Press Releases
House Administration Adopts New Posting Standards for House Documents
December 15, 2011
WASHINGTON – Today, as part of the initiative led by Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor to increase House transparency and improve access to legislative data, the Committee on House Administration adopted new standards that require all House legislative documents be published electronically in an open, searchable format on one centralized website.
After adopting the new standards, Committee on House Administration Chairman Dan Lungren, R-Calif., issued the following statement:
"With the adoption of these standards, for the first time, all House bills, resolutions and legislative documents will be available in XML in one centralized location. Providing easy access to legislative information increases constituent feedback and ultimately improves the legislative process.
"I would like to thank the Clerk of the House and each House committee for their assistance and cooperation with this important initiative, and I look forward to continuing to expand and improve public access to the legislative process."
In accordance with the House rules for the 112th Congress, the new standards, effective January 1, 2012, instruct the Clerk of the House to establish and maintain one site where the public can access all House bills, amendments and resolutions for Floor consideration in an XML format when available. The new posting standards also direct the Clerk to establish additional functionality on the site that allows committees to post documents in XML.