To amend title 44, United States Code, to eliminate the mandatory printing of bills and resolutions by the Government Printing Office for the use of the House of Representatives and Senate.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “Stop the OverPrinting (STOP) Act”.
(a) Elimination of Mandatory Printing.—Section 706 of title 44, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
§ 706. Bills and resolutions: number and distribution
There shall be printed of each Senate and House public bill and joint resolution six hundred and twenty-five copies, which shall be distributed as follows:
to the Senate document room, two hundred and twenty-five copies;
to the office of Secretary of Senate, fifteen copies;
to the House document room, three hundred and eighty-five copies.There shall be printed of each Senate private bill, when introduced, when reported, and when passed, three hundred copies, which shall be distributed as follows:
to the Senate document room, one hundred and seventy copies;
to the Secretary of the Senate, fifteen copies;
to the House document room, one hundred copies;
to the Superintendent of Documents, ten copies.There shall be printed of each House private bill, when introduced, when reported, and when passed two hundred and sixty copies, which shall be distributed as follows:
to the Senate document room, one hundred and thirty-five copies;
to the Secretary of the Senate, fifteen copies;
to the House document room, one hundred copies;
to the Superintendent of Documents, ten copies.Bills and resolutions shall be printed in bill form, and, unless specially ordered by either House shall be printed only when referred to a committee, when favorably reported back, and after their passage by either House.
Of concurrent and simple resolutions, when reported, and after their passage by either House, only two hundred and sixty copies shall be printed, except by special order, and shall be distributed as follows:
to the Senate document room, one hundred and thirty-five copies;
to the Secretary of the Senate, fifteen copies;
to the House document room, one hundred copies;
to the Superintendent of Documents, ten copies.(a) No Printing of Bills and Resolutions.—Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c), the Public Printer shall make bills and resolutions available for the use of the House of Representatives and Senate only in an electronic format which is accessible through the Internet.
(b) Exception for Standing Request of Committee for Bills and Resolutions Within Jurisdiction.—If a committee (including a joint committee) of the House of Representatives or Senate, at any time during a Congress, requests the Public Printer to provide the committee with printed copies of each bill or resolution during the Congress that is within the committee's jurisdiction, the Public Printer shall provide the committee with printed copies of each such bill or resolution, except that the aggregate number of printed copies of any bill or resolution provided pursuant to requests under this subsection may not exceed 75.
(c) Exception for Request of Members or Committees for Individual Bills or Resolutions.—At the request of a Member (including a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Congress) or committee (including a joint committee) of the House of Representatives or Senate, the Public Printer shall provide the Member or committee with such number of printed copies of a bill or resolution as the Member or committee may request.
(b) Effective Date.—The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take effect upon the expiration of the 3-month period which begins on the date of the enactment of this Act.