II 
Calendar No. 586 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4809 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 
Received; read twice and placed on the calendar 
AN ACT 
To increase access to agency guidance documents. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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. 
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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 
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(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. 
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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: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
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Calendar No. 586 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4809 
AN ACT 
To increase access to agency guidance documents. 
SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 
Received; read twice and placed on the calendar 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
22:54 Sep 27, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6651
Sfmt 6651
E:\BILLS\H4809.PCS
H4809
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS