The Guidance Out Of Darkness Act, or the GOOD Act, would require federal agencies to publish all guidance documents in a single designated online location. It defines guidance broadly to include memos, notices, bulletins, directives, blogs, speeches, and other nonbinding communications.
The bill also requires a central web hub designated by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and hyperlinks from agency sites to that hub. Agencies must publish new guidance and, within 180 days of enactment, all guidance that is in effect on enactment.
The act preserves exclusions for documents exempt from disclosure under FOIA and requires special handling for rescinded guidance with clear status signals and case information when applicable.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill requires agencies to publish guidance documents in a single online location designated by the Director, with agency hyperlinks to that hub, and to bring existing guidance online within 180 days. It also requires designation of the hub within 90 days and retains FOIA-exempt materials from disclosure.
Who It Affects
Federal agencies issuing guidance, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and members of the public who rely on nonbinding agency statements for policy interpretation and compliance.
Why It Matters
This creates a centralized, navigable repository for nonbinding guidance, reducing search costs for regulators, businesses, researchers, and the public, thereby improving transparency and consistency in how guidance is accessed.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The GOOD Act redefines what counts as agency guidance and sets a concrete process for making it publicly accessible. A central portal will be established by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and every agency will publish its guidance documents there.
Agency websites must link to this hub so users can find nonbinding guidance without hunting through dozens of agency pages. The Act covers both documents issued after enactment and those already in effect, requiring the latter to be published within six months of enactment.
Importantly, items exempt from disclosure under FOIA are not subject to these publication requirements, and the Act also requires that rescinded guidance remain accessible with clear status indicators and relevant details. The overall aim is to improve transparency and reduce friction for anyone who relies on agency guidance to understand policy or implement programs.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill defines 'guidance document' broadly to include memos, notices, bulletins, directives, statements, blog posts, speeches, and other nonbinding communications.
Agencies must publish guidance in a single, designated online location and must provide hyperlinks from their own websites to that hub.
Existing guidance in effect on enactment must be published within 180 days, and a central hub must be designated within 90 days.
Documents exempt from disclosure under FOIA are not subject to the publication requirements, preserving existing secrecy protections.
When guidance is rescinded, agencies must indicate rescission, provide case numbers where applicable, and show the date of rescission.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short title and purpose
This section establishes the act’s official title, the Guidance Out Of Darkness Act, or the GOOD Act, and signals the bill’s core purpose: to increase access to agency guidance documents by centralizing publication and improving discoverability.
Definitions
Defines core terms: ‘agency’ (per 5 U.S.C. 551), ‘Director’ (the Director of the Office of Management and Budget), and ‘guidance document’ (a broad category that includes memoranda, notices, bulletins, directives, blog posts, speeches, and other nonbinding communications designated by an agency official as setting policy or interpreting statutes or regulations). The definition is intentionally broad to capture the range of nonbinding guidance agencies issue.
Publication of Guidance Documents
Outlines the publication requirements: guidance documents issued after enactment must be published in a single internet location designated by the Director, with hyperlinks from agency sites directing users to the hub; within 180 days, every agency must publish guidance in effect on enactment; the Director must designate the hub within 90 days. Documents exempt from FOIA are not subject to these requirements. If a guidance document is rescinded, the agency must maintain it at the designated location and clearly indicate its rescinded status, along with relevant case numbers and dates.
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Explore Government in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Compliance teams in regulated sectors (e.g., financial services, healthcare, energy) benefit from easier access to consistent guidance that informs compliance programs.
- Policy researchers and watchdog organizations gain a centralized, searchable source of nonbinding policy interpretations for analysis and oversight.
- Industry associations and trade groups can monitor guidance more efficiently, reducing information asymmetry and enabling better member guidance.
- State and local governments implementing federal guidance gain a uniform portal to understand nationwide expectations and interpretations.
Who Bears the Cost
- Federal agencies will incur ongoing IT and staffing costs to publish and maintain the central hub and ensure timely posting of new guidance.
- OMB will bear operational costs to designate and oversee the hub and coordinate cross-agency publication standards.
- Agency legal and records teams will coordinate classifications to determine what qualifies as guidance and what remains exempt, potentially increasing compliance workload.
- Smaller agencies with limited budgets may face resource constraints in publishing large and evolving guidance backlogs.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central tension is between maximizing transparency and imposing administrative costs. Centralizing publication accelerates access and standardizes expectations, but the broad scope of what counts as guidance and the need to maintain a functional hub create ongoing implementation challenges and potential inconsistencies across agencies.
The GOOD Act promises greater transparency and consistency in access to agency guidance by creating a centralized online repository. In practice, this will require substantial initial and ongoing investments from agencies to publish, categorize, and maintain large volumes of documents.
The broad definition of guidance risks pulling in a wide range of materials, including items that agencies have never treated as guidance, which could increase the administrative burden and complicate records management. The FOIA carve-out preserves non-disclosure protections, but it also means some materials will remain inaccessible to the public, preserving a potential opacity in sensitive matters.
Finally, the success of the hub depends on effective design, searchability, and inter-agency cooperation to ensure that hyperlinks remain current and that the backlog of pre-enactment guidance is published in a timely manner.
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