HR1515-119

What This Bill Does

The GOOD Act, or Guidance Out Of Darkness Act, creates a federal online-publication requirement for agency guidance documents. It defines guidance documents broadly as nonbinding agency statements of general applicability designated by agency officials as policy on statutory, regulatory, or technical issues or interpretations of statutory or regulatory issues, including memoranda, notices, bulletins, directives, news releases, letters, blog posts, no-action letters, speeches by officials, or combinations of those materials. Agencies must publish each new guidance document when issued and must publish guidance already in effect within 180 days, unless section 5 protects the document or information from FOIA disclosure. OMB must designate the single online location within 90 days. Each agency must publish guidance there, categorize and subcategorize it as appropriate, and prominently link to that location from the agency website. When guidance is rescinded, agencies must keep it available at the same location and mark that it was rescinded, the rescission date, and, for court-ordered rescissions, the case number. The Act does not make noncompliance invalidate guidance and does not decide whether guidance is subject to Congressional Review Act procedures. GAO must report to House Oversight and Senate Homeland Security committees on agency compliance within five years.

Who Benefits and How

Regulated businesses, compliance officers, lawyers, researchers, journalists, agency watchdog organizations, small businesses, state regulators, public-interest advocates, and the general public benefit from one searchable source for current and rescinded nonbinding guidance. Users can see what informal agency positions are active, what was rescinded, and where guidance fits by category instead of searching scattered agency pages.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Federal agencies, agency web teams, agency records officers, agency program offices, Office of Management and Budget staff, FOIA reviewers, national security agencies, law-enforcement agencies, Government Accountability Office auditors, and congressional oversight staff must inventory guidance, publish new and existing materials, create hyperlinks and categories, preserve rescinded documents, screen FOIA-protected material, maintain the OMB-designated website, and evaluate compliance after five years.

Key Provisions

• Defines guidance documents broadly to include nonbinding policy and interpretation materials such as memoranda, bulletins, letters, blog posts, no-action letters, and official speeches.
• Requires agencies to publish new guidance when issued and existing in-force guidance within 180 days.
• Requires OMB to designate a single online location within 90 days and requires prominent agency hyperlinks to that location.
• Requires published guidance to be categorized and subcategorized as appropriate.
• Exempts documents and information protected from disclosure under FOIA.
• Requires rescinded guidance to remain available with rescission labels, dates, and court case numbers when applicable.
• Requires GAO to report on agency compliance within five years.