GOOD Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7396 To increase access to agency guidance documents. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 26, 2020 Mr. WALKER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform 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) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 8 meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, 9 United States Code. 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7396.IH H7396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7396 IH (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 1 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg- 2 et. 3 (3) GUIDANCE DOCUMENT.— 4 (A) DEFINITION.—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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7396.IH H7396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7396 IH (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) RULE 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) IN GENERAL.—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) PREVIOUSLY ISSUED GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS.— 23 Subject to subsection (d), not later than 180 days after 24 the date of enactment of this Act, each agency shall pub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7396.IH H7396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7396 IH 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) SINGLE LOCATION.— 4 (1) IN 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) AGENCY 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) ORGANIZATION.— 16 (A) IN 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) AGENCY INTERNET WEBSITES.—The 23 hyperlinks described in paragraph (2) shall be 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7396.IH H7396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7396 IH prominently displayed on the internet website of 1 the agency. 2 (4) DESIGNATION.—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) DOCUMENTS AND INFORMATION EXEMPT FROM 8 DISCLOSURE UNDER FOIA.—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) RESCINDED GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS.—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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7396.IH H7396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7396 IH (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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7396.IH H7396 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS