IIB 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1004 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MARCH 2, 2017 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs 
AN ACT 
To amend chapter 3 of title 5, United States Code, to require 
the publication of information relating to pending agency 
regulatory actions, 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 ‘‘Regulatory Integrity 
Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION RELATING TO 
PENDING REGULATORY ACTIONS. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 3 of title 5, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 306 the 
following new section: 
‘‘§ 307. Information regarding pending agency regu-
latory action 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) AGENCY REGULATORY ACTION.—The term 
‘agency regulatory action’ means guidance, policy 
statement, directive, rule making, or adjudication 
issued by an Executive agency. 
‘‘(2) 
PUBLIC
COMMUNICATION.—The 
term 
‘public communication’— 
‘‘(A) means any method (including written, 
oral, or electronic) of disseminating information 
to the public, including an agency statement 
(written or verbal), blog, video, audio recording, 
or other social media message; and 
‘‘(B) does not include a notice published in 
the Federal Register pursuant to section 553 or 
any requirement to publish pursuant to this 
section. 
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‘‘(3) RULE MAKING.—The term ‘rule making’ 
has the meaning given that term under section 551. 
‘‘(b) INFORMATION TO BE POSTED ONLINE.— 
‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—The head of each Execu-
tive agency shall make publicly available in a search-
able format in a prominent location either on the 
website of the Executive agency or in the rule mak-
ing docket on Regulations.gov the following informa-
tion: 
‘‘(A) PENDING AGENCY REGULATORY AC-
TION.—A list of each pending agency regulatory 
action and with regard to each such action— 
‘‘(i) the date on which the Executive 
agency first began to develop or consider 
the agency regulatory action; 
‘‘(ii) the status of the agency regu-
latory action; 
‘‘(iii) an estimate of the date of upon 
which the agency regulatory action will be 
final and in effect; 
‘‘(iv) a brief description of the agency 
regulatory action; and 
‘‘(v) if applicable, a list of agency reg-
ulatory actions issued by the Executive 
agency, or any other Executive agency, 
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that duplicate or overlap with the agency 
regulatory action. 
‘‘(B) PUBLIC COMMUNICATION.—For each 
pending agency regulatory action, a list of each 
public communication about the pending agency 
regulatory action issued by the Executive agen-
cy and with regard to each such communica-
tion— 
‘‘(i) the date of the communication; 
‘‘(ii) the intended audience of the 
communication; 
‘‘(iii) the method of communication; 
and 
‘‘(iv) a copy of the original commu-
nication. 
‘‘(2) PERIOD.—The head of each Executive 
agency shall publish the information required under 
paragraph (1)(A) not later than 24 hours after a 
public communication relating to a pending agency 
regulatory action is issued and shall maintain the 
public availability of such information not less than 
5 years after the date on which the pending agency 
regulatory action is finalized. 
‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS
FOR
PUBLIC
COMMUNICA-
TIONS.— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any public communication 
issued by an Executive agency that refers to a pend-
ing agency regulatory action— 
‘‘(A) shall specify whether the Executive 
agency is considering alternatives; 
‘‘(B) shall specify whether the Executive 
agency is accepting or will be accepting com-
ments; and 
‘‘(C) shall expressly disclose that the Exec-
utive agency is the source of the information to 
the intended recipients. 
‘‘(2) RESTRICTION.—Any public communication 
issued by an Executive agency that refers to a pend-
ing agency regulatory action, other than an impar-
tial communication that requests comment on or 
provides information regarding the pending agency 
regulatory action, may not— 
‘‘(A) directly advocate, in support of or 
against the pending agency regulatory action, 
for the submission of information to form part 
of the record of review for the pending agency 
regulatory action; 
‘‘(B) appeal to the public, or solicit a third 
party, to undertake advocacy in support of or 
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against the pending agency regulatory action; 
or 
‘‘(C) be directly or indirectly for publicity 
or propaganda purposes within the United 
States unless otherwise authorized by law. 
‘‘(d) REPORTING.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than January 15 
of each year, the head of an Executive agency that 
communicated about a pending agency regulatory 
action during the previous fiscal year shall submit to 
each committee of Congress with jurisdiction over 
the activities of the Executive agency a report indi-
cating— 
‘‘(A) the number pending agency regu-
latory actions the Executive agency issued pub-
lic communications about during that fiscal 
year; 
‘‘(B) the average number of public commu-
nications issued by the Executive agency for 
each pending agency regulatory action during 
that fiscal year; 
‘‘(C) the five pending agency regulatory ac-
tions with the highest number of public commu-
nications issued by the Executive agency in that 
fiscal year; and 
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‘‘(D) a copy of each public communication 
for the pending agency regulatory actions iden-
tified in subparagraph (C). 
‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS.—The head of 
an Executive agency that is required to submit a re-
port under paragraph (1) shall make the report pub-
licly available in a searchable format in a prominent 
location on the website of the Executive agency.’’. 
(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 
The table of sections for chapter 3 of title 5, United States 
Code, is amended by adding after the item relating to sec-
tion 306 the following new item: 
‘‘307. Information regarding pending agency regulatory action.’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives March 2, 
2017. 
Attest: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
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