I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7528 
To amend section 206 of the E-Government Act of 2002 to improve the 
integrity and management of mass comments and computer-generated 
comments in the regulatory review process, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 5, 2024 
Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability 
A BILL 
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, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Comment Integrity 
and Management Act of 2024’’. 
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SEC. 2. 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-Government 
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), under guid-
ance established by OMB in paragraph (4) of this 
subsection, the head of an agency shall verify, to the 
greatest extent possible, at the time the comment is 
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— 
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‘‘(i) to the extent practicable, identify 
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) in a machine and human read-
able format that the comment is part of a 
mass comment submission. 
‘‘(B) HANDLING
OF
MASS
COMMENTS.— 
Notwithstanding subsection (d)(2)(A), for com-
ments determined to be mass comments pursu-
ant to paragraph (2), the head of an agency, in-
stead of making available through the electronic 
docket of the agency each mass comment ac-
cepted by electronic means under subsection 
(c), may— 
‘‘(i) make available through such 
docket only a single representative sample 
of each such mass comment; and 
‘‘(ii) in the case where mass com-
ments take the form of variations on cer-
tain standardized but not identical lan-
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guage the agency may 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, as authorized under sub-
paragraph (B), the agency shall make available 
(through a label or indicator) in a machine and 
human readable format, the number of submis-
sions that were determined to be identical or 
substantially identical to the single submission 
made available on such docket. 
‘‘(3) 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, consistent 
with the guidance issued pursuant to paragraph 
(4) and with the requirements of paragraph (2), 
shall establish a policy with respect to the post-
ing and consideration of computer-generated 
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comments and mass-comments during the rule-
making process of the agency. 
‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY OF POLICY.—Not later 
than 60 days after the date on which the head 
of an agency establishes a policy pursuant to 
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) may be 
updated by the head of the agency, in consulta-
tion with the Director, as the head of the agen-
cy determines appropriate. 
‘‘(4) OMB GUIDANCE.— 
‘‘(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) 
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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 indicate, 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), in a machine- and human-read-
able format, that a comment is a mass 
comment. 
‘‘(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. 
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‘‘(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 
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) INFORMATION SYSTEMS.—On a timetable estab-
lished by the Director, but not longer than 18 months, 
the head of each agency shall update their website and/ 
or information systems to ensure compliance with these 
requirements. The Administrator of General Services, act-
ing through the eRulemaking Program Management Of-
fice, shall update Regulations.gov as necessary to ensure 
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compliance with the requirements of section 206(e) of the 
E-Government Act, as added by subsection (a). The Ad-
ministrator of General Services shall update the shared 
eRulemaking system on behalf of participating agencies. 
(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. 
(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
(A) COMPUTER-GENERATED COMMENTS.— 
The 
term 
‘‘computer-generated 
comment’’ 
means a submission under section 553(c) of 
title 5, United States Code, the substance of 
which is primarily generated by computer soft-
ware, including through the use of artificial in-
telligence, rather than by a human being. 
(B) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ 
means the Director of the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget. 
(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act, 
or any amendment made by this Act, shall be construed 
to minimize an agency’s due consideration of mass com-
ments submitted during the rulemaking process. 
Æ 
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