S 252: GOOD Act

S 252 in plain English: The GOOD Act requires federal agencies to publish their guidance documents online on the day they are issued, collect all active guidance documents in one location on a designated website, and clearly mark any guidance documents that have been rescinded.

Stated purpose

The bill aims to increase public access to federal agency guidance documents by requiring agencies to post all such documents online in a single, publicly accessible location on the day they are issued.

Key points

• Requires agencies to post guidance documents online on the date they are issued
• All active agency guidance documents must be housed in a single online location
• Agency websites must display a direct hyperlink to their guidance documents
• Rescinded guidance documents must be clearly labeled as such on agency websites
• Documents must be organized by category and subcategory

Arguments supporters make

• Right now, agency guidance documents are scattered across different websites or hard to find, so this bill would make it easier for ordinary people and businesses to know what rules agencies are following.
• When guidance documents are hidden or hard to locate, agencies can apply them inconsistently or without public awareness; publishing them openly holds agencies more accountable.
• Businesses and individuals who must comply with agency interpretations deserve a clear, central place to check what guidance is currently in effect, reducing costly confusion and legal uncertainty.

Arguments opponents make

• The definition of 'guidance document' is written very broadly — covering speeches, blog posts, and letters — which could create enormous compliance burdens for agencies and flood the website with low-value content.
• Guidance documents, by definition, do not have the force of law, so publishing them prominently in a single location may give the public the misleading impression that they carry binding legal weight.
• Requiring agencies to post every guidance document the day it is issued could slow down important communications or force agencies to withhold informal guidance until they can meet technical publishing requirements.

Tradeoffs

Greater public transparency and easier access to agency guidance may come at the cost of significant new administrative burdens on agencies, and the broad definition of covered documents could make the central database unwieldy or hard for users to navigate.

Current status in Congress: In committee.

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