II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 252
To increase access to agency guidance documents.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY24, 2025
Mr. J
OHNSON(for himself, Mr. CRAMER, Ms. ERNST, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr.
T
ILLIS, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. BUDD, Mr. SCHMITT, Mr. MARSHALL,
Mr. S
HEEHY, Mr. LEE, Ms. LUMMIS, Mr. SCOTTof Florida, Mr.
H
OEVEN, and Mr. RISCH) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern-
mental Affairs
A BILL
To increase access to agency guidance documents.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Guidance Out Of 4
Darkness Act’’ or the ‘‘GOOD Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
(1) A
GENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 8
meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, 9
United States Code. 10
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•S 252 IS
(2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 1
the Director of the Office of Management and Budg-2
et. 3
(3) G
UIDANCE DOCUMENT .— 4
(A) D
EFINITION.—The term ‘‘guidance 5
document’’— 6
(i) means an agency statement of gen-7
eral applicability (other than a rule that 8
has the force and effect of law promul-9
gated in accordance with the notice and 10
comment procedures under section 553 of 11
title 5, United States Code) that— 12
(I) does not have the force and 13
effect of law; and 14
(II) is designated by an agency 15
official as setting forth— 16
(aa) a policy on a statutory, 17
regulatory, or technical issue; or 18
(bb) an interpretation of a 19
statutory or regulatory issue; and 20
(ii) may include— 21
(I) a memorandum; 22
(II) a notice; 23
(III) a bulletin; 24
(IV) a directive; 25
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(V) a news release; 1
(VI) a letter; 2
(VII) a blog post; 3
(VIII) a no-action letter; 4
(IX) a speech by an agency offi-5
cial; and 6
(X) any combination of the items 7
described in subclauses (I) through 8
(IX). 9
(B) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—The term 10
‘‘guidance document’’— 11
(i) shall be construed broadly to effec-12
tuate the purpose and intent of this Act; 13
and 14
(ii) shall not be limited to the items 15
described in subparagraph (A)(ii). 16
SEC. 3. PUBLICATION OF GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS ON THE 17
INTERNET. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subject to subsection (d), on the 19
date on which an agency issues a guidance document, the 20
agency shall publish the guidance document in accordance 21
with the requirements under subsection (c). 22
(b) P
REVIOUSLYISSUEDGUIDANCEDOCUMENTS.— 23
Subject to subsection (d), not later than 180 days after 24
the date of enactment of this Act, each agency shall pub-25
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lish, in accordance with the requirements under subsection 1
(c), any guidance document issued by that agency that is 2
in effect on that date. 3
(c) S
INGLELOCATION.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—All guidance documents pub-5
lished under subsections (a) and (b) by an agency 6
shall be published in a single location on an internet 7
website designated by the Director under paragraph 8
(4). 9
(2) A
GENCY INTERNET WEBSITES .—Each agen-10
cy shall, for guidance documents published by the 11
agency under subsections (a) and (b), publish a 12
hyperlink on the internet website of the agency that 13
provides access to the guidance documents at the lo-14
cation described in paragraph (1). 15
(3) O
RGANIZATION.— 16
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The guidance docu-17
ments described in paragraph (1) shall be— 18
(i) categorized as guidance docu-19
ments; and 20
(ii) further divided into subcategories 21
as appropriate. 22
(B) A
GENCY INTERNET WEBSITES .—The 23
hyperlinks described in paragraph (2) shall be 24
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prominently displayed on the internet website of 1
the agency. 2
(4) D
ESIGNATION.—Not later than 90 days 3
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 4
shall designate an internet website on which guid-5
ance documents shall be published under subsections 6
(a) and (b). 7
(d) D
OCUMENTS AND INFORMATIONEXEMPTFROM 8
D
ISCLOSUREUNDERFOIA.—If a guidance document 9
issued by an agency is a document that is exempt from 10
disclosure under section 552(b) of title 5, United States 11
Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Freedom of Information 12
Act’’), or contains information that is exempt from disclo-13
sure under that section, that document or information, as 14
the case may be, shall not be subject to the requirements 15
under this Act. 16
(e) R
ESCINDEDGUIDANCEDOCUMENTS.—On the 17
date on which a guidance document issued by an agency 18
is rescinded, or, in the case of a guidance document that 19
is rescinded pursuant to a court order, not later than the 20
date on which the order is entered, the agency shall, at 21
the location described in subsection (c)(1)— 22
(1) maintain the rescinded guidance document; 23
and 24
(2) indicate— 25
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(A) that the guidance document is re-1
scinded; 2
(B) if the guidance document was re-3
scinded pursuant to a court order, the case 4
number of the case in which the order was en-5
tered; and 6
(C) the date on which the guidance docu-7
ment was rescinded. 8
Æ
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