Endorsed by the AALL Executive Board, July 8, 2010
WHEREAS, On July 26, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Register Act (Pub. L. 74-220), creating the Division of the Federal Register at the National Archives and Records Administration to bring order to the core documents of the Executive Branch and make them broadly available to the American public; and,
WHEREAS, The Act created a successful and historic partnership between the National Archives and the Government Printing Office, which continues to thrive today, for the publication and distribution of the Federal Register; and,
WHEREAS, The Federal Register includes Presidential Proclamations and Executive Orders; documents the President determines to have general applicability and legal effect; documents required to be published by Act of Congress; and documents authorized to be published by regulations; and,
WHEREAS, The Federal Register has a remarkable record of having been published every Monday through Friday, with the exception of Federal holidays, since its inaugural issue was published on March 14, 1936; and,
WHEREAS, The Office of the Federal Register has codified regulations by subject in the Code of Federal Regulationssince 1939 ; and,
WHEREAS, The Federal Register, the Code of Federal Regulations, and other components of the Federal Register system are invaluable to government transparency and public participation in the regulatory process, and have been a model for all state governments and emerging democracies worldwide; and,
WHEREAS, The Office of the Federal Register, in partnership with the Government Printing Office, has harnessed the technological revolution by providing no-fee public access to the official authenticated online PDF version of the Federal Register from 1994 to the present; to the unofficial HTML version, which provides hypertext links to Web sites mentioned in the document, from 2000 to the present; and by now offering bulk data downloads of unofficial Federal Register XML files via the GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) and Data.gov; and,
WHEREAS, The Office of the Federal Register, in partnership with the Government Printing Office, provides daily updates to the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations by incorporating amendments published each day in the Federal Register; and,
WHEREAS, The National Archives has demonstrated its commitment to President Obama's call for greater transparency, collaboration and citizen participation in government by launching the new innovative Federal Register 2.0 in celebration of today's 75 th Anniversary of the Federal Register Act; and,
WHEREAS, The Federal Register 2.0 provides the public with a user-friendly version of the Daily Journal of the United States Government that explains the complex regulatory process; provides excellent navigation and search tools; takes advantage of social media; and importantly, integrates seamlessly with Regulations.gov and the Unified Agenda to make it easy for users to submit comments directly into the official docket and view the history of rulemaking activity through a regulatory timeline; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED that the American Association of Law Libraries congratulates the National Archives and Records Administration on this auspicious occasion, the 75 th Anniversary of the enactment of the Federal Register Act (Pub. L. 74-220); and be it further
RESOLVED that the American Association of Law Libraries commends the National Archives and Records Administration and the Office of the Federal Register for its strong commitment to an informed citizenry by providing essential tools, using the newest technologies, for all the regulations issued by federal agencies and the President; and be it further
RESOLVED that the American Association of Law Libraries applauds today's launch of the new Federal Register 2.0that builds upon the past illustrious history of the publication of this core document of democracy and portends an even more innovative future for the suite of publications in the Federal Register system in the 21 st Century.