula-
tions prescribed under this chapter. The prices to be charged for 
the Federal Register may be fixed by the Administrative Committee 
of the Federal Register established by section 1506 without ref-
erence to the restrictions placed upon and fixed for the sale of 
Government publications by sections 1705 and 1708. The Govern-
ment Publishing Office shall print at least two physical copies 
of each published Federal Register issue. Of those, not less than 
two copies shall be stored, each in a separate facility, to ensure 
the preservation of the Federal Register for the purposes of con-
tinuity of government.’’. 
(e) DOCUMENTS TO BE PUBLISHED
IN FEDERAL REGISTER.— 
Section 1505 of title 44, United States Code, is amended— 
(1) in subsection (b)— 
(A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘COMMENTS’’ and 
inserting ‘‘NEWS COMMENTARY’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘comments’’ and inserting ‘‘news com-
mentary’’; 
(2) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); 
(3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new sub-
section:
H. R. 9592—3 
‘‘(c) ALTERNATIVE PUBLICATION.—In a continuity of operations 
event in which the Government Publishing Office does not fulfill 
the publication requirements of this chapter, the Office of the Fed-
eral Register may establish an alternative method to publish the 
Federal Register until such time that the Government Publishing 
Office resumes publication.’’; and 
(4) in subsection (d), as so redesignated, in the matter 
following paragraph (2)— 
(A) by inserting ‘‘telecommunications, the Internet,’’ 
after ‘‘the press, the radio,’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘and two duplicate originals or two 
certified copies’’ and inserting ‘‘document’’. 
(f) ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE
OF
THE FEDERAL REGISTER 
AMENDMENT.—Subsection (a) of section 1506 of title 44, United 
States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(a) COMPOSITION; DUTIES.—The Administrative Committee of 
the Federal Register shall consist of the Archivist of the United 
States or Acting Archivist, who shall chair the committee, an officer 
of the Department of Justice designated by the Attorney General, 
and the Director of the Government Publishing Office or Acting 
Director of the Government Publishing Office. The Director of the 
Federal Register shall act as secretary of the committee. The com-
mittee shall prescribe, with the approval of the President or their 
designee, regulations for carrying out this chapter. The regulations 
shall provide for, among other things, the following: 
‘‘(1) The documents which shall be authorized under section 
1505(b) to be published in the Federal Register. 
‘‘(2) The manner and form in which the Federal Register 
shall be published. 
‘‘(3) The manner and form in which agencies submit docu-
ments for publication in the Federal Register and special edi-
tions of the Federal Register. 
‘‘(4) Subject to subsection (b), the manner of distribution 
to Members of Congress, officers and employees of the United 
States, or Federal agency, for official use, and the number 
which shall be available for distribution to the public. 
‘‘(5) The prices to be charged for individual copies of, and 
subscriptions to, the Federal Register and any reprints and 
bound volumes of it. 
‘‘(6) The manner and form by which the Federal Register 
may receive information and comments from the public, if prac-
ticable and efficient. 
‘‘(7) Special editions of the Federal Register.’’. 
(g) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS AMENDMENT.—Section 1510 
of title 44, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘§ 1510. Code of Federal Regulations 
‘‘(a) SPECIAL EDITION
FOR CODIFICATION
OF AGENCY DOCU-
MENTS.—The Administrative Committee of the Federal Register, 
with the approval of the President or their designee, may require, 
from time to time as it considers necessary, the preparation and 
publication in a special edition of the Federal Register a complete 
codification of the documents of each agency of the Government 
having general applicability and legal effect, issued or promulgated 
by the agency by publication in the Federal Register or by filing 
with the Administrative Committee, and which are relied upon 
by the agency as authority for, or are invoked or used by it in
H. R. 9592—4 
the discharge of, its activities or functions, and are in effect as 
to facts arising on or after dates specified by the Administrative 
Committee. 
‘‘(b) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS.—A codification prepared 
under subsection (a) of this section shall be published and shall 
be designated as the ‘Code of Federal Regulations’. The Administra-
tive Committee shall regulate the manner and forms of publishing 
this codification. 
‘‘(c) SUPPLEMENTATION, COLLATION, AND REPUBLICATION.—The 
Administrative Committee shall regulate the supplementation and 
the collation and republication of the codification with a view to 
keeping the Code of Federal Regulations as current as practicable. 
Each unit of codification shall be supplemented and republished 
at least once each calendar year. The Office of the Federal Register 
may create updates of each unit of codification from time to time 
and make the same available electronically or may provide public 
access using an electronic edition that allows a user to select a 
specific date and retrieve the version of the codification in effect 
as of that date. 
‘‘(d) PREPARATION
AND PUBLICATION
BY
THE FEDERAL REG-
ISTER.—The Office of the Federal Register shall prepare and publish 
the codifications, supplements, collations, indices, and user aids 
authorized by this section. 
‘‘(e) PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE.—The codified documents of the 
several agencies published in the Code of Federal Regulations under 
this section, as amended by documents subsequently filed with 
the Office and published in the daily issues of the Federal Register, 
shall be prima facie evidence of the text of the documents and 
of the fact that they are in effect on and after the date of publication. 
‘‘(f) 
REGULATIONS.—The 
Administrative 
Committee, 
with 
approval of the President or their designee, shall issue regulations 
for carrying out this section. 
‘‘(g) EXCEPTION.—This section does not require codification of 
the text of Presidential documents published and periodically com-
piled in supplements to title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations.’’. 
(h) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The table of 
sections for chapter 15 of title 44, United States Code, is amended
H. R. 9592—5 
by striking the items related to 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; trans-
mission for publishing. 
‘‘1504. ‘Federal Register’; publishing; contents; distribution; price; physical copies.’’. 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.