Government Printing Reform Act of 1996

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Joint Committee on Information

Title II: Production of Printing and Binding

Subtitle A: Organization and Management of Government

Printing Office

Subtitle B: Production and Procurement Reform

Title III: Printing and Distribution of Documents

Subtitle A: Congressional Printing

Subtitle B: Congressional Record

Subtitle C: Executive and Judicial Branch Printing

Subtitle D: Repeal Requirements to Print Particular

Reports and Documents

Subtitle E: Federal Register and Code of Federal

Regulations

Title IV: Distribution and Sale of Public Documents

Subtitle A: Publication and Sale of Public Documents

Subtitle B: Distribution of Publications

Title V: Depository Library Program

Title VI: Effective Date

Government Printing Reform Act of 1996 - Title I: Joint Committee on Information - Amends Federal law to replace the Joint Committee on Printing and the Joint Committee on the Library with a Joint Committee on Information (the Joint Committee).

Title II: Production of Printing and Binding - Subtitle A: Organization and Management of Government Printing Office - Revises provisions concerning the qualifications and terms of service of the Public Printer and the Deputy Public Printer.

Directs the Public Printer to remedy neglect, delay, duplication, and waste in the preparation of publications, including the reduction and elimination of internal printing and high-speed duplicating capacities of Federal departments, agencies, and entities.

(Sec. 202) Revises personnel rules.

(Sec. 203) Revises provisions concerning the disbursing officer. Requires the Public Printer, in making purchases which are exempt from the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act and purchases which are made without advertising, to subject such purchases to the maximum degree of competition possible consistent with the Federal Government's interests.

(Sec. 204) Authorizes appropriations for each fiscal year, from the revolving fund, such amounts as may be necessary to operate and maintain the GPO. (Currently, funds are available from the fund without fiscal year limitation.)

Revises GPO auditing requirements to, among other things, require the Inspector General of the GPO (currently, the Comptroller General) to audit the GPO.

Sets forth certain requirements regarding the annual estimates of the funds necessary for the activities and personnel requirements of the Inspector General of the GPO during the year involved. Authorizes the Inspector General to expend any amounts provided for the Inspector General in the GPO annual budget for a year without the approval or direction of the Public Printer.

Subtitle B: Production and Procurement Reform - Revises requirements concerning certain printing, binding, and blank-book work carried out at the GPO or through procurement. Requires, with respect to such procurement, that there be the maximum possible competition.

(Sec. 212) Revises requirements respecting the control and sale of duplicate stereotype or electrotype plates.

(Sec. 213) Directs the Public Printer to establish, subject to oversight by the Joint Committee, standards for paper. (Currently, the Joint Committee on Printing fixes such standards.)

Title III: Printing and Distribution of Documents - Subtitle A: Congressional Printing - Replaces provisions which provide for the printing of the "usual number " of documents with requirements for the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate to: (1) determine the number and distribution of congressional documents and reports; and (2) make such reports and documents of their respective Houses available through electronic or other means.

Revises provisions concerning the style and form of bills and resolutions to: (1) authorize the Committee on House Oversight of the House and the Committee on Rules and Administration of the Senate (currently, the Joint Committee on Printing) to print House and Senate bills and resolutions in the style and form the appropriate Committee considers appropriate; and (2) repeal the authority to curtail the number of copies of bills and resolutions, including the slip form of a public Act or public resolution.

Repeals current provisions concerning: (1) copies of Acts furnished to the Public Printer; and (2) the printing of Acts, joint resolutions, and treaties. Replaces such provisions with provisions which require: (1) the Archivist of the United States to furnish a copy of every Act and joint resolution to the Clerk of the House who shall then print an accurate copy and transmit it to the Archivist for revision; (2) the Secretary of State to furnish a copy of each treaty, after its ratification, to the Secretary of the Senate who shall then print an accurate copy and transit it to the Secretary of State for revision; and (3) the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate, on the return of the copies, to make the marked corrections and print as specified.

Revises provisions concerning the lapse of authority to print.

(Sec. 302) Repeals the following with respect to the reprinting of congressional documents: (1) the limit on the number of pages of a document; and (2) the requirement that each requisition for reprinting cite the specific authority of law for its execution.

(Sec. 303) Revises requirements with respect to specified documents, including: (1) requiring the cost of printing the slip form of laws, postal conventions, and treaties to be charged to the House or Senate allotment (currently, the charge is to the congressional allotment for printing and binding); (2) requiring the electronic publishing of a directory for the House and an electronic directory for the Senate (currently, the Congressional Directory is published); and (3) requiring the electronic publishing of the United States Statutes at Large and the United States Treaties and Other International Agreements.

(Sec. 304) Repeals requirements requiring the cost of printing a document or report by order of Congress which cannot be charged to another appropriation or allotment of appropriation already made to be charged to the allotment for printing for the Congress. Requires instead, in such instances, that publishing costs shall be charged to the originating House or in the case of publishing on behalf of the Architect of the Capitol, the Comptroller General, the Library of Congress, or the Public Printer to the Joint Committee.

Subtitle B: Congressional Record - Revises the following with respect to the form of the Congressional Record: (1) eliminates the reference to the timing for the publication of the index; (2) requires daily publishing (currently, printing) of the Congressional Record; (3) requires that the daily form of the Record shall be revised in permanent form (currently, revised, printed and etc.) for distribution after the close (currently, during and after the close) of each session of Congress; and (4) repeals provisions which prohibit the "usual number" of Congressional Records from being printed.

(Sec. 312) Revises the following with respect to the contents of the Congressional Record: (1) transfers authority for the publication of the additional insertions to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives; and (2) prohibits the insertion of maps, diagrams, and illustrations in the Record.

(Sec. 313) Repeals current provisions regarding distribution of gratuitous copies. Replaces them with requirements for the distribution of gratuitous copies by the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate.

Revises requirements for subscriptions and sales of the Record by: (1) transferring authority to the Superintendent of Documents; and (2) repealing the requirement that the money from sales be paid into the Treasury and accounted for in the Public Printer's annual report to the Congress.

Revises requirements respecting the exchange of the permanent (currently, bound) copy of the Congressional Record for a copy of the Parliamentary Hansard (of Canada), including transferring ownership of the Hansard so received from the State Department to the Library of Congress.

(Sec. 314) Requires, for the purposes of any Federal law, that the Congressional Record for a day in which a House of the Congress is in session shall be considered the official journal of the House for that day.

Subtitle C: Executive and Judicial Branch Printing - Requires the Public Printer to execute such publishing (currently, printing and binding) for the President as the President may order and make requisition for.

(Sec. 322) Revises requirements for printing authorized by law and necessary to the public business by: (1) requiring that a document cannot be published (currently, printed) unless it is necessary to the public business (currently, unless it is authorized by law and necessary to the public business) and transferring the authority to make such a determination from the Public Printer to the head of an executive department, independent agency, or establishment; and (2) prohibiting publishing (currently, printing) to be done without a requisition (currently, special requisition) signed by the chief of the department, independent agency or establishment.

Repeals the following requirements relating to printing and binding: (1) the separate estimate of cost; and (2) the determination by the Public Printer of the form and style.

Revises rules concerning appropriations chargeable for publishing (currently, printing and binding) documents and reports to require that all such costs shall be charged to the originating department or agency.

(Sec. 324) Revises requirements for the daily examination by agencies of the Congressional Record and other publications for the purpose of ordering documents of interest to: (1) require agency heads to purchase publications required for official use; and (2) repeal the requirement of the Public Printer to distribute to such agencies a specified number of copies of public bills and resolutions.

(Sec. 325) Revises requirements concerning the timing for the publishing of annual reports by agencies. Repeals current requirements concerning the delivery of printed copies of such reports to the Congress.

(Sec. 326) Repeals certain printing and binding requirements for: (1) blanks and letterheads for judges and officers of the court; (2) paper and envelopes for Government agencies in the District of Columbia; and (3) specified binding materials for Government departments and libraries.

Subtitle D: Repeal Requirements to Print Particular Reports and Documents - Repeals requirements for printing particular reports and documents.

Subtitle E: Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations - Repeals the requirement for transmittal by the Office of the Federal Register to the GPO of one duplicate original or certified copy of each document required or authorized to be published in the Federal Register and replaces it with a requirement for the Office to publish a certified version of each such document.

(Sec. 342) Provides for the publishing, as well as the printing, of the Federal Register.

(Sec. 343) Revises the requirement respecting the costs of other publications of the Federal Register program and other expenses incurred by the GPO in connection with such publications to require that the costs and other expenses shall be borne by an appropriation to the Office of the Federal Register.

(Sec. 344) Requires the publication (currently, printing and binding) of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Title IV: Distribution and Sale of Public Documents - Subtitle A: Publication and Sale of Public Documents - Repeals current provisions respecting the public distribution of publications by the Public Printer. Replaces them with provisions providing for: (1) the publishing of Government publications by Federal entities; (2) the distribution of such publications by either the publishing Federal entity or the Superintendent of Documents; and (3) all costs of publication and distribution to be borne by the publishing Federal entity.

(Sec. 403) Revises the following relating to the sale of public documents: (1) the treatment of funds received from sales; (2) the reference to the timing of the report by the Superintendent to the Public Printer; and (3) the delivery of documents to the executive departments and to both Houses of the Congress.

(Sec. 404) Repeals the limit on the number of extra copies of documents furnished to applicants giving notice before the matter is published.

(Sec. 405) Revises provisions for reprinting public documents required for sale by: (1) repealing the timing requirement; and (2) requiring reimbursement to the appropriation for the Superintendent (currently, the Revolving Fund) for the cost of reprints from the moneys received by the Superintendent from the sale of public documents.

(Sec. 406) Revises provisions concerning: (1) the cost of additional copies; (2) the comprehensive index of public documents; and (3) the catalog of government publications.

Subtitle B: Distribution of Publications - Requires the delivery of specified unbound (currently, bound) documents to the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress (currently, the Library of Congress). Reduces the number of different types of documents which must be delivered. Repeals the requirement that no more than 25 of such documents shall be furnished.

Revises provisions concerning the international exchange of Government publications by: (1) repealing limit on the maximum number of Government publications which are to be supplied for distribution to foreign governments; and (2) requiring that any costs of such distributions shall be charged to appropriations provided to the Library of Congress (currently, the Superintendent of Documents) for such purpose.

(Sec. 412) Repeals certain mandatory distribution requirements.

Title V: Depository Library Program - Revises the definition of Government publication.

(Sec. 502) Increases the authority of the Superintendent of Documents (the Superintendent) to make Government publications available, by such means as the Superintendent considers appropriate, including by the dissemination and republication of Government publications, with the cost of dissemination republication to be borne by the Federal Government entity involved.

(Sec. 503) Revises certain requirements relating to the distribution of publications.

Repeals provisions directing the Superintendent to issue a classified list of Government publications to facilitate selection of such publications by depositories.

(Sec. 504) Requires that, as of January 1, 1997, Government publications shall be disseminated and made available only to institutions designated as depositories.

(Sec. 505) Revises the requirement regarding the disposal of unwanted Government publications to permit their disposal after use only in accordance with regulations established by the Superintendent and approved by the Joint Committee on Information.

(Sec. 506) Repeals the designation of specified types of institutions as depositories.

Title VI: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective date.