Federal Register Modernization Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

The Federal Register Modernization Act is an important bill that will allow our government to better adapt to 21st century technology while both serving the public better and saving money. Much of the Federal recordkeeping and document publishing includes outdated requirements for printed version of documents. This is especially true for the Federal Register.

Today, there are only 124 paid subscribers to the print version of the Federal Register. Despite this fact, the Federal Government is legally required to continue to produce a print version of the Register. Moreover, statutes biased towards paper-based communication also require Federal agencies to submit multiple physical copies of the same document for publication. The result is a nonsensical situation in which agencies must hand-deliver CDs to the Office of the Federal Register with identical versions of the same documents saved on it.

This commonsense legislation will fix both of these issues. First, it will allow the Register to be published rather than printed, allowing for an eventual switch to a digital-only version, patterned off of the Federal Register's already award-winning Web site. Second, it will streamline the document submission process to eliminate the requirement for multiple copies and give the Register more freedom in how documents may be submitted.

Importantly, this bipartisan proposal has the support of the administration, and I encourage all Members to support this legislation.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

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