Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1515 Compare Versions

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1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1515
5	5	To increase access to agency guidance documents.
6	6	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
7	7	FEBRUARY24, 2025
8	8	Mr. C
9	9	OMER(for himself and Mr. KHANNA) introduced the following bill; which
10	10	was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
11	11	A BILL
12	12	To increase access to agency guidance documents.
13	13	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
14	14	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
15	15	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
16	16	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Guidance Out Of 4
17	17	Darkness Act’’ or the ‘‘GOOD Act’’. 5
18	18	SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
19	19	In this Act: 7
20	20	(1) A
21	21	GENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 8
22	22	meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, 9
23	23	United States Code. 10
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27	27	(2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 1
28	28	the Director of the Office of Management and Budg-2
29	29	et. 3
30	30	(3) G
31	31	UIDANCE DOCUMENT .— 4
32	32	(A) I
33	33	N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘guidance 5
34	34	document’’— 6
35	35	(i) means an agency statement of gen-7
36	36	eral applicability (other than a rule that 8
37	37	has the force and effect of law promul-9
38	38	gated in accordance with the notice and 10
39	39	comment procedures under section 553 of 11
40	40	title 5, United States Code) that— 12
41	41	(I) does not have the force and 13
42	42	effect of law; and 14
43	43	(II) is designated by an agency 15
44	44	official as setting forth— 16
45	45	(aa) a policy on a statutory, 17
46	46	regulatory, or technical issue; or 18
47	47	(bb) an interpretation of a 19
48	48	statutory or regulatory issue; and 20
49	49	(ii) may include— 21
50	50	(I) a memorandum; 22
51	51	(II) a notice; 23
52	52	(III) a bulletin; 24
53	53	(IV) a directive; 25
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56	56	•HR 1515 IH
57	57	(V) a news release; 1
58	58	(VI) a letter; 2
59	59	(VII) a blog post; 3
60	60	(VIII) a no-action letter; 4
61	61	(IX) a speech by an agency offi-5
62	62	cial; and 6
63	63	(X) any combination of the items 7
64	64	described in subclauses (I) through 8
65	65	(IX). 9
66	66	(B) R
67	67	ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—The term 10
68	68	‘‘guidance document’’— 11
69	69	(i) shall be construed broadly to effec-12
70	70	tuate the purpose and intent of this Act; 13
71	71	and 14
72	72	(ii) shall not be limited to the items 15
73	73	described in subparagraph (A)(ii). 16
74	74	SEC. 3. PUBLICATION OF GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS ON THE 17
75	75	INTERNET. 18
76	76	(a) I
77	77	NGENERAL.—Subject to section 5, on the date 19
78	78	on which an agency issues a guidance document, the agen-20
79	79	cy shall publish the guidance document in accordance with 21
80	80	the requirements under section 4. 22
81	81	(b) P
82	82	REVIOUSLYISSUEDGUIDANCEDOCUMENTS.— 23
83	83	Subject to section 5, not later than 180 days after the 24
84	84	date of enactment of this Act, each agency shall publish, 25
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87	87	•HR 1515 IH
88	88	in accordance with the requirements under section 4, any 1
89	89	guidance document issued by that agency that is in effect 2
90	90	on that date. 3
91	91	SEC. 4. SINGLE LOCATION. 4
92	92	(a) I
93	93	NGENERAL.—All guidance documents published 5
94	94	under section 3 by an agency shall be published in a single 6
95	95	location on an internet website designated by the Director 7
96	96	under subsection (d). 8
97	97	(b) A
98	98	GENCYINTERNETWEBSITES.—Each agency 9
99	99	shall, for guidance documents published by the agency 10
100	100	under section 3, publish a hyperlink on the internet 11
101	101	website of the agency that provides access to the guidance 12
102	102	documents at the location described in subsection (a). 13
103	103	(c) O
104	104	RGANIZATION.— 14
105	105	(1) I
106	106	N GENERAL.—The guidance documents de-15
107	107	scribed in subsection (a) shall be— 16
108	108	(A) categorized as guidance documents; 17
109	109	and 18
110	110	(B) further divided into subcategories as 19
111	111	appropriate. 20
112	112	(2) A
113	113	GENCY INTERNET WEBSITES .—The 21
114	114	hyperlinks described in subsection (b) shall be 22
115	115	prominently displayed on the internet website of the 23
116	116	agency. 24
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120	120	(d) DESIGNATION.—Not later than 90 days after the 1
121	121	date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall designate 2
122	122	an internet website on which guidance documents shall be 3
123	123	published under section 3. 4
124	124	SEC. 5. DOCUMENTS AND INFORMATION EXEMPT FROM 5
125	125	DISCLOSURE UNDER FOIA. 6
126	126	If a guidance document issued by an agency is a doc-7
127	127	ument that is exempt from disclosure under section 552(b) 8
128	128	of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the 9
129	129	‘‘Freedom of Information Act’’), or contains information 10
130	130	that is exempt from disclosure under that section, that 11
131	131	document or information, as the case may be, shall not 12
132	132	be subject to the requirements under this Act. 13
133	133	SEC. 6. RESCINDED GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS. 14
134	134	On the date on which a guidance document issued 15
135	135	by an agency is rescinded, or, in the case of a guidance 16
136	136	document that is rescinded pursuant to a court order, not 17
137	137	later than the date on which the order is entered, the 18
138	138	agency shall, at the location described in section 4(a)— 19
139	139	(1) maintain the rescinded guidance document; 20
140	140	and 21
141	141	(2) indicate— 22
142	142	(A) that the guidance document is re-23
143	143	scinded; 24
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147	147	(B) if the guidance document was re-1
148	148	scinded pursuant to a court order, the case 2
149	149	number of the case in which the order was en-3
150	150	tered; and 4
151	151	(C) the date on which the guidance docu-5
152	152	ment was rescinded. 6
153	153	SEC. 7. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 7
154	154	(a) V
155	155	ALIDITY OFGUIDANCEDOCUMENTS.—Nothing 8
156	156	in this Act shall be construed to mean that noncompliance 9
157	157	with any provision of this Act affects or otherwise impacts 10
158	158	the validity of any guidance document. 11
159	159	(b) C
160	160	ONGRESSIONALREVIEW OFGUIDANCEDOCU-12
161	161	MENTS.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect 13
162	162	or otherwise impact whether a guidance document is sub-14
163	163	ject to congressional review under chapter 8 of title 5, 15
164	164	United States Code. 16
165	165	SEC. 8. REPORT ON AGENCY COMPLIANCE. 17
166	166	Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment 18
167	167	of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the 19
168	168	Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the 20
169	169	House of Representatives and the Committee on Home-21
170	170	land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a 22
171	171	report on agency compliance with this Act. 23
172	172	Æ
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