Sponsors (4)
The bill centralizes and clarifies agency guidance to improve public access, legal traceability, and oversight, but it imposes administrative costs and still allows withholding or retention of existing guidance in ways that may limit transparency and create legal uncertainty.
All Americans (taxpayers and businesses) will be able to find federal guidance in one centralized, searchable online repository, reducing time spent tracking agency rules and advice.
Regulated parties and the public can more reliably determine current agency positions because rescinded guidance will remain available with rescission dates, reasons, and linked court case numbers.
Federal agencies get a clearer, uniform statutory definition of 'guidance' plus a named OMB reference point, improving consistency, coordination, and oversight of nonbinding agency policy.
Taxpayers and agency staff will face measurable administrative and IT costs and ongoing staff time to classify, review, post, and maintain guidance and to support the GAO review.
Taxpayers and regulated parties may get less practical transparency if agencies redact, withhold, or delay posting FOIA-protected materials, reducing the repository's usefulness.
Government contractors and taxpayers could face increased litigation and compliance uncertainty because a broad statutory definition and classification disputes may spawn more legal challenges over what counts as guidance.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Requires agencies to post non‑rule guidance in a single public online repository, link to it from agency sites, preserve rescinded items, and exempt FOIA‑protected material.
Requires federal agencies to publish all non‑rule guidance documents in a single, public online repository and on the agency’s site, with timelines for posting, rules for rescinded guidance, and limited exemptions for FOIA‑protected material. Directs the OMB Director to designate the central repository and requires a Government Accountability Office report on agency compliance within five years. Sets definitions for “guidance document,” preserves the legal status of guidance if agencies fail to comply, and excludes FOIA‑exempt material from disclosure requirements. Rescinded guidance must remain available and labeled as rescinded with dates and court citations when applicable.
Official title: To increase access to agency guidance documents.
Introduced February 24, 2025 by James Comer · Last progress March 4, 2025