Guidance Out of Darkness Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4809) to increase access to agency guidance documents, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 4809

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Mr. Speaker, I urge support of H.R. 4809, the Guidance Out of Darkness, or GOOD, Act, which was introduced by my colleague and friend from North Carolina, Mr. Walker.

Regulatory guidance is widely used by agencies. The guidance applies to industry and taxpayers alike. However, we really don't know the full universe of agency guidance.

Professor Nicholas Parrillo of Yale Law School, who testified before the Oversight and Government Reform Committee earlier this year said, ``There is no comprehensive compilation of guidance, but everyone agrees its volume is oceanic.''

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been looking into agency use of guidance over the past year, and we found this is an area of government in need of reform.

H.R. 4809 introduces much-needed elements of transparency and consistency to the process of disseminating agency guidance documents.

In 2007, the Office of Management and Budget issued what is known as the ``Good Guidance Bulletin.'' This bulletin requires Federal agencies to follow certain best practices when issuing significant guidance documents, which are those that are the costliest to comply with or are otherwise exceptionally impactful.

The Good Guidance Bulletin requires agencies to maintain lists of their significant guidance documents on their websites so that they can be readily found by the people and entities the documents affect. The GOOD Act expands this posting requirement to all guidance documents. Regulated entities shouldn't have to search high and low to find out how agencies interpret the laws and regulations that affect every sector of the economy. The public deserves to have this information, and this legislation will make these policy documents more accessible to the public.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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