I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5150 

To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Rules of the House 

of Representatives, the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, the Legislative 

Reorganization Act of 1946, the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009, the Internal Revenue Code of 

1986, the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, the Financial Stability Act of 2010, and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to improve access to information in the legislative 

and executive branches of the Government, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 18, 2019 

Mr. QUIGLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committees on 

Rules, House Administration, the Judiciary, Ethics, Financial Services, 

and the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Rules 

of the House of Representatives, the Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995, the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, 

the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act 

for Fiscal Year 2009, the Internal Revenue Code of 

1986, the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, the 

Financial Stability Act of 2010, and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to 

improve access to information in the legislative and execVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:13 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H5150.IH H5150

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utive branches of the Government, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transparency in Gov5 ernment Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

7 The table of contents of this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title. 

Sec. 2. Table of contents. 

TITLE I—IMPROVING ACCESS TO INFORMATION ABOUT 

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES 

Sec. 101. Greater disclosure and electronic filing of personal financial information. 

Sec. 102. Greater disclosure of travel reports. 

Sec. 103. Greater disclosure of gift reports. 

Sec. 104. Greater disclosure of earmarks. 

Sec. 105. GAO study and report on effects of written requests by Members of 

Congress for funding of projects. 

TITLE II—ENHANCING PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE WORK OF 

CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES, LEGISLATION, AND VOTES 

Subtitle A—Access to Legislation, Votes, and Related Information 

Sec. 201. Increased transparency of committee work. 

Sec. 202. Increased transparency of recorded votes. 

Sec. 203. Electronic format. 

Sec. 204. Congressional Data Task Force. 

Sec. 205. Use of data standards by congressional support offices. 

Sec. 206. Inclusion of digital version of funding tables in reports accompanying 

appropriations bills. 

Sec. 207. Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. 

Sec. 208. Expanded information in House staff directory. 

Sec. 209. Publication of United States Capitol Police arrest information. 

Subtitle B—Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports 

Sec. 211. Short title. 

Sec. 212. Definitions. 

Sec. 213. Establishment of online portal for congressionally mandated reports. 

Sec. 214. Federal agency responsibilities. 

Sec. 215. Changing or removing reports. 


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Sec. 216. Relationship to the Freedom of Information Act. 

Sec. 217. Implementation. 

Sec. 218. Determination of budgetary effects. 

TITLE III—EXPANDING ACCESS TO CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH 

SERVICE REPORTS ON LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WEBSITE 

Sec. 301. Inclusion of reports from archive. 

Sec. 302. Availability of reports in structured format. 

Sec. 303. Report on making other materials available. 

Sec. 304. Effective date. 

TITLE IV—LOBBYING DISCLOSURE 

Sec. 401. Short title. 

Sec. 402. Modifications to enforcement. 

Sec. 403. Definition of lobbyist. 

Sec. 404. Expedited online registration of lobbyists; expansion of registrants. 

Sec. 405. Disclosure of political contributions. 

Sec. 406. Identification numbers for lobbyists. 

Sec. 407. Ethics training for lobbyists. 

Sec. 408. Estimates based on tax reporting system. 

Sec. 409. Effective date. 

TITLE V—TRANSPARENCY IN FEDERAL CONTRACTING 

Sec. 501. Improving application programming interface and website data elements. 

Sec. 502. Improving data quality. 

Sec. 503. Requirements relating to reporting of award data. 

Sec. 504. Recipient performance transparency. 

Sec. 505. Improvement of Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System Database. 

Sec. 506. Federal contractor compliance. 

Sec. 507. Improving access to information disclosed on lobbying activities. 

Sec. 508. Inclusion of narratives on USAspending.gov. 

TITLE VI—EXECUTIVE BRANCH TRANSPARENCY 

Subtitle A—Public Availability of Information 

Sec. 601. Requirement for disclosure of Federal sponsorship of all Federal advertising or other communications. 

Sec. 602. Improving access to influential executive branch official’s visitor access records. 

Sec. 603. Public availability of budget justifications and appropriation requests. 

Sec. 604. Improving rulemaking disclosure for the Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs. 

Sec. 605. Improving registration information from agents of foreign principals. 

Sec. 606. Agency defined. 

Sec. 607. Government-wide entity identifier. 

Sec. 608. Grants transparency requirements. 

Subtitle B—Publication of Opinions of Office of Legal Counsel 

Sec. 611. Short title. 

Sec. 612. Schedule of publication for final OLC opinions. 

Sec. 613. Exceptions and limitation on public availability of final OLC opinions. 


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Sec. 614. Method of publication. 

Sec. 615. Index of opinions. 

Sec. 616. Private right of action. 

Sec. 617. Severability. 

Sec. 618. Definitions. 

Subtitle C—Contempt of Congress Procedures and Enforcement 

Sec. 621. Availability of civil action to enforce House of Representatives subpoenas. 

Sec. 622. Alternate procedures for enforcement of criminal contempt of Congress. 

Sec. 623. Increase in penalty for contempt of Congress. 

Sec. 624. Authority of United States Capitol Police to enforce citations. 

Sec. 625. Collection of penalties imposed by the House of Representatives on 

persons cited for contempt of House. 

Sec. 626. No effect of expiration of Congress on pending actions. 

TITLE VII—STRENGTHENING THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION 

ACT 

Sec. 701. Agency defined. 

Sec. 702. Digital access to completed responses to the Freedom of Information 

Act. 

Sec. 703. FOIAonline for agencies. 

Sec. 704. Freedom of Information Act amendments. 

TITLE VIII—IMPROVING TRANSPARENCY WITHIN THE JUDICIAL 

SYSTEM 

Sec. 801. Televising Supreme Court proceedings. 

Sec. 802. Audio recording of Supreme Court proceedings. 

Sec. 803. Availability on the internet of financial disclosure reports of judicial 

officers. 

Sec. 804. GAO audit of PACER. 

Sec. 805. Electronic court records reform. 

TITLE IX—ENFORCEMENT 

Sec. 901. Audits by the Government Accountability Office. 

TITLE X—MISCELLANEOUS 

Sec. 1001. Transfer of certain records to Archivist of United States. 

Sec. 1002. Data standards. 


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1 TITLE I—IMPROVING ACCESS TO 

2 INFORMATION ABOUT MEM3 BERS OF CONGRESS AND 

4 CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES 

5 SEC. 101. GREATER DISCLOSURE AND ELECTRONIC FILING 

6 OF PERSONAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION. 

7 (a) ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REQUIRE8 MENTS.—(1) Section 102(a)(1)(B) of the Ethics in Gov9 ernment Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App. 102(a)(1)(B)) is 

10 amended in clause (iv) by striking ‘‘$15,000’’ and insert11 ing ‘‘$25,000’’ and by striking clauses (v) through (ix) and 

12 inserting the following new clauses: 

13 ‘‘(v) greater than $25,000 but not 

14 more than $100,000, rounded to the near15 est $10,000, 

16 ‘‘(vi) greater than $100,000 but not 

17 more than $1,000,000, rounded to the 

18 nearest $100,000, or 

19 ‘‘(vii) greater than $1,000,000, round20 ed to the nearest $1,000,000.’’. 

21 (2) Section 102(d)(1) of such Act (5 U.S.C. App. 

22 102(d)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘(3), (4), (5), and (8)’’ 

23 and inserting ‘‘(5) and (8)’’. 

24 (3) Section 102(d) of such Act (5 U.S.C. App. 

25 102(d)) is amended by redesignating paragraph (2) as 


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1 paragraph (3) and by inserting after paragraph (1) the 

2 following new paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(3) The categories for reporting the amount or value 

4 of the items covered in paragraphs (3) or (4) of subsection 

5 (a) are as follows: 

6 ‘‘(A) Not more than $15,000. 

7 ‘‘(B) Greater than $15,000 but not more than 

8 $25,000. 

9 ‘‘(C) Greater than $25,000 but not more than 

10 $100,000, rounded to the nearest $10,000. 

11 ‘‘(D) Greater than $100,000 but not more than 

12 $1,000,000, rounded to the nearest $100,000. 

13 ‘‘(E) Greater than $1,000,000, rounded to the 

14 nearest $1,000,000.’’. 

15 (b) MORE FREQUENT DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL

16 TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING LARGE SUMS OF MONEY.— 

17 (1) Section 101 of such Act (5 U.S.C. App. 101) is amend18 ed by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

19 ‘‘(j) In addition to any other report required to be 

20 filed by a Member of Congress or officer or employee of 

21 the Congress, each such individual is required to file a 

22 quarterly report on April 30, July 30, October 30, and 

23 January 30 of each year covering the preceding calendar 

24 quarter if that individual (or the spouse or any dependent 

25 child of that individual) purchased, sold, or exchanged any 


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1 property described in subsection (a)(5) valued at not less 

2 than $250,000 during that calendar quarter. For any such 

3 transaction of not less than $250,000, such report shall 

4 contain all of the information required under subsection 

5 (a)(5).’’. 

6 (2)(A) Clause 1 of rule XXVI of the Rules of the 

7 House of Representatives is amended by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ 

8 after ‘‘1.’’ and by adding at the end the following new 

9 paragraphs: 

10 ‘‘(b) If any report is filed with the Clerk for a 

11 calendar quarter pursuant to section 101(i) of the 

12 Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Clerk shall 

13 compile all such reports sent to the Clerk by Mem14 bers and have them printed as a House document, 

15 which shall be made available to the public, as soon 

16 as practicable. 

17 ‘‘(c) Each individual required to file a report 

18 with the Clerk under title I under the Ethics in Gov19 ernment Act of 1978 shall file and maintain such re20 port in electronic form.’’. 

21 (B) Comparable language to be added by the Senate. 

22 (c) AVAILABILITY ON THE INTERNET OF REPORTS

23 FILED UNDER THIS TITLE WITH THE CLERK OF THE

24 HOUSE OR THE SECRETARY OF THE SENATE.—Section 

25 103 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. 


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1 App. 103) is amended by adding at the end the following 

2 new subsection: 

3 ‘‘(m) The Clerk of the House of Representatives and 

4 the Secretary of the Senate shall each make available any 

5 report filed with them under this title (whether the report 

6 is filed in paper or electronic form) within 48 hours of 

7 the applicable submission deadline on the website of the 

8 Clerk or the Secretary, as applicable, in a searchable, sort9 able, downloadable, machine-readable format.’’. 

10 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

11 this section shall apply to reports filed for calendar years 

12 or calendar quarters beginning after the date of enactment 

13 of this Act. 

14 SEC. 102. GREATER DISCLOSURE OF TRAVEL REPORTS. 

15 (a) FOREIGN TRAVEL.—Clause 8(b)(3) of rule X of 

16 the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by 

17 adding at the end the following new sentence: ‘‘Within 48 

18 hours after any such report is filed with the chair of a 

19 committee, the chair shall post the report on the Internet 

20 site of the committee in a searchable, sortable, 

21 downloadable, machine-readable format.’’. 

22 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

23 subsection (a) shall apply to travel commencing after the 

24 date of enactment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 103. GREATER DISCLOSURE OF GIFT REPORTS. 

2 (a) REQUIRING CLERK OF THE HOUSE TO POST RE3 PORTS ON INTERNET NOT LATER THAN 48 HOURS

4 AFTER RECEIPT.—(1) Clause 5(b)(5) of rule XXV of the 

5 Rules of the House of Representatives is amended— 

6 (A) by striking ‘‘shall make available’’ and 

7 inserting ‘‘shall post on the public Internet site 

8 of the Clerk and otherwise make available’’; and 

9 (B) by striking ‘‘as possible’’ and inserting 

10 the following: ‘‘as possible, but in no event later 

11 than 48 hours,’’. 

12 (2) Comparable language to be added by the Senate. 

13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

14 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to reports filed on 

15 or after the date of the adoption of this resolution. 

16 SEC. 104. GREATER DISCLOSURE OF EARMARKS. 

17 (a) ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE BY MEMBERS.—(1) 

18 Rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives 

19 is amended by redesignating clause 18 as clause 19 and 

20 by inserting after clause 17 the following: 

21 ‘‘18. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner 

22 who requests a congressional earmark, a limited tax ben23 efit, or a limited tariff benefit shall, within 24 hours after 

24 making such request— 

25 ‘‘(1) post on his or her public website for the 

26 remainder of the Congress the following— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the name and address of the intended 

2 recipient; 

3 ‘‘(B) whether the intended recipient is a 

4 for-profit or not-for-profit entity; 

5 ‘‘(C) the requested amount (only in the 

6 case of congressional earmarks); and 

7 ‘‘(D) an explanation of the request, includ8 ing the purpose, and why it is a valuable use 

9 of taxpayer funds; 

10 ‘‘(2) electronically submit to the committee of 

11 subject-matter jurisdiction the webpage address 

12 where such information is posted; 

13 ‘‘(3) identify each request as having been sub14 mitted to the committee of subject-matter jurisdic15 tion; and 

16 ‘‘(4) display on the homepage of such website a 

17 hypertext link that contains the words ‘Earmarks’, 

18 ‘Appropriations Requests’, ‘Limited Tax Benefits’, 

19 or ‘Limited Tariff Benefits’ and that directs to such 

20 webpage address, and maintain that link for at least 

21 30 calendar days after the last such request is made 

22 during the Congress.’’. 

23 (2) The last sentence of clause 16 of rule XXIII of 

24 the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by 


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1 striking ‘‘and clause 17’’ and inserting ‘‘, clause 17, and 

2 clause 18’’. 

3 (b) ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE BY COMMITTEES.— 

4 Rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives is 

5 amended by adding at the end the following new clause: 

6 ‘‘Earmark disclosure websites 

7 ‘‘(s)(1) Any committee that accepts any request of 

8 a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner for a con9 gressional earmark, a limited tax benefit, or a limited tar10 iff benefit shall maintain a public website with an earmark 

11 disclosure webpage that contains the following for each 

12 such request— 

13 ‘‘(A) the bill name; 

14 ‘‘(B) the name, State, and district of that indi15 vidual; 

16 ‘‘(C) the name and address of the intended re17 cipient; 

18 ‘‘(D) whether the intended recipient is a for19 profit or not-for-profit entity; 

20 ‘‘(E) the requested amount (only in the case of 

21 congressional earmarks); 

22 ‘‘(F) a brief description; and 

23 ‘‘(G) the applicable department or agency of the 

24 Government, and the account or program (if pro25 vided to the committee in the request); 


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1 and is in a downloadable format that is searchable and 

2 sortable by such characteristics. 

3 ‘‘(2) Any written statement received by a committee 

4 under clause 17(a) of rule XXIII shall be posted on the 

5 earmark disclosure webpage of the committee. 

6 ‘‘(3) The earmark disclosure webpage of a committee 

7 shall list the names of any Member, Delegate, and Resi8 dent Commissioner who requests a congressional earmark, 

9 a limited tax benefit, or a limited tariff benefit and link 

10 directly to their webpage addresses referred to in clause 

11 18(2) of rule XXIII. 

12 ‘‘(4) The earmark disclosure webpage of a committee 

13 shall post the information required under subparagraphs 

14 (1) through (3) within one week of receipt, and shall main15 tain that information on that webpage for the remainder 

16 of the Congress. 

17 ‘‘(5) For purposes of this paragraph, the terms ‘con18 gressional earmark’, ‘limited tax benefit’, and ‘limited tar19 iff benefit’ shall have the meaning given them in clause 

20 9 of rule XXI.’’. 

21 (c) POINT OF ORDER.—Clause 9 of rule XXI of the 

22 Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by re23 designating paragraphs (e), (f), and (g) as paragraphs (f), 

24 (g), and (h), respectively, and by inserting after paragraph 

25 (d) the following: 


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1 ‘‘(e) It shall not be in order to consider any bill or 

2 joint resolution, or an amendment thereto or conference 

3 report thereon, that carries a congressional earmark, lim4 ited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit for which a Mem5 ber, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner failed to comply 

6 with any applicable requirement of clause 18 of rule 

7 XXIII.’’. 

8 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

9 this section shall apply to requests for congressional ear10 marks, limited tax benefits, and limited tariff benefits 

11 made after the date this resolution is agreed to. 

12 (e) CENTRALIZED DATABASE FOR EARMARKS, LIM13 ITED TAX BENEFITS, AND LIMITED TARIFF BENEFITS.— 

14 (1) The Clerk of the House of Representatives, the Sec15 retary of the Senate, and the chairs of the Committee on 

16 Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the 

17 Senate shall collaborate to create one centralized database 

18 where all requests for earmark, limited tax benefits, and 

19 limited tariff benefits are available on the internet in a 

20 searchable, sortable, downloadable format to the public. 

21 The data available to the public for each earmark should 

22 include— 

23 (A) an identification of the bill into which the 

24 earmark is to be inserted; 


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1 (B) the name, State, and district of the Mem2 ber of Congress requesting the earmark; 

3 (C) the name and address of the intended re4 cipient; 

5 (D) whether the intended recipient is a for-prof6 it or not-for-profit entity; 

7 (E) the requested amount (only in the case of 

8 congressional earmarks); 

9 (F) a brief description of the earmark; and 

10 (G) the applicable department or agency of the 

11 Government, and the account or program (if pro12 vided to the committee in the request). 

13 (2) The centralized database for earmarks referred 

14 to in paragraph (1) shall be implemented within six 

15 months after the date of enactment of this Act. 

16 SEC. 105. GAO STUDY AND REPORT ON EFFECTS OF WRIT17 TEN REQUESTS BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 

18 FOR FUNDING OF PROJECTS. 

19 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

20 States shall conduct a study of the effect of written re21 quests to carry out and provide funding for projects and 

22 activities which are submitted to offices of the executive 

23 branch by Members of Congress on the decisions made 

24 by such offices regarding the funding of those projects and 

25 activities. 


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1 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

2 of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 

3 submit to Congress a report on the study conducted under 

4 subsection (a). 

5 TITLE II—ENHANCING PUBLIC 

6 ACCESS TO THE WORK OF 

7 CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT8 TEES, LEGISLATION, AND 

9 VOTES 

10 Subtitle A—Access to Legislation, 

11 Votes, and Related Information 

12 SEC. 201. INCREASED TRANSPARENCY OF COMMITTEE 

13 WORK. 

14 (a) IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—Clause 

15 1 of rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives 

16 is amended by adding at the end the following new para17 graph: 

18 ‘‘(e)(1) Each committee shall post on its Internet 

19 website the public hearings and markup schedules of the 

20 committee and each of its subcommittees at the same time 

21 that information is made available to members of the com22 mittee. 

23 ‘‘(2) For each hearing and markup for which infor24 mation is posted under subparagraph (1), the committee 

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1 lowing: the topic, related legislation, testimony of wit2 nesses, opening statements of the chair and ranking mi3 nority member, transcripts, and audio and video record4 ings. 

5 ‘‘(3) Within 24 hours after a committee or sub6 committee orders any bill or resolution to be reported, the 

7 committee or subcommittee, as applicable, shall post on 

8 its Internet website all amendments that were agreed to, 

9 except for technical and conforming changes authorized by 

10 the committee or subcommittee, as well as all votes taken 

11 on the bill or resolution and on any amendment offered 

12 to the bill or resolution.’’. 

13 (b) IN THE SENATE.—Comparable language to be 

14 added by the Senate. 

15 SEC. 202. INCREASED TRANSPARENCY OF RECORDED 

16 VOTES. 

17 (a) ADDITIONAL DUTIES OF THE CLERK OF THE

18 HOUSE AND THE SECRETARY OF THE SENATE.—The 

19 Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary 

20 of the Senate shall post on the public internet site of the 

21 Office of the Clerk or of the Secretary, respectively, a 

22 record, organized by the name of each Member or Senator, 

23 in a structured data format, of the recorded votes of that 

24 Member or Senator, including the roll, date, issue, ques25 tion, result, and title or description of the vote, and any 


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1 cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office related 

2 to the vote. 

3 (b) WEB LINK.—Each Member shall provide a link 

4 to the Clerk of the House of Representatives of a list of 

5 recorded votes from that Member’s website, and each Sen6 ator shall provide a link to the Secretary of the Senate 

7 of a list of recorded votes from that Senator’s website. 

8 (c) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term 

9 ‘‘Member’’ means a Representative in Congress, a delegate 

10 to Congress, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto 

11 Rico. 

12 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply to 

13 recorded votes occurring after the date of enactment of 

14 this Act. 

15 SEC. 203. ELECTRONIC FORMAT. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 2 of title 1 of the United 

17 States Code is amended by inserting after section 107 the 

18 following new section: 

19 ‘‘§ 107a. Electronic format 

20 ‘‘To the extent practicable, all bills, resolutions, or21 ders, and votes shall be created, exchanged, and published 

22 in searchable electronic formats, consistent with data 

23 standards recommended by such advisory bodies as Con24 gress may establish.’’. 


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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec2 tions at the beginning of chapter 2 of title 1 of the United 

3 States Code is amended by adding after the item relating 

4 to section 107 the following new item: 

‘‘107a. Electronic format.’’. 

5 SEC. 204. CONGRESSIONAL DATA TASK FORCE. 

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Clerk of the House and 

7 the Secretary of the Senate shall establish an advisory 

8 Congressional Data Task Force to recommend data stand9 ards for the creation, exchange, and publication of con10 gressional information. 

11 (b) COMPOSITION.—The Congressional Data Task 

12 Force shall be composed of staff representatives of the 

13 Clerk of the House, the Secretary of the Senate, the Li14 brary of Congress, the Congressional Research Service, 

15 the Government Printing Office, the Center for Legislative 

16 Archives, such other congressional offices and agencies 

17 may be necessary, and representatives of the public. 

18 (c) DATA STANDARDS.—All data standards rec19 ommended by the Congressional Data Task Force shall 

20 be nonproprietary and machine-readable. 

21 (d) SCOPE.—The Congressional Data Task Force 

22 shall recommend data standards for congressional infor23 mation, including all bills, amendments, Acts, reports, 

24 committee hearing/meeting notices, the United States 

25 Code, and other legislative documents and records. 


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1 SEC. 205. USE OF DATA STANDARDS BY CONGRESSIONAL 

2 SUPPORT OFFICES. 

3 All congressional support offices shall, to the extent 

4 practicable, use the data standards recommended by the 

5 Congressional Data Task Force for the congressional in6 formation that they create, exchange, and/or publish. 

7 SEC. 206. INCLUSION OF DIGITAL VERSION OF FUNDING 

8 TABLES IN REPORTS ACCOMPANYING APPRO9 PRIATIONS BILLS. 

10 (a) INCLUSION.—The Clerk of the House of Rep11 resentatives and the Secretary of the Senate shall ensure 

12 that each report accompanying any appropriations bill re13 ported by the Committees on Appropriations of the House 

14 or Senate (as the case may be) includes a formatted 

15 spreadsheet showing the amounts made available by the 

16 bill, in a tabular, digital format that shows separate en17 tries for each fiscal year covered by the bill. 

18 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall apply 

19 with respect to any appropriations bill making funds avail20 able for fiscal year 2021 or any succeeding fiscal year. 

21 SEC. 207. SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE MODERNIZATION OF 

22 CONGRESS. 

23 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established in 

24 the House of Representatives a Select Committee on the 

25 Modernization of Congress (hereinafter in this section re26 ferred to as the ‘‘Select Committee’’). 


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1 (b) COMPOSITION.— 

2 (1) The Select Committee shall be composed of 

3 12 Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commis4 sioner appointed by the Speaker. 

5 (2) The Speaker shall appoint members of the 

6 Select Committee as follows: 

7 (A) At least 2 members from among Mem8 bers, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner 

9 serving in their first term. 

10 (B) At least 2 members from the Com11 mittee on Rules. 

12 (C) At least 2 members from the Com13 mittee on House Administration. 

14 (3) Of the members of the Select Committee 

15 appointed pursuant to paragraph (1), 6 shall be ap16 pointed on the recommendation of the minority lead17 er, including 1 member each as described in sub18 paragraphs (A) through (C) of paragraph (2). 

19 (4) The Speaker shall designate one member of 

20 the Select Committee as chair, and, upon rec21 ommendation of the minority leader, shall designate 

22 one member of the Select Committee as vice chair. 

23 (5) A vacancy in the membership of the Select 

24 Committee shall be filled in the same manner as the 

25 original appointment. 


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1 (c) JURISDICTION; FUNCTIONS.— 

2 (1) LEGISLATIVE JURISDICTION.—The Select 

3 Committee shall not have legislative jurisdiction and 

4 shall have no authority to take legislative action on 

5 any bill or resolution. 

6 (2) INVESTIGATIVE JURISDICTION.—The sole 

7 authority of the Select Committee shall be to inves8 tigate, study, make findings, hold public hearings, 

9 and develop recommendations on modernizing Con10 gress, including recommendations on— 

11 (A) rules to promote a more modern and 

12 efficient Congress; 

13 (B) procedures, including the schedule and 

14 calendar; 

15 (C) policies to develop the next generation 

16 of leaders; 

17 (D) staff recruitment, diversity, retention, 

18 and compensation and benefits; 

19 (E) administrative efficiencies, including 

20 purchasing, travel, outside services, and shared 

21 administrative staff; 

22 (F) technology and innovation; and 

23 (G) the work of the House Commission on 

24 Congressional Mailing Standards. 

25 (d) PROCEDURES.— 


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1 (1) Except as specified in paragraph (2), the 

2 Select Committee shall have the authorities and re3 sponsibilities of, and shall be subject to the same 

4 limitations and restrictions as, a standing committee 

5 of the House, and shall be deemed a committee of 

6 the House for all purposes of law or rule. 

7 (2)(A) Rules X and XI of the Rules of the 

8 House of Representatives shall apply to the Select 

9 Committee where not inconsistent with this section. 

10 (B) Service on the Select Committee shall not 

11 count against the limitations in clause 5(b)(2) of 

12 rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives. 

13 (C) Clause 2(m)(1)(B) of rule XI and clause 

14 2(m)(3) of rule XI of the Rules of the House of 

15 Representatives shall not apply to the Select Com16 mittee, but the Select Committee may recommend 

17 subpoenas and depositions and submit such rec18 ommendations to the relevant standing committee. 

19 (D) Clause 2(d) of rule X of the Rules of the 

20 House of Representatives shall not apply to the Se21 lect Committee. 

22 (e) FUNDING.—To enable the Select Committee to 

23 carry out the purposes of this section— 

24 (1) the Select Committee may use the services 

25 of staff of the House; and 


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1 (2) the Select Committee shall be eligible for in2 terim funding pursuant to clause 7 of rule X of the 

3 Rules of the House of Representatives. 

4 (f) REPORTS.— 

5 (1) REPORTS ON FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDA6 TIONS.—The Select Committee may report to the 

7 House or any committee from time to time the re8 sults of its investigations and studies, together with 

9 such detailed findings and policy recommendations 

10 as it may deem advisable. The Select Committee 

11 may only submit any such report if the report receives the votes of not fewer than 2 12 ⁄3 of its members. 

13 (2) PUBLICATION.—The Select Committee shall 

14 ensure that each report prepared in accordance with 

15 paragraph (1) shall, upon completion, be made avail16 able to the general public in widely accessible for17 mats not later than 30 calendar days following the 

18 date the report is made available to the House or a 

19 committee, as applicable. 

20 SEC. 208. EXPANDED INFORMATION IN HOUSE STAFF DI21 RECTORY. 

22 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact23 ment of this Act, the Clerk of the House of Representa24 tives shall submit a report to the Committees on Appro25 priations and House Administration of the House of RepVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:13 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5150.IH H5150

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1 resentatives on the feasibility of expanding the information 

2 included in the directory of employees of the House to in3 clude information on the position held and the areas of 

4 responsibility assigned to each employee. 

5 SEC. 209. PUBLICATION OF UNITED STATES CAPITOL PO6 LICE ARREST INFORMATION. 

7 (a) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.—The Chief of 

8 the United States Capitol Police shall publish on the offi9 cial public website of the Capitol Police information on ar10 rests made by the Capitol Police, and shall ensure that 

11 such information is published in a structured data format. 

12 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply with 

13 respect to arrests made by the United States Capitol Po14 lice on or after January 1, 2019. 

15 Subtitle B—Access to 

16 Congressionally Mandated Reports 

17 SEC. 211. SHORT TITLE. 

18 This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘Access to Congres19 sionally Mandated Reports Act’’. 

20 SEC. 212. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this subtitle: 

22 (1) CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED REPORT.— 

23 The term ‘‘congressionally mandated report’’— 

24 (A) means a report that is required by 

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1 gress or any committee of Congress or sub2 committee thereof; and 

3 (B) does not include a report required 

4 under part B of subtitle II of title 36, United 

5 States Code. 

6 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

7 the Director of the Government Publishing Office. 

8 (3) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 

9 agency’’ has the meaning given that term under sec10 tion 102 of title 40, United States Code, but does 

11 not include the Government Accountability Office. 

12 (4) OPEN FORMAT.—The term ‘‘open format’’ 

13 means a file format for storing digital data based on 

14 an underlying open standard that— 

15 (A) is not encumbered by any restrictions 

16 that would impede reuse; and 

17 (B) is based on an underlying open data 

18 standard that is maintained by a standards or19 ganization. 

20 (5) REPORTS ONLINE PORTAL.—The term ‘‘re21 ports online portal’’ means the online portal estab22 lished under section 213(a). 


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1 SEC. 213. ESTABLISHMENT OF ONLINE PORTAL FOR CON2 GRESSIONALLY MANDATED REPORTS. 

3 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH ONLINE POR4 TAL.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

6 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall 

7 establish and maintain an online portal accessible by 

8 the public that allows the public to obtain electronic 

9 copies of all congressionally mandated reports in one 

10 place. The Director may publish other reports on the 

11 online portal. 

12 (2) EXISTING FUNCTIONALITY.—To the extent 

13 possible, the Director shall meet the requirements 

14 under paragraph (1) by using existing online portals 

15 and functionality under the authority of the Direc16 tor. 

17 (3) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this sub18 title, the Director shall consult with the Clerk of the 

19 House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Sen20 ate, and the Librarian of Congress regarding the re21 quirements for and maintenance of congressionally 

22 mandated reports on the reports online portal. 

23 (b) CONTENT AND FUNCTION.—The Director shall 

24 ensure that the reports online portal includes the fol25 lowing: 


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1 (1) Subject to subsection (c), with respect to 

2 each congressionally mandated report, each of the 

3 following: 

4 (A) A citation to the statute requiring the 

5 report. 

6 (B) An electronic copy of the report, in7 cluding any transmittal letter associated with 

8 the report, in an open format that is platform 

9 independent and that is available to the public 

10 without restrictions, including restrictions that 

11 would impede the re-use of the information in 

12 the report. 

13 (C) The ability to retrieve a report, to the 

14 extent practicable, through searches based on 

15 each, and any combination, of the following: 

16 (i) The title of the report. 

17 (ii) The reporting Federal agency. 

18 (iii) The date of publication. 

19 (iv) Each congressional committee or 

20 subcommittee receiving the report, if appli21 cable. 

22 (v) The statute requiring the report. 

23 (vi) Subject tags. 


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1 (vii) A unique alphanumeric identifier 

2 for the report that is consistent across re3 port editions. 

4 (viii) The serial number, Super5 intendent of Documents number, or other 

6 identification number for the report, if ap7 plicable. 

8 (ix) Key words. 

9 (x) Full text search. 

10 (xi) Any other relevant information 

11 specified by the Director. 

12 (D) The date on which the report was re13 quired to be submitted, and on which the report 

14 was submitted, to the reports online portal. 

15 (E) To the extent practicable, a permanent 

16 means of accessing the report electronically. 

17 (2) A means for bulk download of all congres18 sionally mandated reports. 

19 (3) A means for downloading individual reports 

20 as the result of a search. 

21 (4) An electronic means for the head of each 

22 Federal agency to submit to the reports online por23 tal each congressionally mandated report of the 

24 agency, as required by section 214. 


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1 (5) In tabular form, a list of all congressionally 

2 mandated reports that can be searched, sorted, and 

3 downloaded by— 

4 (A) reports submitted within the required 

5 time; 

6 (B) reports submitted after the date on 

7 which such reports were required to be sub8 mitted; and 

9 (C) reports not submitted. 

10 (c) NONCOMPLIANCE BY FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 

11 (1) REPORTS NOT SUBMITTED.—If a Federal 

12 agency does not submit a congressionally mandated 

13 report to the Director, the Director shall to the ex14 tent practicable— 

15 (A) include on the reports online portal— 

16 (i) the information required under 

17 clauses (i), (ii), (iv), and (v) of subsection 

18 (b)(1)(C); and 

19 (ii) the date on which the report was 

20 required to be submitted; and 

21 (B) include the congressionally mandated 

22 report on the list described in subsection 

23 (b)(5)(C). 

24 (2) REPORTS NOT IN OPEN FORMAT.—If a Fed25 eral agency submits a congressionally mandated reVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:13 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5150.IH H5150

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1 port that is not in an open format, the Director shall 

2 include the congressionally mandated report in an3 other format on the reports online portal. 

4 (d) DEADLINE.—The Director shall ensure that in5 formation required to be published on the online portal 

6 under this subtitle with respect to a congressionally man7 dated report or information required under subsection (c) 

8 is published— 

9 (1) not later than 30 calendar days after the in10 formation is received from the Federal agency in11 volved; or 

12 (2) in the case of information required under 

13 subsection (c), not later than 30 calendar days after 

14 the deadline under this subtitle for the Federal 

15 agency involved to submit information with respect 

16 to the congressionally mandated report involved. 

17 (e) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN REPORTS.— 

18 (1) EXCEPTION DESCRIBED.—A congressionally 

19 mandated report which is required by statute to be 

20 submitted to a committee of Congress or a sub21 committee thereof, including any transmittal letter 

22 associated with the report, shall not be submitted to 

23 or published on the reports online portal if the chair 

24 of a committee or subcommittee to which the report 

25 is submitted notifies the Director in writing that the 


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1 report is to be withheld from submission and publi2 cation under this subtitle. 

3 (2) NOTICE ON PORTAL.—If a report is with4 held from submission to or publication on the re5 ports online portal under paragraph (1), the Direc6 tor shall post on the portal— 

7 (A) a statement that the report is withheld 

8 at the request of a committee or subcommittee 

9 involved; and 

10 (B) the written notification specified in 

11 paragraph (1). 

12 (f) FREE ACCESS.—The Director may not charge a 

13 fee, require registration, or impose any other limitation 

14 in exchange for access to the reports online portal. 

15 (g) UPGRADE CAPABILITY.—The reports online por16 tal shall be enhanced and updated as necessary to carry 

17 out the purposes of this subtitle. 

18 SEC. 214. FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES. 

19 (a) SUBMISSION OF ELECTRONIC COPIES OF RE20 PORTS.—Not earlier than 30 calendar days or later than 

21 45 calendar days after the date on which a congressionally 

22 mandated report is submitted to either House of Congress 

23 or to any committee of Congress or subcommittee thereof, 

24 the head of the Federal agency submitting the congres25 sionally mandated report shall submit to the Director the 


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1 information required under subparagraphs (A) through 

2 (D) of section 213(b)(1) with respect to the congression3 ally mandated report. Nothing in this subtitle shall relieve 

4 a Federal agency of any other requirement to publish the 

5 congressionally mandated report on the online portal of 

6 the Federal agency or otherwise submit the congression7 ally mandated report to Congress or specific committees 

8 of Congress, or subcommittees thereof. 

9 (b) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 240 calendar days 

10 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of 

11 the Office of Management and Budget, in consultation 

12 with the Director, shall issue guidance to agencies on the 

13 implementation of this subtitle. 

14 (c) STRUCTURE OF SUBMITTED REPORT DATA.— 

15 The head of each Federal agency shall ensure that each 

16 congressionally mandated report submitted to the Director 

17 complies with the open format criteria established by the 

18 Director in the guidance issued under subsection (b). 

19 (d) POINT OF CONTACT.—The head of each Federal 

20 agency shall designate a point of contact for congression21 ally mandated reports. 

22 SEC. 215. CHANGING OR REMOVING REPORTS. 

23 (a) LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY TO CHANGE OR RE24 MOVE REPORTS.—Except as provided in subsection (b), 

25 the head of the Federal agency concerned may change or 


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1 remove a congressionally mandated report submitted to be 

2 published on the reports online portal only if— 

3 (1) the head of the Federal agency consults 

4 with each committee of Congress or subcommittee 

5 thereof to which the report is required to be sub6 mitted (or, in the case of a report which is not re7 quired to be submitted to a particular committee of 

8 Congress or subcommittee thereof, to each com9 mittee with jurisdiction over the agency, as deter10 mined by the head of the agency in consultation with 

11 the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 

12 President pro tempore of the Senate) prior to chang13 ing or removing the report; and 

14 (2) a joint resolution is enacted to authorize the 

15 change in or removal of the report. 

16 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), 

17 the head of the Federal agency concerned— 

18 (1) may make technical changes to a report 

19 submitted to or published on the online portal; and 

20 (2) may remove a report from the online portal 

21 if the report was submitted to or published on the 

22 online portal in error. 


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1 SEC. 216. RELATIONSHIP TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMA2 TION ACT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this subtitle shall be 

4 construed to— 

5 (1) require the disclosure of information, 

6 records, or reports that are exempt from public dis7 closure under section 552 of title 5, United States 

8 Code; or 

9 (2) impose any affirmative duty on the Director 

10 to review congressionally mandated reports sub11 mitted for publication to the reports online portal 

12 for the purpose of identifying and redacting such in13 formation or records. 

14 (b) REDACTION OF INFORMATION.—The head of a 

15 Federal agency may redact information required to be dis16 closed under this subtitle if the information would be prop17 erly withheld from disclosure under section 552 of title 

18 5, United States Code, and shall— 

19 (1) redact information required to be disclosed 

20 under this subtitle if disclosure of such information 

21 is prohibited by law; 

22 (2) redact information being withheld under 

23 this subsection prior to submitting the information 

24 to the Director; 

25 (3) redact only such information properly with26 held under this subsection from the submission of 


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1 information or from any congressionally mandated 

2 report submitted under this Act; 

3 (4) identify where any such redaction is made 

4 in the submission or report; and 

5 (5) identify the exemption under which each 

6 such redaction is made. 

7 SEC. 217. IMPLEMENTATION. 

8 (a) REPORTS SUBMITTED TO CONGRESS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—This subtitle shall apply 

10 with respect to any congressionally mandated report 

11 which— 

12 (A) is required by statute to be submitted 

13 to the House of Representatives or Senate at 

14 any time before, on, or after the date of the en15 actment of this Act; or 

16 (B) is included by the Clerk of the House 

17 of Representatives or the Secretary of the Sen18 ate (as the case may be) on the list of reports 

19 received by the House of Representatives or 

20 Senate (as the case may be) at any time before 

21 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

22 (2) TRANSITION RULE FOR PREVIOUSLY SUB23 MITTED REPORTS.—The Director shall ensure that 

24 any congressionally mandated report described in 

25 paragraph (1) which was required to be submitted to 


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1 Congress by a statue enacted before the date of the 

2 enactment of this Act is published on the online por3 tal under this subtitle not later than 1 year after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act. 

5 (b) REPORTS SUBMITTED TO COMMITTEES.—In the 

6 case of congressionally mandated reports which are re7 quired by statute to be submitted to a committee of Con8 gress or a subcommittee thereof, this subtitle shall apply 

9 with respect to— 

10 (1) any such report which is first required to be 

11 submitted by a statute which is enacted on or after 

12 the date of the enactment of this Act; and 

13 (2) to the maximum extent practical, any con14 gressionally mandated report which was required to 

15 be submitted by a statute enacted before the date of 

16 enactment of this Act unless— 

17 (A) the chair of the committee, or sub18 committee thereof, to which the report was re19 quired to be submitted notifies the Director in 

20 writing that the report is to be withheld from 

21 publication; and 

22 (B) the Director publishes the notification 

23 on the online portal. 


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1 SEC. 218. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

2 The budgetary effects of this subtitle, for the purpose 

3 of complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 

4 2010, shall be determined by reference to the latest state5 ment titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ 

6 for this subtitle, submitted for printing in the Congres7 sional Record by the Chairman of the House Budget Com8 mittee, provided that such statement has been submitted 

9 prior to the vote on passage. 

10 TITLE III—EXPANDING ACCESS 

11 TO CONGRESSIONAL RE12 SEARCH SERVICE REPORTS 

13 ON LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

14 WEBSITE 

15 SEC. 301. INCLUSION OF REPORTS FROM ARCHIVE. 

16 Section 154(a)(2) of Legislative Branch Appropria17 tions Act, 2018 (2 U.S.C. 166a(a)(2)) is amended— 

18 (1) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as sub19 paragraph (C); and 

20 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the fol21 lowing new subparagraph: 

22 ‘‘(B) INCLUSION OF ARCHIVED MATE23 RIAL.—The term ‘CRS Report’ includes any re24 port or product described in subparagraph (A) 

25 which is produced prior to the effective date of 


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1 this section, including any report or product 

2 maintained in a CRS archive.’’. 

3 SEC. 302. AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS IN STRUCTURED FOR4 MAT. 

5 Section 154(b)(1)(B) of the Legislative Branch Ap6 propriations Act, 2018 (2 U.S.C. 166a(b)(1)(B)) is 

7 amended by striking the period at the end and inserting 

8 the following: ‘‘, and shall be available in a structured data 

9 format.’’ 

10 SEC. 303. REPORT ON MAKING OTHER MATERIALS AVAIL11 ABLE. 

12 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

13 of this Act, the Director of the Congressional Research 

14 Service shall submit a report to Congress describing the 

15 steps the Director would be required to take in order to 

16 make materials and publications of the Service which are 

17 not treated as CRS Reports under section 154 of the Leg18 islative Branch Appropriations Act, 2018 (2 U.S.C. 166a) 

19 available through the website established and maintained 

20 by the Librarian of Congress under such section. 

21 SEC. 304. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

22 The amendments made by sections 301 and 302 shall 

23 take effect as if included in the enactment of section 154 

24 of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2018 (2 

25 U.S.C. 166a). 


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1 TITLE IV—LOBBYING 

2 DISCLOSURE 

3 SEC. 401. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Lobbyist Disclosure 

5 Enhancement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 402. MODIFICATIONS TO ENFORCEMENT. 

7 (a) LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT TASK FORCE.— 

8 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Attorney General 

9 shall establish the Lobbying Disclosure Act Enforce10 ment Task Force (in this subsection referred to as 

11 the ‘‘Task Force’’). 

12 (2) FUNCTIONS.—The Task Force— 

13 (A) shall have primary responsibility for 

14 investigating and prosecuting each case referred 

15 to the Attorney General under section 6(a)(8) 

16 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 

17 U.S.C. 1605(a)(8)); 

18 (B) shall collect and disseminate informa19 tion with respect to the enforcement of the Lob20 bying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601 et 

21 seq.); 

22 (C) shall audit, at a minimum on an an23 nual basis, and as frequently as deemed nec24 essary by the Task Force, the extent of compli25 ance or noncompliance with the requirements of 


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1 the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 by lobby2 ists, lobbying firms, and registrants under that 

3 Act through a random sampling of lobbying 

4 registrations and reports filed under that Act 

5 during each calendar year; and 

6 (D) shall establish, publicize, and operate a 

7 toll-free telephone number to serve as a hotline 

8 for members of the public to report noncompli9 ance with lobbyist disclosure requirements 

10 under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, 

11 and shall develop a mechanism to allow mem12 bers of the public to report such noncompliance 

13 online. 

14 (b) REFERRAL OF CASES TO THE ATTORNEY GEN15 ERAL.—Section 6(a) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 

16 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1605(a)) is amended— 

17 (1) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘United 

18 States Attorney for the District of Columbia’’ and 

19 inserting ‘‘Attorney General’’; and 

20 (2) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘United 

21 States Attorney for the District of Columbia’’ and 

22 inserting ‘‘Attorney General’’. 

23 (c) RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVED ENFORCE24 MENT.—The Attorney General may make recommenda25 tions to Congress with respect to— 


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1 (1) the enforcement of and compliance with the 

2 Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995; and 

3 (2) the need for resources available for the en4 hanced enforcement of the Lobbying Disclosure Act 

5 of 1995. 

6 (d) INFORMATION IN ENFORCEMENT REPORTS.— 

7 Section 6(b)(1) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

8 (2 U.S.C. 1605(b)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘by case’’ 

9 and all that follows through ‘‘public record’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘by case and name of the individual lobbyists or lobbying 

11 firms involved, any sentences imposed’’. 

12 SEC. 403. DEFINITION OF LOBBYIST. 

13 Section 3(10) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

14 (2 U.S.C. 1602(10)) is amended by striking ‘‘, other than 

15 an individual’’ and all that follows through ‘‘period’’. 

16 SEC. 404. EXPEDITED ONLINE REGISTRATION OF LOBBY17 ISTS; EXPANSION OF REGISTRANTS. 

18 Section 4(a) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

19 (2 U.S.C. 1603(a)) is amended— 

20 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

21 (A) by striking ‘‘45 days’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘10 days’’; 

23 (B) by striking ‘‘, or on the first business 

24 day after such 45th day if such 45th day is not 

25 a business day,’’ and inserting ‘‘, or on the first 


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1 business day occurring after such 10th day if 

2 such 10th day does not occur on a business 

3 day,’’; and 

4 (C) by inserting ‘‘online’’ after ‘‘shall reg5 ister’’; and 

6 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

7 (A) by striking ‘‘Any organization’’ and in8 serting the following: 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara10 graph (B), any organization’’; and 

11 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(B) THRESHOLD FOR CERTAIN ORGANI13 ZATIONS.—In the case of an organization whose 

14 employees who are lobbyists engage in lobbying 

15 activities only on behalf of the organization, the 

16 organization is required to register under this 

17 subsection only if the lobbying activities of each 

18 such employee includes or is expected to include 

19 more than one lobbying contact.’’. 

20 SEC. 405. DISCLOSURE OF POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS. 

21 Section 5(d)(1) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 

22 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604(d)(1)) is amended— 

23 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 

24 by striking ‘‘30 days after’’ and all that follows 

25 through ‘‘30th day is not’’ and inserting ‘‘20 days 


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1 after the end of the quarterly period beginning on 

2 the first day of January, April, July, and October of 

3 each year, or on the first business day after such 

4 20th day if such 20th day is not’’; and 

5 (2) by striking ‘‘semiannual period’’ each place 

6 it appears and inserting ‘‘quarterly period’’. 

7 SEC. 406. IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS FOR LOBBYISTS. 

8 (a) REQUIRING ASSIGNMENT OF UNIQUE IDENTI9 FICATION NUMBER.—Section 6(a)(3) of the Lobbying 

10 Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1605(a)(3)) is amend11 ed— 

12 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara13 graph (A); 

14 (2) by adding ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon the 

15 end of subparagraph (B); and 

16 (3) by adding after subparagraph (B) the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(C) a system that assigns a unique identi19 fication number for each lobbyist for whom a 

20 registration or report is filed under this Act;’’. 

21 (b) REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 

22 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

23 Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary 

24 of the Senate shall submit a report to Congress on the 

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1 menting the amendment made by subsection (a), and shall 

2 include in the report an analysis of the progress made in 

3 including the unique identification number assigned to a 

4 lobbyist in the statements and reports filed under the Lob5 bying Disclosure Act of 1995 in a structured data format. 

6 SEC. 407. ETHICS TRAINING FOR LOBBYISTS. 

7 (a) REQUIRED ETHICS TRAINING.—Any individual 

8 who is a lobbyist registered or required to register under 

9 section 4 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 

10 U.S.C. 1603) shall— 

11 (1) complete ethics training described in sub12 section (b)— 

13 (A) not later than 6 months after the indi14 vidual is first employed or retained for services 

15 that include one or more lobbying contacts; and 

16 (B) at least once in each 5-year period 

17 during which the individual is registered or re18 quired to register under section 4; and 

19 (2) submit to the Clerk of the House of Rep20 resentatives and the Secretary of the Senate certifi21 cation of the training completed under paragraph 

22 (1). 

23 (b) QUALIFIED TRAINING.—The Ethics Committee 

24 of the House of Representatives and the Select Committee 

25 on Ethics of the Senate shall jointly— 


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1 (1) determine the curriculum and certification 

2 requirements for the ethics training for individuals 

3 described in subsection (a); 

4 (2) approve those educational institutions, pro5 fessional associations, or other persons who are 

6 qualified to provide such ethics training; 

7 (3) determine the maximum fee that may be 

8 charged for the ethics training; and 

9 (4) provide oversight of the ethics training pro10 gram established under this section in order to de11 termine the quality of instruction in, and the admin12 istration of, the training program. 

13 (c) RESPONSIBILITIES OF CLERK AND SEC14 RETARY.—The Clerk of the House of Representatives and 

15 the Secretary of the Senate shall— 

16 (1) collect and review for completion and accu17 racy the certifications of ethics training submitted 

18 under subsection (a)(2); and 

19 (2) post on the websites of the Clerk and the 

20 Secretary, with respect to each individual required to 

21 complete ethics training under this section— 

22 (A) whether the individual has complied 

23 with such requirement; and 

24 (B) the certifications submitted by the in25 dividual under subsection (a)(2). 


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1 SEC. 408. ESTIMATES BASED ON TAX REPORTING SYSTEM. 

2 Section 15 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

3 (2 U.S.C. 1610) is repealed. 

4 SEC. 409. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

5 (a) SECTION 402.—Section 402 and the amendments 

6 made by that section take effect upon the expiration of 

7 the 90-day period beginning on the date of the enactment 

8 of this Act. 

9 (b) SECTIONS 403, 404, AND 405.—The amendments 

10 made by sections 403, 404, and 405 shall take effect on 

11 the first day of the first quarterly period described in sec12 tion 5(a) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 

13 U.S.C. 1604(a)) that begins after the end of the 90-day 

14 period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

15 (c) SECTION 406.—The amendments made by section 

16 406 shall apply to any registration or report that is filed 

17 under section 4 or 5 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 

18 1995— 

19 (1) on or after the 90th day after the date of 

20 the enactment of this Act; or 

21 (2) before such 90th day, if such registration or 

22 report is, as of such 90th day, being retained under 

23 section 6(a)(5) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 

24 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1605(a)(5)). 

25 (d) SECTION 407.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 407 shall take effect 

2 upon the expiration of the 1-year period beginning 

3 on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

4 (2) CURRENT LOBBYISTS.—In the case of indi5 viduals who are registered under section 4 of the 

6 Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603) as 

7 of the effective date under paragraph (1), the ethics 

8 training required under section 407(a)(1) shall be 

9 completed not later than the end of the 6-month pe10 riod beginning on the effective date under paragraph 

11 (1) of this subsection, in lieu of the date specified 

12 in section 407(a)(1). 

13 TITLE V—TRANSPARENCY IN 

14 FEDERAL CONTRACTING 

15 SEC. 501. IMPROVING APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTER16 FACE AND WEBSITE DATA ELEMENTS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2 of the Federal Funding 

18 Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Public Law 

19 109–282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note) is amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (a)— 

21 (A) in paragraph (4)(A)(ii), by striking 

22 ‘‘and delivery orders’’ and inserting ‘‘lease 

23 agreements and assignments, and delivery or24 ders’’; 

25 (B) in paragraph (7)— 


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1 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

2 ‘‘paragraph (2)(A)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘para3 graph (5)(A)(i)’’; 

4 (ii) in subparagraph (C)— 

5 (I) by striking ‘‘paragraph 

6 (2)(A)(ii)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

7 (5)(A)(ii)’’; and 

8 (II) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the 

9 semicolon; 

10 (iii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

11 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

12 and’’; and 

13 (iv) by adding at the end the following 

14 new subparagraph: 

15 ‘‘(E) programmatically search and access 

16 all data in a serialized machine-readable format 

17 (such as XML) via a web-services application 

18 programming interface.’’; 

19 (C) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 

20 through (8) as paragraphs (2) through (9), re21 spectively; and 

22 (D) by inserting before paragraph (2) the 

23 following new paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(1) CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

25 ITEM.—The term ‘congressionally directed spending 


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1 item’ means a provision or report language included 

2 primarily at the request of a Member of Congress 

3 providing, authorizing, or recommending a specific 

4 amount of discretionary budget authority, credit au5 thority, or other spending authority for a contract, 

6 loan, loan guarantee, grant, loan authority, or other 

7 expenditure with or to an entity, or targeted to a 

8 specific State, locality, or congressional district, 

9 other than through a statutory or administrative for10 mula-driven or competitive award process.’’; 

11 (2) in subsection (b)(1)— 

12 (A) in subparagraph (F), by striking the 

13 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

14 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (G) as 

15 subparagraph (J); and 

16 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (F) 

17 the following new subparagraphs: 

18 ‘‘(G) to the extent possible, the Federal 

19 agency, including the bureau, office, or subdivi20 sion, that authorized the Federal award; 

21 ‘‘(H) after January 1, 2020, for each con22 tract, subcontract, purchase order, task order, 

23 lease agreement and assignment, and delivery 

24 order— 


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1 ‘‘(i) information about the extent of 

2 competition in awarding the contract, in3 cluding the number of bids or proposals 

4 determined to be responsive during the 

5 competitive process, and if the award was 

6 not competitive, the legal authority and 

7 specific rationale for awarding the contract 

8 without full and open competition; 

9 ‘‘(ii) the full amount awarded under 

10 the contract or, in the case of lease agree11 ments or assignments, the amount paid to 

12 the Government, and the full amount of 

13 any options to expand or extend under the 

14 contract; 

15 ‘‘(iii) the amount of the profit incen16 tive, such as award fees; 

17 ‘‘(iv) the type of contract, such as 

18 fixed price, cost plus pricing, labor hour 

19 contracts, and time and materials con20 tracts; 

21 ‘‘(v) a permanent link to the original 

22 solicitation or notice and the solicitation 

23 ID; 

24 ‘‘(vi) an indication if the contract is 

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1 asides, preference program requirements, 

2 or other criteria, and whether the contract 

3 is multi-year, consolidated, or performance4 based; and 

5 ‘‘(vii) an indication if the contract is 

6 a congressionally directed spending item; 

7 ‘‘(I) after January 1, 2020, for all grants, 

8 subgrants, loans, awards, cooperative agree9 ments, and other forms of financial assistance, 

10 an indication if the funding is a congressionally 

11 directed spending item; and’’; and 

12 (3) in subsection (c)(5)— 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(2)(A)(i)’’ 

14 and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(5)(A)(i)’’; and 

15 (B) by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(2)(A)(ii)’’ 

16 and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(5)(A)(ii)’’. 

17 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as otherwise pro18 vided, the amendments made by subsection (a) shall be 

19 implemented not later than 6 months after the date of 

20 the enactment of this Act. 

21 SEC. 502. IMPROVING DATA QUALITY. 

22 The Federal Funding Accountability and Trans23 parency Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–282; 31 U.S.C. 

24 6101 note) is amended by adding at the end the following 

25 new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 9. IMPROVING DATA QUALITY. 

2 ‘‘(a) INSPECTOR GENERAL DATA AUDIT.—Each In3 spector General shall annually audit for the previous fiscal 

4 year the data used on the website established under sec5 tion 2 for the relevant Federal agency of the Inspector 

6 General, in compliance with generally accepted Govern7 ment auditing standards, and submit a report on such 

8 audit to the Director of the Office of Management and 

9 Budget that includes at least the following: 

10 ‘‘(1) A review of data used for the website to 

11 verify accuracy of the data and assess the process 

12 used for improving data quality. 

13 ‘‘(2) A review of a statistically representative 

14 sample of Federal awards to determine whether the 

15 Federal agency of the Inspector General has appro16 priate measures in place to review data submissions 

17 under this Act for accuracy and completeness. 

18 ‘‘(3) An identification of and report on new 

19 standards that the Inspector General recommends 

20 for implementation by the Federal agency of the In21 spector General to improve data quality. 

22 ‘‘(b) OMB REPORT.—Not later than April 1 of each 

23 year, the Director of the Office of Management and Budg24 et shall make each report submitted under subsection (a) 

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1 tions to improve data quality, through the website estab2 lished under section 2.’’. 

3 SEC. 503. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO REPORTING OF 

4 AWARD DATA. 

5 (a) REVISION OF GUIDANCE.—The Director of the 

6 Office of Management and Budget shall revise the Office’s 

7 guidance to Federal agencies on reporting Federal awards 

8 to clarify— 

9 (1) the requirement for award titles to describe 

10 the award’s purpose; and 

11 (2) requirements for validating and docu12 menting agency award data submitted by Federal 

13 agencies. 

14 (b) INCLUSION OF CITY INFORMATION.—The Direc15 tor of the Office of Management and Budget shall include 

16 information on the city in which work is performed in the 

17 Office’s public reporting of the completeness of agency 

18 data submissions. 

19 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘Fed20 eral agency’’ and ‘‘Federal award’’ have the meanings 

21 given those terms in section 2(a) of the Federal Funding 

22 Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Public Law 

23 109–282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note). 


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1 SEC. 504. RECIPIENT PERFORMANCE TRANSPARENCY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Funding Account3 ability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Public Law 109– 

4 282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note), as amended by the preceding 

5 provisions of this Act, is further amended by adding at 

6 the end the following new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 10. RECIPIENT PERFORMANCE TRANSPARENCY AND 

8 PAST PERFORMANCE. 

9 ‘‘The Director of the Office of Management and 

10 Budget shall ensure that the unique identifier required in 

11 section 2(b)(1)(E), which is used to link information about 

12 an entity receiving an award on the website established 

13 under such section, is also used to link information about 

14 such entity on the Federal Awardee Performance Integrity 

15 Information System.’’. 

16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

17 subsection (a) shall be implemented not later than June 

18 30, 2020. 

19 SEC. 505. IMPROVEMENT OF FEDERAL AWARDEE PER20 FORMANCE AND INTEGRITY INFORMATION 

21 SYSTEM DATABASE. 

22 Section 872(c) of the Duncan Hunter National De23 fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Public Law 

24 110–417; 122 Stat. 4556) is amended— 


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1 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

2 striking ‘‘5-year period’’ and inserting ‘‘10-year pe3 riod’’; and 

4 (2) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end the 

5 following new subparagraphs: 

6 ‘‘(E) In an administrative proceeding, any 

7 administrative judgment that does not contain 

8 an explicit finding or acknowledgment of fault. 

9 ‘‘(F) In a civil proceeding, any settlement 

10 that does not contain an explicit finding or ac11 knowledgment of fault.’’. 

12 SEC. 506. FEDERAL CONTRACTOR COMPLIANCE. 

13 (a) PERIODIC INSPECTION OR REVIEW OF CONTRACT

14 FILES.—Section 2313(e)(2) of title 41, United States 

15 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 

16 subparagraph: 

17 ‘‘(C) PERIODIC INSPECTION OR REVIEW.— 

18 The Inspector General of each Federal agency 

19 shall periodically— 

20 ‘‘(i) conduct an inspection or review of 

21 each contract file described in subpara22 graph (B) to determine if the agency is 

23 providing appropriate consideration of the 

24 information included in the database estab25 lished under subsection (a); and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) submit a report containing the 

2 results of the inspection or review con3 ducted under clause (i) to the Committee 

4 on Homeland Security and Governmental 

5 Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 

6 on Oversight and Reform of the House of 

7 Representatives.’’. 

8 (b) SELF-REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Subsection 

9 (f) of section 2313 of such title is amended to read as 

10 follows: 

11 ‘‘(f) SELF-REPORTING REQUIREMENT.— 

12 ‘‘(1) CONTRACTS IN EXCESS OF SIMPLIFIED AC13 QUISITION THRESHOLD.—No funds appropriated or 

14 otherwise made available by any Act may be used for 

15 any Federal contract for the procurement of prop16 erty or services in excess of the simplified acquisition 

17 threshold unless the contractor has first made the 

18 certifications set forth in section 52.209–5 of the 

19 Federal Acquisition Regulation. 

20 ‘‘(2) CONTRACTS IN EXCESS OF $500,000.—No 

21 funds appropriated or otherwise made available by 

22 any Act may be used for any Federal contract for 

23 the procurement of property or services in excess of 

24 $500,000 unless the contractor— 


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1 ‘‘(A) certifies that the contractor has sub2 mitted to the Administrator of General Services 

3 the information required under subsection (c) 

4 and that such information is current as of the 

5 date of such certification; or 

6 ‘‘(B) certifies that the contractor has cu7 mulative active Federal contracts and grants 

8 with a total value of less than $10,000,000.’’. 

9 (c) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Comptroller General of 

10 the United States shall annually submit a report to the 

11 appropriate congressional committees describing the ex12 tent to which suspended or debarred contractors on the 

13 Excluded Parties List System— 

14 (1) are identified as having received Federal 

15 contracts on USAspending.gov; or 

16 (2) were granted waivers from Federal agencies 

17 from suspension or debarment for purposes of enter18 ing into Federal contracts. 

19 SEC. 507. IMPROVING ACCESS TO INFORMATION DIS20 CLOSED ON LOBBYING ACTIVITIES. 

21 (a) INFORMATION FILED WITH THE ADMINISTRATOR

22 OF GENERAL SERVICES.—Section 1352(b) of title 31, 

23 United States Code, is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘file with that 

2 agency’’ and inserting ‘‘file electronically with the 

3 Administrator of General Services’’; and 

4 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

5 paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(7) DATABASE REQUIRED.—The Adminis7 trator of General Services shall establish and main8 tain an online database that— 

9 ‘‘(A) is available to each agency and the 

10 public; 

11 ‘‘(B) contains information disclosed pursu12 ant to this subsection; and 

13 ‘‘(C) is searchable, sortable, machine-read14 able, and downloadable.’’. 

15 (b) DEADLINE FOR DATABASE.—Not later than 180 

16 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad17 ministrator of General Services shall establish the data18 base required by paragraph (7) of section 1352(b) of title 

19 31, United States Code, as added by subsection (a). 

20 SEC. 508. INCLUSION OF NARRATIVES ON 

21 USASPENDING.GOV. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

23 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Of24 fice of Management and Budget shall allow any agency, 


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1 in reporting an award to USAspending.gov (or a successor 

2 website), to upload a narrative for such award. 

3 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘agen4 cy’’ and ‘‘award’’ have the meanings given those terms on 

5 USAspending.gov (or a successor website). 

6 TITLE VI—EXECUTIVE BRANCH 

7 TRANSPARENCY 

8 Subtitle A—Public Availability of 

9 Information 

10 SEC. 601. REQUIREMENT FOR DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL 

11 SPONSORSHIP OF ALL FEDERAL ADVER12 TISING OR OTHER COMMUNICATIONS. 

13 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Except as provided for in sub14 section (b), each advertisement or other communication 

15 paid for by an agency, either directly or through a contract 

16 awarded by the agency, shall include a prominent notice 

17 informing the target audience that the advertisement or 

18 other communication is paid for by that agency. 

19 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—The requirement in subsection (a) 

20 shall not apply to an advertisement or other communica21 tion— 

22 (1) that is 200 characters or less; or 

23 (2) that is distributed through a short message 

24 service. 


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1 (c) ADVERTISEMENT OR OTHER COMMUNICATIONS

2 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘advertisement or 

3 other communication’’ includes— 

4 (1) an advertisement disseminated in any form, 

5 including print or by any electronic means; and 

6 (2) a communication by an individual in any 

7 form, including speech, print, or by any electronic 

8 means. 

9 SEC. 602. IMPROVING ACCESS TO INFLUENTIAL EXECUTIVE 

10 BRANCH OFFICIAL’S VISITOR ACCESS 

11 RECORDS. 

12 (a) DISCLOSURE OF WHITE HOUSE VISITOR ACCESS

13 RECORDS.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the 

14 enactment of this Act, and monthly thereafter, the Presi15 dent shall disclose to the public all White House visitor 

16 access records for the previous month that are redacted 

17 in accordance with subsection (c). 

18 (b) DISCLOSURE OF AGENCY VISITOR ACCESS

19 RECORDS.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the 

20 enactment of this Act, and monthly thereafter, the head 

21 of each agency shall disclose to the public all visitor access 

22 records for the previous month for such agency head that 

23 are redacted in accordance with subsection (c). 

24 (c) INFORMATION NOT DISCLOSED.—The President 

25 under subsection (a), and the head of the relevant agency 


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1 under subsection (b), as the case may be, may determine 

2 to not disclose the following information pursuant to this 

3 section: 

4 (1) Any information— 

5 (A) that implicates personal privacy or law 

6 enforcement concerns (such as date of birth, so7 cial security number, and contact phone num8 ber); 

9 (B) that implicates the personal safety of 

10 White House staff (including daily arrival and 

11 departure); or 

12 (C) whose release would so threaten na13 tional security interests that it outweighs a 

14 strong presumption in favor of the public’s in15 terest in disclosure. 

16 (2) For a non-renewable period of up to a year, 

17 any information related to purely personal guests of 

18 the first and second families, but only if the execu19 tive branch’s interest in protecting an unfettered 

20 consultation conducted in secret strongly outweighs 

21 the public’s interest in an accountable Government 

22 free of corruption and political influence. 

23 (3) Any information related to a small group of 

24 particularly sensitive meetings (such as visits of po25 tential Supreme Court nominees). 


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1 SEC. 603. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF BUDGET JUSTIFICA2 TIONS AND APPROPRIATION REQUESTS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 of the Federal Funding 

4 Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 

5 6101 note) is amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 3. FULL DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL FUNDS. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not less frequently than monthly 

8 when practicable, and in any event not less frequently than 

9 quarterly, the Secretary (in consultation with the Director 

10 and, with respect to information described in subsection 

11 (b)(2), the head of the applicable Federal agency) shall 

12 ensure that updated information with respect to the infor13 mation described in subsection (b) is posted on the website 

14 established under section 2. 

15 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION TO BE POSTED.— 

16 ‘‘(1) FUNDS.—For any funds made available to 

17 or expended by a Federal agency or component of a 

18 Federal agency, the information to be posted shall 

19 include— 

20 ‘‘(A) for each appropriations account, in21 cluding an expired or unexpired appropriations 

22 account, the amount— 

23 ‘‘(i) of budget authority appropriated; 

24 ‘‘(ii) that is obligated; 

25 ‘‘(iii) of unobligated balances; and 


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1 ‘‘(iv) of any other budgetary re2 sources; 

3 ‘‘(B) from which accounts and in what 

4 amount— 

5 ‘‘(i) appropriations are obligated for 

6 each program activity; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) outlays are made for each pro8 gram activity; 

9 ‘‘(C) from which accounts and in what 

10 amount— 

11 ‘‘(i) appropriations are obligated for 

12 each object class; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) outlays are made for each object 

14 class; and 

15 ‘‘(D) for each program activity, the 

16 amount— 

17 ‘‘(i) obligated for each object class; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(ii) of outlays made for each object 

20 class. 

21 ‘‘(2) BUDGET JUSTIFICATIONS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph— 

23 ‘‘(i) the term ‘agency’ has the mean24 ing given that term in section 101 of title 

25 31, United States Code; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘budget justification 

2 materials’ means the annual budget jus3 tification materials of an agency that are 

4 submitted to Congress in support of the 

5 budget of the agency, in conjunction with 

6 the budget of the United States Govern7 ment submitted under section 1105(a) of 

8 title 31, United States Code, but does not 

9 include budget justification materials that 

10 are classified. 

11 ‘‘(B) INFORMATION.—The information to 

12 be posted shall include the budget justification 

13 materials of each agency— 

14 ‘‘(i) for the second fiscal year begin15 ning after the date of enactment of this 

16 paragraph, and each fiscal year thereafter; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(ii) to the extent practicable, that 

19 were released for any fiscal year before the 

20 date of enactment of this paragraph. 

21 ‘‘(C) FORMAT.—Budget justification mate22 rials shall be posted under subparagraph (B)— 

23 ‘‘(i) in an open format machine read24 able and text searchable; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) in a manner that enables users 

2 to download individual reports, download 

3 all reports in bulk, and download in bulk 

4 the results of a search, to the extent prac5 ticable; and 

6 ‘‘(iii) in a structured data format, to 

7 the extent practicable. 

8 ‘‘(D) DEADLINE.—The budget justification 

9 materials required to be posted under subpara10 graph (B)(i) shall be posted not later than 2 

11 weeks after the date on which the budget jus12 tification materials are first submitted to Con13 gress. 

14 ‘‘(E) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 

15 in this paragraph shall be construed to author16 ize an agency to destroy any budget justifica17 tion materials relating to a fiscal year before 

18 the fiscal year described in subparagraph 

19 (B)(i).’’. 

20 (b) INFORMATION REGARDING AGENCY BUDGET

21 JUSTIFICATIONS.—Section 1105 of title 31, United States 

22 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(i)(1) The Director of the Office of Management 

24 and Budget shall make publicly available on an internet 

25 website, and continuously update, a tabular list for each 


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1 fiscal year of each agency that submits to Congress budget 

2 justification materials in support of the budget of the 

3 agency, which shall include— 

4 ‘‘(A) the name of the agency; 

5 ‘‘(B) a unique identifier that identifies the 

6 agency; 

7 ‘‘(C) to the extent practicable, the date on 

8 which the budget justification materials of the agen9 cy are first submitted to Congress; 

10 ‘‘(D) the date on which the budget justification 

11 materials of the agency are posted online under sec12 tion 3 of the Federal Funding Accountability and 

13 Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note); 

14 ‘‘(E) the uniform resource locator where the 

15 budget justification materials submitted to Congress 

16 are published on the website of the agency; and 

17 ‘‘(F) a single data set that contains the infor18 mation described in subparagraphs (A) through (E) 

19 with respect to the agency for all fiscal years for 

20 which budget justifications of the agency are made 

21 available under section 3 of the Federal Funding Ac22 countability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 

23 U.S.C. 6101 note) in a structured data format. 

24 ‘‘(2)(A) Each agency that submits to Congress budg25 et justification materials in support of the budget of the 


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1 agency shall make the materials available on the website 

2 of the agency. 

3 ‘‘(B) The Director of Office of Management and 

4 Budget shall establish best practices for agencies relating 

5 to making available materials under subparagraph (A)(i), 

6 which shall include guidelines for using a uniform resource 

7 locator that is in a consistent format across agencies and 

8 is descriptive, memorable, and pronounceable, such as the 

9 format of ‘agencyname.gov/budget’. 

10 ‘‘(C) If the Director of Office of Management and 

11 Budget maintains a public website that contains the budg12 et of the United States Government submitted under sub13 section (a) and any related materials, such website shall 

14 also contain a link to the tabular list required under para15 graph (1). 

16 ‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘budget justification 

17 materials’ has the meaning given that term in section 3 

18 of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency 

19 Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note).’’. 

20 SEC. 604. IMPROVING RULEMAKING DISCLOSURE FOR THE 

21 OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY 

22 AFFAIRS. 

23 (a) INCLUSION IN THE RULEMAKING DOCKET OF

24 DOCUMENTS AND COMMUNICATIONS RELATED TO THE

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1 VIEW.—As soon as practicable, and not later than 15 days 

2 after the conclusion of centralized regulatory review for 

3 a draft proposed or draft final rule, the Administrator of 

4 the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs shall in5 clude in the rulemaking docket the following: 

6 (1) A copy of the draft proposed or draft final 

7 rule and supporting analyses submitted to the Office 

8 of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review. 

9 (2) A copy of the draft proposed or draft final 

10 rule that incorporates substantive changes, if any, 

11 made to the rule as part of implementing centralized 

12 regulatory review. 

13 (3) A document describing in a complete, clear, 

14 and simple manner all substantive changes made by 

15 the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to 

16 the draft proposed or draft final rule submitted by 

17 the agency to Office for review. 

18 (4) A copy of all documents and written com19 munications (including all electronic mail and elec20 tronic mail file attachments), and a summary of all 

21 oral communications (including phone calls, phone 

22 conferences, and meetings), exchanged as part of the 

23 implementation of the centralized regulatory review 

24 between or among any of the following: 

25 (A) The agency responsible for the rule. 


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1 (B) The Office of Information and Regu2 latory Affairs. 

3 (C) Any other office or entity within the 

4 Executive Office of the President. 

5 (D) An agency that is not the agency re6 sponsible for the rule. 

7 (E) An individual who is not employed 

8 by— 

9 (i) the executive branch of the Federal 

10 Government; or 

11 (ii) an agency that is not the agency 

12 responsible for the rule. 

13 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

14 (1) CENTRALIZED REGULATORY REVIEW.—The 

15 term ‘‘centralized regulatory review’’ means the in16 stitutional process of Presidential oversight of indi17 vidual agency rules governed by Executive Order 

18 12866 (58 Fed. Reg. 51735; relating to regulatory 

19 planning and review), or any successor to such Exec20 utive order. 

21 (2) RULE.—The term ‘‘rule’’ has the meaning 

22 given that term in section 551 of title 5, United 

23 States Code. 

24 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec25 tion shall be construed to preempt or displace the discloVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:13 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00069 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5150.IH H5150

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1 sure requirements under any other provision of law affect2 ing administrative procedure, if such requirements are not 

3 inconsistent with the requirements of this section. 

4 SEC. 605. IMPROVING REGISTRATION INFORMATION FROM 

5 AGENTS OF FOREIGN PRINCIPALS. 

6 (a) IMPROVING ONLINE ACCESS TO REGISTRATION

7 INFORMATION.—Section 6(d)(1) of the Foreign Agents 

8 Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 616(d)(1)) is amend9 ed by striking ‘‘in a searchable, sortable, and 

10 downloadable manner’’ and inserting ‘‘in a format which 

11 is directly searchable, sortable, downloadable, and ma12 chine-readable’’. 

13 (b) REPEALING EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION

14 UNDER FOREIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT OF 1938 

15 FOR PERSONS FILING DISCLOSURE REPORTS UNDER

16 LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1995.— 

17 (1) REPEAL OF EXEMPTION.—Section 3 of the 

18 Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 

19 613) is amended by striking subsection (h). 

20 (2) TIMING OF FILING OF REGISTRATION

21 STATEMENTS.—Section 2 of the Foreign Agents 

22 Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 612) is amend23 ed— 

24 (A) in subsection (a), in the matter pre25 ceding paragraph (1), in the fourth sentence, by 


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1 striking ‘‘The registration statement shall in2 clude’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in 

3 subsection (h), the registration statement shall 

4 include’’; and 

5 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(h) TIMING FOR FILING OF STATEMENTS BY PER7 SONS REGISTERED UNDER THE LOBBYING DISCLOSURE

8 ACT OF 1995.—In the case of an agent of a person de9 scribed in section 1(b)(2) or an entity described in section 

10 1(b)(3) who has registered under the Lobbying Disclosure 

11 Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), after the agent files 

12 the first registration required under subsection (a) in con13 nection with the agent’s representation of such person or 

14 entity, the agent shall file all subsequent statements re15 quired under this section at the same time, and in the 

16 same frequency, as the reports filed with the Clerk of the 

17 House of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate 

18 (as the case may be) under section 5 of the Lobbying Dis19 closure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604) in connection with 

20 the agent’s representation of such person or entity.’’. 

21 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

22 this section shall take effect upon the expiration of the 

23 30-day period which begins on the date of the enactment 

24 of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 606. AGENCY DEFINED. 

2 In this subtitle (except for section 608), the term 

3 ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given that term under section 

4 551 of title 5, United States Code. 

5 SEC. 607. GOVERNMENT-WIDE ENTITY IDENTIFIER. 

6 (a) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term 

7 ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘Executive 

8 agency’’ under section 105 of title 5, United States Code. 

9 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR ALL AGENCIES TO USE A

10 GOVERNMENT-WIDE ENTITY IDENTIFIER.—(1) Each 

11 agency shall, to the extent practicable, require all private 

12 sector entities from which it regularly collects reports, fil13 ings, forms, disclosures or other regularized information 

14 to obtain a unique entity identifier. 

15 (2) The unique entity identifier required under this 

16 section shall allow private sector entities to be identified 

17 uniquely across all Federal regulatory, procurement, as18 sistance, and other reporting regimes. 

19 (c) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION CATEGORIZED

20 USING GOVERNMENT-WIDE ENTITY IDENTIFIER.—Each 

21 agency shall, to the extent practicable, publish all public 

22 regulatory, procurement, assistance, and other reported 

23 information categorized using the unique entity identifier 

24 required under this section. 


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1 (d) GOVERNANCE.—The unique entity identifier re2 quired under this section shall be based on the global enti3 ty identifier issued by— 

4 (1) utilities endorsed by the Regulatory Over5 sight Committee, whose charter was set forth by the 

6 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of 

7 the Group of Twenty and the Financial Stability 

8 Board; or 

9 (2) utilities endorsed or otherwise governed by 

10 the Global LEI Foundation so long as that Founda11 tion remains recognized by the Regulatory Oversight 

12 Committee or any successor global public oversight 

13 body. 

14 SEC. 608. GRANTS TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle V of title 31, United 

16 States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 73 the 

17 following: 

18 ‘‘CHAPTER 74—GRANTS TRANSPARENCY 

19 REQUIREMENTS 

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘7401. Definitions. 

‘‘7402. Pre-award evaluation requirements. 

‘‘7403. Website relating to Federal grants. 

‘‘7404. Postdecision explanation for failed applicants. 

‘‘7405. Inspector General review of peer review process. 

20 ‘‘§ 7401. Definitions 

21 ‘‘In this chapter: 


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1 ‘‘(1) APPLICANT.—The term ‘applicant’ means 

2 an entity that submits a proposal or application for 

3 a grant. 

4 ‘‘(2) COMPETITIVE GRANT.—The term ‘com5 petitive grant’ means a discretionary grant entered 

6 into through the use of merit-based selection proce7 dures for the purpose of allocating funds authorized 

8 under a grant program of an Executive agency. 

9 ‘‘(3) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘Execu10 tive agency’ has the meaning given the term in sec11 tion 105 of title 5, except the term does not include 

12 the Government Accountability Office. 

13 ‘‘(4) GRANT.—The term ‘grant’ means an 

14 award of Federal financial assistance through a 

15 grant agreement or cooperative agreement making 

16 payment in cash or in kind to a recipient to carry 

17 out a public purpose authorized by law. 

18 ‘‘(5) GRANT REVIEWER.—The term ‘grant re19 viewer’, with respect to a grant— 

20 ‘‘(A) means any individual who reviews, 

21 evaluates, or participates in the decision to se22 lect an applicant for award of the grant; and 

23 ‘‘(B) includes— 

24 ‘‘(i) a peer reviewer; 

25 ‘‘(ii) a merit reviewer; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) a member of a technical evalua2 tion panel or board or a special emphasis 

3 panel. 

4 ‘‘§ 7402. Pre-award evaluation requirements 

5 ‘‘(a) EVALUATION REQUIRED.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Before awarding a competi7 tive grant and after determining eligibility and con8 ducting a merit-based review, an Executive agency 

9 shall conduct an evaluation of the risk posed by an 

10 applicant to successfully carry out the grant in ac11 cordance with section 200.205 of title 2, Code of 

12 Federal regulations (or any successor thereto). 

13 ‘‘(2) REVIEW OF INTERAGENCY DUPLICA14 TION.—To the extent practicable, each evaluation 

15 conducted under paragraph (1) shall include a re16 view of any interagency duplication of efforts for re17 search grants, which may be completed through a 

18 text-similarity detection process. 

19 ‘‘(b) SIMPLIFIED EVALUATION PROCEDURE FOR

20 CERTAIN APPLICANTS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

22 ‘covered applicant’ means an applicant that, based 

23 on a risk assessment conducted by the Executive 

24 agency, is determined to pose a relatively low risk of 


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1 failing to execute the grant successfully and prop2 erly. 

3 ‘‘(2) PROCEDURE.—In conducting the evalua4 tion required under subsection (a) with respect to a 

5 covered applicant, an Executive agency shall— 

6 ‘‘(A) minimize the burden on the covered 

7 applicant; and 

8 ‘‘(B) consider any existing findings with 

9 respect to the covered applicant under the sin10 gle audit process under chapter 75 of this title 

11 related to the matters described in subsection 

12 (b). 

13 ‘‘§ 7403. Website relating to Federal grants 

14 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—The Director of the Office of 

15 Management and Budget shall consult with Executive 

16 agencies to upgrade grants.gov or any proposed successor 

17 public website for finding Federal grant opportunities and 

18 applying for those grants so that the website— 

19 ‘‘(1) may serve as a central point of informa20 tion and provide full access for applicants for com21 petitive grants; and 

22 ‘‘(2) shall capture in 1 site, or provide elec23 tronic links to, other relevant databases. 

24 ‘‘(b) NOTICE OF COMPETITIVE GRANT FUNDS

25 AVAILABILITY.—At the time an Executive agency issues 


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1 a solicitation or otherwise announces the availability of 

2 funds for a competitive grant, the Executive agency shall 

3 post on the grants website maintained under this section, 

4 in a searchable electronic format, relevant information 

5 about the grant opportunity, including— 

6 ‘‘(1) the grant announcement and purpose of 

7 the grant; 

8 ‘‘(2) the anticipated period of performance for 

9 new awards and whether the Executive agency an10 ticipates that the grant will be continued; 

11 ‘‘(3) in the case of an announcement with re12 spect to which a specific sum is reserved, the 

13 amount of funds available for the grant; 

14 ‘‘(4) a statement of eligibility requirements for 

15 the grant; 

16 ‘‘(5) contact information for the Executive 

17 agency, including the name, telephone number, and 

18 electronic mail address of a specific person or per19 sons responsible for answering questions about the 

20 grant and the application process for the grant; 

21 ‘‘(6) a clear statement of the evaluation factors 

22 or criteria that the Executive agency intends to use 

23 to evaluate and rank grant applications or proposals 

24 submitted, including the weight to be applied to each 

25 factor or criterion; 


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1 ‘‘(7) a description of the process and standards 

2 to be used by the Executive agency to determine 

3 that each grant reviewer does not have a prohibited 

4 conflict of interest, as defined by applicable statute 

5 or regulation, with respect to the evaluation or re6 view of a grant application or proposal, or the deci7 sion to award a grant; 

8 ‘‘(8) the anticipated deadline for submission of 

9 grant applications or proposals; and 

10 ‘‘(9) a set of sample winning grant proposals 

11 awarded under the same or similar program within 

12 the last 3 years. 

13 ‘‘(c) USE BY APPLICANTS.—The grants website 

14 maintained under this section shall, to the greatest extent 

15 practicable, allow applicants to— 

16 ‘‘(1) use the website with any widely-used com17 puter platform; 

18 ‘‘(2) search the website for all competitive 

19 grants by purpose, funding agency, program source, 

20 and other relevant criteria; and 

21 ‘‘(3) apply for a competitive grant using the 

22 website. 

23 ‘‘(d) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR GRANTEES.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each Executive agency 

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1 tained under this section detailed grant guidance 

2 and written technical assistance for applicants. 

3 ‘‘(2) GRANT AWARD PROCESS INFORMATION

4 POSTED.—With respect to each grant awarded by an 

5 Executive agency, the Executive agency shall, not 

6 later than 30 days after the date on which the grant 

7 is awarded, post on the grants website maintained 

8 under this section— 

9 ‘‘(A) documentation explaining the basis 

10 for the selection decision for the grant, the 

11 number of proposals received for the grant, 

12 and, with respect to the proposal that resulted 

13 in the grant award, whether the grant was 

14 awarded consistent with a numerical ranking or 

15 other recommendations by grant reviewers; and 

16 ‘‘(B) in any case in which the award of the 

17 grant is not consistent with the numerical 

18 rankings or any other recommendations made 

19 by grant reviewers, a written justification ex20 plaining the rationale for the decision not to fol21 low the rankings or recommendations. 

22 ‘‘(3) SENSITIVE INFORMATION.— 

23 ‘‘(A) PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFOR24 MATION.—Each Executive agency may redact 

25 any personally identifiable information from a 


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1 post on the grants website maintained under 

2 this section. 

3 ‘‘(B) ADVERSE INFORMATION.—An Execu4 tive agency may not post on the grants website 

5 maintained under this section any sensitive in6 formation that the Executive agency determines 

7 would adversely affect an applicant. 

8 ‘‘(e) SUBMISSION AND PUBLICATION OF GRANT SO9 LICITATION FORECAST ON THE GRANTS WEBSITE.— 

10 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than November 

11 30 of each fiscal year or not later than 60 days after 

12 the date on which amounts are appropriated to an 

13 Executive agency for a fiscal year, whichever is later, 

14 the head of the Executive agency shall post a fore15 cast, in accordance with paragraph (2), of all non16 emergency grant solicitations that the Executive 

17 agency expects to issue for the following calendar 

18 year, which— 

19 ‘‘(A) shall be based on the best informa20 tion available; and 

21 ‘‘(B) shall not be binding on the Executive 

22 agency. 

23 ‘‘(2) MATTERS INCLUDED.—The forecast re24 quired under paragraph (1) shall include, to the exVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:13 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00080 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5150.IH H5150

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1 tent practicable, for each expected grant solicitation 

2 in a machine-readable format— 

3 ‘‘(A) a brief description of the subject and 

4 purpose of the grant, organized by the organi5 zational unit of the Executive agency; 

6 ‘‘(B) contact information for the organiza7 tional unit or individual responsible for the 

8 grant, if known, including name, telephone 

9 number, and electronic mail address; 

10 ‘‘(C) the expected or actual dates for the 

11 issuance of the grant solicitation and applica12 tion and the grant application submission dead13 line; 

14 ‘‘(D) the estimated amount of the average 

15 grant award, the estimated maximum and min16 imum amounts of the grant award, if applica17 ble, and the estimated total number of grant 

18 awards to be made; and 

19 ‘‘(E) a description of the total amount 

20 available to be awarded. 

21 ‘‘(f) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para23 graph (2), nothing in this section shall be construed 

24 to require the publication of information otherwise 

25 exempt from disclosure under section 552 of title 5 


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1 (commonly referred to as the ‘Freedom of Informa2 tion Act’). 

3 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The exemption under sec4 tion 552(b)(5) of title 5 shall not exempt from publi5 cation predecisional documents required to be posted 

6 pursuant to the requirements under subsection 

7 (d)(2). 

8 ‘‘(g) TRANSPARENCY OF INFORMATION.—To the ex9 tent practicable, the grants website maintained under this 

10 section shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) make the information described in this sec12 tion available in its original format; 

13 ‘‘(2) make the information described in this sec14 tion available without charge, license, or registration 

15 requirement; 

16 ‘‘(3) permit the information described in this 

17 section to be searched; 

18 ‘‘(4) permit the information described in this 

19 section to be downloaded in bulk; 

20 ‘‘(5) permit the information described in this 

21 section to be disseminated via automatic electronic 

22 means; 

23 ‘‘(6) permit the information described in this 

24 section to be freely shared by the public, such as by 

25 social media; 


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1 ‘‘(7) use permanent uniform resource locators 

2 for the information described in this section; and 

3 ‘‘(8) provide an opportunity for the public to 

4 provide input about the usefulness of the site and 

5 recommendations for improvements. 

6 ‘‘§ 7404. Postdecision explanation for failed appli7 cants 

8 ‘‘If requested by an applicant for a competitive grant, 

9 for each grant award made in an amount in excess of 

10 $100,000 pursuant to a merit-based selection procedure, 

11 an Executive agency shall provide the applicant with a 

12 timely direct interaction describing the basis for the award 

13 decision of the Executive agency, including, if applicable, 

14 the decision not to award a grant to the applicant. 

15 ‘‘§ 7405. Inspector General review of peer review 

16 process 

17 ‘‘Not later than 18 months after the date of enact18 ment of the Transparency in Government Act of 2019, 

19 the Inspector General of each Executive agency that 

20 awards competitive grants shall conduct a review of the 

21 effectiveness of the conflicts of interest policy of the Exec22 utive agency, including a review of a random selection of 

23 peer review processes, with respect to the peer review proc24 ess for competitive grants in order to detect favoritism.’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of chapters 

2 at the beginning of subtitle V of title 31, United States 

3 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

4 chapter 73 the following: 

‘‘74. Grant transparency requirements .................................... 7401’’. 

5 (c) GRANTS WORKFORCE REPORT.— 

6 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

7 (A) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Ex8 ecutive agency’’ has the meaning given the term 

9 in section 105 of title 5, United States Code, 

10 except the term does not include the Govern11 ment Accountability Office. 

12 (B) FEDERAL GRANTS WORKFORCE.—The 

13 term ‘‘Federal grants workforce’’, with respect 

14 to an Executive agency, means all employees of 

15 the Executive agency who spend some or all of 

16 their time engaged in— 

17 (i) grant planning, including pro18 grammatic activities; 

19 (ii) preparing grant solicitations, No20 tices of Funding Opportunity, Notices In21 viting Applications, or other requests for 

22 grant proposals; 

23 (iii) evaluating or reviewing grant ap24 plications, including serving on a peer re25 view board; 


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1 (iv) monitoring or administering grant 

2 performance by grantees; 

3 (v) preparing the Notice of Award and 

4 negotiating terms and conditions; or 

5 (vi) post-award closeout activities, in6 cluding final technical and financial re7 ports. 

8 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

9 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

10 General of the United States shall submit to the 

11 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

12 Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Over13 sight and Reform of the House of Representatives a 

14 report on the Federal grants workforce, which shall 

15 address— 

16 (A) the size of the Federal grants work17 force and expected trends in Federal employ18 ment for the Federal grants workforce; 

19 (B) the adequacy of training opportunities 

20 for the Federal grants workforce; 

21 (C) whether the Federal Acquisition Insti22 tute or any other existing entity engaged in ac23 quisition workforce training should be made 

24 available for grant training; 


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1 (D) whether a warrant system similar to 

2 that used in the Federal acquisition system 

3 should be established for Federal officials au4 thorized to award grants; 

5 (E) the use by Executive agencies of sus6 pension and debarment actions taken against 

7 grantees during the 3-year period preceding the 

8 date on which the report is submitted, and the 

9 level of agency resources assigned to the sus10 pension and debarment functions; and 

11 (F) any recommendations for improving 

12 the Federal grants workforce. 

13 Subtitle B—Publication of 

14 Opinions of Office of Legal Counsel 

15 SEC. 611. SHORT TITLE. 

16 This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘See UNdisclosed 

17 Legal Interpretations and Get Honest Transparency Act 

18 of 2019’’ or as the ‘‘SUNLIGHT Act of 2019’’. 

19 SEC. 612. SCHEDULE OF PUBLICATION FOR FINAL OLC 

20 OPINIONS. 

21 Each final opinion issued by the Office of Legal 

22 Counsel must be made publicly available in its entirety as 

23 soon as is practicable, but— 


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1 (1) not later than 30 days after the opinion is 

2 issued or updated if such action takes place on or 

3 after the date of enactment of this Act; 

4 (2) not later than 1 year after the date of en5 actment of this Act for an opinion issued on or after 

6 January 20, 1993; 

7 (3) not later than 2 years after the date of en8 actment of this Act for an opinion issued on or after 

9 January 20, 1981 and before or on January 19, 

10 1993; 

11 (4) not later than 3 years after the date of en12 actment of this Act for an opinion issued on or after 

13 January 20, 1969 and before or on January 19, 

14 1981; and 

15 (5) not later than 4 years after the date of en16 actment of this Act for all other opinions. 

17 SEC. 613. EXCEPTIONS AND LIMITATION ON PUBLIC AVAIL18 ABILITY OF FINAL OLC OPINIONS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—A final OLC opinion or part 

20 thereof may be withheld only to the extent— 

21 (1) information contained in the opinion was— 

22 (A) specifically authorized to be kept se23 cret, under criteria established by an Executive 

24 order, in the interest of national defense or for25 eign policy; 


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1 (B) in fact properly classified, including all 

2 procedural and marking requirements, pursuant 

3 to such Executive order; 

4 (C) the Attorney General determines that 

5 the national defense or foreign policy interests 

6 protected outweigh the public’s interest in ac7 cess to the information; and 

8 (D) has been put through declassification 

9 review within the past two years; 

10 (2) information contained in the opinion relates 

11 to the appointment of a specific individual not con12 firmed to Federal office; 

13 (3) information contained in the opinion is spe14 cifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other 

15 than sections 552 and 552b of title 5, United States 

16 Code), provided that such statute— 

17 (A) requires that the material be withheld 

18 in such a manner as to leave no discretion on 

19 the issue; or 

20 (B) establishes particular criteria for with21 holding or refers to particular types of material 

22 to be withheld; 

23 (4) information in the opinion includes trade se24 crets and commercial or financial information ob25 tained from a person and privileged or confidential 


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1 whose disclosure would likely cause substantial harm 

2 to the competitive position of the person from whom 

3 the information was obtained; 

4 (5) the President, in his or her sole and non5 delegable determination, formally and personally 

6 claims in writing that executive privilege prevents 

7 the release of the information and disclosure would 

8 cause specific identifiable harm to an interest pro9 tected by an exception or the disclosure is prohibited 

10 by law; or 

11 (6) information in the opinion includes per12 sonnel and medical files and similar files the disclo13 sure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted 

14 invasion of personal privacy. 

15 (b) DETERMINATION TO WITHHOLD.—Any deter16 mination under this section to withhold information con17 tained in a final OLC opinion must be made by the Attor18 ney General or a designee of the Attorney General. The 

19 determination shall be— 

20 (1) in writing; 

21 (2) made available to the public within the 

22 same timeframe as is required of a formal OLC 

23 opinion; 


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1 (3) sufficiently detailed as to inform the public 

2 of what kind of information is being withheld and 

3 the reason therefore; and 

4 (4) effective only for a period of 3 years, sub5 ject to review and reissuance, with each reissuance 

6 made available to the public. 

7 (c) FINAL OPINIONS.—For final OLC opinions for 

8 which the text is withheld in full or in substantial part, 

9 a detailed unclassified summary of the opinion must be 

10 made available to the public, in the same timeframe as 

11 required of the final OLC opinion, that conveys the es12 sence of the opinion, including any interpretations of a 

13 statute, the Constitution, or other legal authority. A nota14 tion must be included in any published list of OLC opin15 ions regarding the extent of the withholdings. 

16 (d) NO LIMITATION ON RELIEF.—A decision by the 

17 Attorney General to release or withhold information pur18 suant to this Act shall not preclude any action or relief 

19 conferred by statutory or regulatory regime that empowers 

20 any person to request or demand the release of informa21 tion. 

22 (e) REASONABLY SEGREGABLE PORTIONS OF OPIN23 IONS TO BE PUBLISHED.—Any reasonably segregable 

24 portion of an opinion shall be provided after withholding 

25 of the portions which are exempt under this subsection. 


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1 The amount of information withheld, and the exemption 

2 under which the withholding is made, shall be indicated 

3 on the released portion of the opinion, unless including 

4 that indication would harm an interest protected by the 

5 exemption in this subsection under which the withholding 

6 is made. If technically feasible, the amount of the informa7 tion withheld, and the exemption under which the with8 holding is made, shall be indicated at the place in the opin9 ion where such withholding is made. 

10 SEC. 614. METHOD OF PUBLICATION. 

11 The Attorney General shall publish each final OLC 

12 opinion to the extent the law permits, including by pub13 lishing the opinions on a publicly accessible website that— 

14 (1) with respect to each opinion— 

15 (A) contains an electronic copy of the opin16 ion, including any transmittal letter associated 

17 with the opinion, in an open format that is plat18 form independent and that is available to the 

19 public without restrictions; 

20 (B) provides the public the ability to re21 trieve an opinion, to the extent practicable, 

22 through searches based on— 

23 (i) the title of the opinion; 

24 (ii) the date of publication or revision; 

25 or 


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1 (iii) the full text of the opinion; 

2 (C) identifies the time and date when the 

3 opinion was required to be published, and when 

4 the opinion was transmitted for publication; 

5 and 

6 (D) provides a permanent means of access7 ing the opinion electronically; 

8 (2) includes a means for bulk download of all 

9 OLC opinions or a selection of opinions retrieved 

10 using a text-based search; 

11 (3) provides free access to the opinions, and 

12 does not charge a fee, require registration, or impose 

13 any other limitation in exchange for access to the 

14 website; and 

15 (4) is capable of being upgraded as necessary to 

16 carry out the purposes of this Act. 

17 SEC. 615. INDEX OF OPINIONS. 

18 (a) PUBLICATION OF INDEX.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Office of Legal Counsel 

20 shall publish a complete list of final OLC opinions, 

21 arranged chronologically, within 90 days of the date 

22 of the enactment of this Act. 

23 (2) UPDATES AND REVISIONS.—The list of 

24 opinions shall be updated immediately every time an 


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1 OLC opinion becomes final, and a revision to an 

2 opinion shall be listed as if it were a new opinion. 

3 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR LIST.—Each list under sub4 section (a) shall comply with the following: 

5 (1) The list must be made available to the pub6 lic by publication on the website under section 614. 

7 (2) The list shall — 

8 (A) include, for each opinion— 

9 (i) the full name of the opinion; 

10 (ii) the date it was finalized or re11 vised; 

12 (iii) each author’s name; 

13 (iv) each recipient’s name; 

14 (v) a summary of the opinion; 

15 (vi) a unique identifier assigned to 

16 each final or revised opinion; and 

17 (vii) whether an opinion has been 

18 withdrawn; and 

19 (B) be published in both human-readable 

20 and machine-readable formats. 

21 SEC. 616. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION. 

22 On complaint, the district court of the United States 

23 in the district in which the complainant resides, or has 

24 his principal place of business, or in the District of Colum25 bia, has jurisdiction to enjoin the agency from withholding 


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1 information contained in a final OLC opinion and to order 

2 the production of information improperly withheld from 

3 the complainant. In such a case the court shall determine 

4 the matter de novo, and may examine the contents of such 

5 OLC opinion in camera to determine whether such infor6 mation or any part thereof shall be withheld under any 

7 of the exemptions set forth in section 613, and the burden 

8 is on the agency to sustain its action. 

9 SEC. 617. SEVERABILITY. 

10 If any provision of this subtitle, any amendment 

11 made by this subtitle, or the application thereof to any 

12 person or circumstances is held invalid, the validity of the 

13 remainder of this subtitle, of any such amendments, and 

14 of the application of such provisions to other persons and 

15 circumstances shall not be affected thereby. 

16 SEC. 618. DEFINITIONS. 

17 (a) OLC OPINION.—The term ‘‘OLC opinion’’ means 

18 views on a matter of legal interpretation communicated 

19 by the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Jus20 tice to any other office or agency, or person in an office 

21 or agency, in the Executive Branch, including any office 

22 in the Department of Justice, the White House, or the 

23 Executive Office of the President, and rendered in accord24 ance with sections 511–513 of title 28, United States 

25 Code. Where the communication of the legal interpretation 


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1 takes place verbally, a memorialization of that communica2 tion qualifies as an ‘‘OLC opinion’’. 

3 (b) FINAL OLC OPINION.—The term ‘‘final OLC 

4 opinion’’ means an OLC opinion that— 

5 (1) the Attorney General, Assistant Attorney 

6 General for OLC, or a Deputy Assistant General for 

7 OLC, has determined is final; 

8 (2) government officials or government contrac9 tors are relying on; 

10 (3) is relied upon to formulate legal guidance; 

11 or 

12 (4) is directly or indirectly cited in another Of13 fice of Legal Counsel opinion. 

14 (c) REVISED OLC OPINION.—The term ‘‘revised 

15 OLC opinion’’ means an OLC opinion that is withdrawn, 

16 information is added to, or information is removed from. 

17 Subtitle C—Contempt of Congress 

18 Procedures and Enforcement 

19 SEC. 621. AVAILABILITY OF CIVIL ACTION TO ENFORCE 

20 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SUBPOENAS. 

21 (a) CIVIL ACTION.—The House of Representatives 

22 may in a civil action obtain any appropriate relief to en23 force compliance with a subpoena or order of the House, 

24 or to enforce compliance with a subpoena or order issued 

25 by a committee or subcommittee of the House authorized 


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1 to issue a subpoena or order, if the House by resolution 

2 authorizes the commencement of that civil action. 

3 (b) REPRESENTATION BY GENERAL COUNSEL.—Un4 less the House otherwise provides, the Office of the Gen5 eral Counsel of the House of Representatives shall rep6 resent the House in the civil action. 

7 (c) PERSONAL JURISDICTION.—Personal jurisdiction 

8 of the court over a defendant in a civil action under this 

9 section extends outside the territorial jurisdiction of the 

10 court if the claim— 

11 (1) arose out of conduct by the defendant— 

12 (A) within that territorial jurisdiction, or 

13 (B) causing any injury, including informa14 tional injury to the right of the House to make 

15 an investigation, within that territorial jurisdic16 tion; or 

17 (2) otherwise has a reasonable relationship to 

18 contacts of the defendant with the territorial juris19 diction. 

20 (d) ASSESSMENT OF COMPETING INTERESTS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—In any civil action brought 

22 under this section, if the court has determined that 

23 the information or material which is the subject of 

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1 est in confidentiality, the House may overcome this 

2 presumption by showing that— 

3 (A) the House, or a committee or sub4 committee thereof, has a specific need for the 

5 information or material in order to carry out its 

6 constitutional obligations; and 

7 (B) the information is not otherwise avail8 able. 

9 (2) ENFORCEMENT.—If the court determines 

10 that the House, or a committee or subcommittee 

11 thereof, has made the showing described in para12 graph (1), it shall enforce the subpoena or order in13 volved. 

14 (e) EXPEDITION OF TRIAL AND APPELLATE PRO15 CEEDINGS.—The court shall hear and determine a civil ac16 tion under this section as expeditiously as possible, and 

17 to the maximum extent practicable during the Congress 

18 in which the action is commenced. Any appellate pro19 ceedings relating to such a civil action shall similarly be 

20 expedited to assure to the extent possible that the matter 

21 is fully resolved during the Congress in which the action 

22 was commenced. 

23 SEC. 622. ALTERNATE PROCEDURES FOR ENFORCEMENT 

24 OF CRIMINAL CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS. 

25 (a) ALTERNATE PROCEDURE.— 


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1 (1) SCOPE OF APPLICATION.—If the House of 

2 Representatives finds a current or former officer or 

3 employee of the Executive branch has violated sec4 tion 102 of the Revised Statutes of the United 

5 States (2 U.S.C. 192) or that any person has vio6 lated such section at the direction of the President 

7 or another officer of the executive branch, the proce8 dures of this section apply. 

9 (2) CERTIFICATION BY SPEAKER.—In accord10 ance with section 104 of the Revised Statutes of the 

11 United States (2 U.S.C. 194), upon the finding by 

12 the House of Representatives of a violation to which 

13 this section applies, the Speaker shall certify that 

14 finding to the appropriate United States attorney, 

15 whose duty it shall be to bring the matter before the 

16 grand jury for its action. 

17 (3) CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING TO APPOINT18 MENT OF SPECIAL COUNSEL.—If— 

19 (A) the Attorney General or the United 

20 States attorney to whom the finding was cer21 tified informs the court or the House that the 

22 Department of Justice will not prosecute the 

23 case; or 

24 (B) by the end of the 30th day after the 

25 date of receipt of a certification made under 


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1 paragraph (2) a grand jury has not returned an 

2 indictment based on the violation alleged in the 

3 certification; 

4 the Special Division established under subsection (b) 

5 (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Special 

6 Division’’) shall appoint a special counsel under sub7 section (c). It shall be the duty of the Attorney Gen8 eral to inform that court and the House if a grand 

9 jury does not return an indictment by the end of the 

10 30-day period. The Speaker of the House, or any in11 terested congressional party, may file with the Spe12 cial Division a suggestion that circumstances giving 

13 rise to a duty to appoint a special counsel have oc14 curred after the 30-day period ends without the re15 turn of an indictment. 

16 (b) SPECIAL DIVISION.— 

17 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby estab18 lished within the United States Court of Appeals for 

19 the District of Columbia a Special Division to carry 

20 out the appointment of special counsels under this 

21 section. 

22 (2) DESIGNATION.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Justice of 

24 the United States shall designate three judges 

25 or justices of the United States, one of whom 


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1 shall be an active judge of the United States 

2 Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, 

3 to serve on the Special Division, except that 

4 none of the judges or justices serving on the 

5 Special Division may serve or have served on 

6 the same court. 

7 (B) PRIORITY.—In designating judges and 

8 justices to serve on the Special Division, the 

9 Chief Justice shall give priority to senior circuit 

10 judges and retired justices of the United States 

11 Supreme Court. 

12 (C) DEADLINE.— The Chief Justice shall 

13 make the first such designation not later than 

14 45 days after the date of the enactment of this 

15 Act. 

16 (3) TERM OF SERVICE.—Each designation to 

17 the Special Division shall be for a term of 2 years, 

18 but the Chief Justice may fill any vacancy arising 

19 before the end of a term for the remainder of that 

20 term. 

21 (c) APPOINTMENT, QUALIFICATIONS, AND PROSECU22 TORIAL JURISDICTION OF SPECIAL COUNSEL, AND AD23 MINISTRATIVE MATTERS RELATING TO THE SPECIAL

24 COUNSEL.— 


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1 (1) APPOINTMENT, QUALIFICATIONS, AND

2 PROSECUTORIAL JURISDICTION OF SPECIAL COUN3 SEL.— 

4 (A) APPOINTMENT AND QUALIFICA5 TIONS.—The Special Division shall appoint the 

6 special counsel, who must be an attorney in 

7 good standing with substantial prosecutorial ex8 perience— 

9 (i) who has not served in any capacity 

10 in the administration of the President who 

11 is or who was in office at the time the 

12 Speaker of the House certified the finding 

13 of a violation; and 

14 (ii) who is or who was not a Member, 

15 officer, or employee of Congress at the 

16 time the Speaker of the House certified the 

17 finding of a violation. 

18 (B) PROSECUTORIAL JURISDICTION.—The 

19 Special Division shall define the special coun20 sel’s prosecutorial jurisdiction as comprising the 

21 investigation and prosecution of the alleged vio22 lation, any conspiracy to commit the alleged 

23 violation, and any perjury, false statement, or 

24 obstruction of justice occurring in relation to 

25 such investigation and prosecution. 


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1 (2) AUTHORITY OF SPECIAL COUNSEL WITH

2 RESPECT TO MATTERS WITHIN PROSECUTORIAL JU3 RISDICTION.—With respect to all matters in that 

4 special counsel’s prosecutorial jurisdiction, a special 

5 counsel appointed under this section shall have full 

6 power and independent authority to exercise all pros7 ecutorial functions and powers, and any other func8 tions and powers normally ancillary thereto, of the 

9 Department of Justice, the Attorney General, and 

10 any other officer or employee of the Department of 

11 Justice, except that the Attorney General shall exer12 cise direction or control as to those matters that spe13 cifically require the Attorney General’s personal ac14 tion under section 2516 of title 18, United States 

15 Code. 

16 (3) COMPLIANCE WITH POLICIES OF THE DE17 PARTMENT OF JUSTICE.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—A special counsel shall, 

19 except to the extent that to do so would be in20 consistent with the purposes of this section, 

21 comply with the written or other established 

22 policies of the Department of Justice respecting 

23 enforcement of the criminal laws. 

24 (B) NATIONAL SECURITY.—A special coun25 sel shall comply with guidelines and procedures 


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1 used by the Department in the handling and 

2 use of classified material. 

3 (4) SALARY.—The special counsel shall receive 

4 a salary equivalent to the salary of the United 

5 States Attorney for the District of Columbia. 

6 (5) STAFF.—The special counsel may appoint 

7 and fix the salaries of such staff, not to exceed 12 

8 in number, as the special counsel deems necessary to 

9 carry out the functions of the special counsel under 

10 this section. However, no salary of a member of such 

11 staff may exceed the salary of the special counsel. 

12 (6) EXPENSES.—The Department of Justice 

13 shall pay all costs relating to the establishment and 

14 operation of any office of special counsel. The Attor15 ney General shall submit to the Congress, not later 

16 than 30 days after the end of each fiscal year, a re17 port on amounts paid during that fiscal year for ex18 penses of investigations and prosecutions the special 

19 counsel. 

20 (7) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Each special coun21 sel shall report to Congress annually on the special 

22 counsel’s activities under this section. The report 

23 shall include a description of the progress of any in24 vestigation or prosecution conducted by the special 


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1 counsel and provide information justifying the costs 

2 of the activities reported on. 

3 (d) REMOVAL OF SPECIAL COUNSEL.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—A special counsel may be re5 moved from office, other than by impeachment and 

6 conviction, only by the personal action of the Attor7 ney General, and only for good cause, physical or 

8 mental disability, or any other condition that sub9 stantially impairs the performance of that special 

10 counsel’s duties. 

11 (2) REPORT UPON REMOVAL.—If a special 

12 counsel is removed from office, the Attorney General 

13 shall promptly submit to the Special Division and to 

14 Congress a report specifying the facts found and the 

15 ultimate grounds for the removal. 

16 (3) JUDICIAL REVIEW OF REMOVAL.—A special 

17 counsel removed from office may obtain judicial re18 view of the removal in a civil action. The Special Di19 vision may not hear or determine any appeal of a de20 cision in any such civil action. The special counsel 

21 may be reinstated or granted other appropriate relief 

22 by order of the court. 

23 (4) APPOINTMENT OF REPLACEMENT.—Upon 

24 removal of a special counsel, the Special Division 


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1 shall appoint a similarly qualified individual to con2 tinue the functions of the special counsel. 

3 (e) TERMINATION OF SPECIAL COUNSEL’S AUTHOR4 ITY.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The authority of the special 

6 counsel shall cease 2 years after the date of the spe7 cial counsel’s appointment, but the Special Division 

8 may extend that authority for an additional period 

9 not to exceed one year, if the Special Division finds 

10 good cause to do so. Good cause to do so includes 

11 that the investigation or prosecution undertaken by 

12 the special counsel has been delayed by dilatory tac13 tics by persons who could provide evidence that 

14 would significantly assist the investigation or pros15 ecution, and also includes the need to allow the spe16 cial counsel to participate in any appellate pro17 ceedings related to prosecutions engaged in by the 

18 special counsel. 

19 (2) TERMINATION BY COURT.—The Special Di20 vision, either on the Special Division’s own motion 

21 or upon the request of the Attorney General, may 

22 terminate an office of special counsel at any time, on 

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1 pleted or so substantially completed that it would be 

2 appropriate for the Department of Justice to com3 plete such investigations and prosecutions. 

4 SEC. 623. INCREASE IN PENALTY FOR CONTEMPT OF CON5 GRESS. 

6 Section 102 of the Revised Statutes of the United 

7 States (2 U.S.C. 192) is amended by striking ‘‘deemed’’ 

8 and all that follows through ‘‘twelve months’’ and insert9 ing ‘‘fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not 

10 more than 2 years, or both’’. 

11 SEC. 624. AUTHORITY OF UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE 

12 TO ENFORCE CITATIONS. 

13 (a) AUTHORITY.—Section 9B(a) of the Act entitled 

14 ‘‘An Act to define the area of the United States Capitol 

15 Grounds, to regulate the use thereof, and for other pur16 poses’’, approved July 31, 1946 (2 U.S.C. 1967(a)), is 

17 amended— 

18 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

19 (4); 

20 (2) by striking the period at the end of para21 graph (5) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

22 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

23 paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(6) within any area, to enforce a citation 

25 issued with respect to a violation of section 102 of 


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1 the Revised Statutes of the United States which re2 lates to the House of Representatives, or any cita3 tion issued with respect to a resolution adopted by 

4 the House citing a person for contempt of the 

5 House.’’. 

6 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

7 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to citations issued 

8 on or after the expiration of the 90-day period which be9 gins on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

10 SEC. 625. COLLECTION OF PENALTIES IMPOSED BY THE 

11 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON PERSONS 

12 CITED FOR CONTEMPT OF HOUSE. 

13 (a) CIVIL ACTION.—If the House of Representatives 

14 adopts a resolution citing a person for contempt of the 

15 House, the House may commence a civil action to collect 

16 a monetary penalty from the person if the House by subse17 quent resolution authorizes the commencement of that 

18 civil action. 

19 (b) REPRESENTATION BY GENERAL COUNSEL.—Un20 less the House otherwise provides, the Office of the Gen21 eral Counsel of the House of Representatives shall rep22 resent the House in the civil action. 

23 (c) PERSONAL JURISDICTION.—Personal jurisdiction 

24 of the court over a defendant in a civil action under this 


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1 section extends outside the territorial jurisdiction of the 

2 court if the claim— 

3 (1) arose out of conduct by the defendant— 

4 (A) within that territorial jurisdiction; or 

5 (B) causing any injury, including informa6 tional injury to the right of the House to make 

7 an investigation, within that territorial jurisdic8 tion; or 

9 (2) otherwise has a reasonable relationship to 

10 contacts of the defendant with the territorial juris11 diction. 

12 (d) EXPEDITION OF TRIAL AND APPELLATE PRO13 CEEDINGS.—The court shall hear and determine a civil ac14 tion under this section as expeditiously as possible, and 

15 to the maximum extent practicable during the Congress 

16 in which the action is commenced. Any appellate pro17 ceedings relating to such a civil action shall similarly be 

18 expedited to assure to the extent possible that the matter 

19 is fully resolved during the Congress in which the action 

20 was commenced. 

21 SEC. 626. NO EFFECT OF EXPIRATION OF CONGRESS ON 

22 PENDING ACTIONS. 

23 Any civil action commenced by the House of Rep24 resentatives pursuant to this subtitle, and the authority 

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1 resentatives with respect to the action, shall not be ren2 dered moot or otherwise affected as the result of the expi3 ration of the Congress in which the House commenced the 

4 action. 

5 TITLE VII—STRENGTHENING 

6 THE FREEDOM OF INFORMA7 TION ACT 

8 SEC. 701. AGENCY DEFINED. 

9 In this title, the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning 

10 given that term under section 551 of title 5, United States 

11 Code. 

12 SEC. 702. DIGITAL ACCESS TO COMPLETED RESPONSES TO 

13 THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. 

14 (a) REQUIREMENT.— 

15 (1) DATABASE OF COMPLETED FOIA RE16 QUESTS.—Each agency shall make available all ma17 terials contained in the agency’s completed response 

18 to a request under section 552 of title 5, United 

19 States Code (in this section referred to as a ‘‘FOIA 

20 request’’), in a structured database or in a search21 able, sortable, downloadable, machine-readable data22 base not later than two months after the date on 

23 which the FOIA request was completed. 

24 (2) ELECTRONIC FORMAT.—All information is 

25 presumed to be available in an electronic format as 


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1 described in paragraph (1) unless the agency dem2 onstrates that excessive cost would place an undue 

3 burden on the agency. 

4 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—All information included 

5 in the agency’s completed response to a FOIA request 

6 shall be made available to the public electronically and 

7 without cost through each agency’s website. 

8 SEC. 703. FOIAONLINE FOR AGENCIES. 

9 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact10 ment of this Act, the head of each agency shall use 

11 FOIAonline to log, track, and publish all requests received 

12 under section 552 of title 5, United States Code. 

13 SEC. 704. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT AMENDMENTS. 

14 (a) JUDICIAL REVIEW OF COMPLAINTS.—Section 

15 552(a)(4)(B) of title 5, United States Code, is amended 

16 by inserting after ‘‘withheld from the complainant’’ the 

17 following: ‘‘or the public’’. 

18 (b) PRESUMPTION OF OPENNESS.— 

19 (1) AMENDMENTS.—Section 552(b) of title 5, 

20 United States Code, is amended— 

21 (A) in paragraph (3)(B), by inserting 

22 ‘‘with an explanation for the exemption’’ after 

23 ‘‘specifically cites to this paragraph’’; 


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1 (B) in paragraph (5), by inserting before 

2 the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘and ex3 cluding— 

4 ‘‘(A) opinions that are controlling interpre5 tations of law; 

6 ‘‘(B) final reports or memoranda created 

7 by an entity other than the agency, including 

8 other Governmental entities, at the request of 

9 the agency and used to make a final policy deci10 sion; and 

11 ‘‘(C) guidance documents used by the 

12 agency to respond to the public;’’; 

13 (C) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘similar 

14 files’’ and inserting ‘‘personal information such 

15 as contact information or financial informa16 tion’’; and 

17 (D) in the matter following paragraph 

18 (9)— 

19 (i) by inserting before ‘‘Any reason20 ably segregable portion’’ the following: ‘‘An 

21 agency may not withhold information 

22 under this subsection unless such agency 

23 reasonably foresees that disclosure would 

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1 est protected by an exemption, or if disclo2 sure is prohibited by law.’’; and 

3 (ii) by inserting before ‘‘If technically 

4 feasible,’’ the following: ‘‘For each record 

5 withheld in whole or in part under para6 graph (3), the agency shall identify the 

7 statute that exempts the record from dis8 closure.’’. 

9 (2) EXEMPTION DECISION TRANSPARENCY.— 

10 Section 552(a)(6)(C)(i) of title 5, United States 

11 Code, is amended by striking the fourth sentence 

12 and inserting at the end the following: ‘‘Any notifi13 cation of denial or partial denial of any request for 

14 records under this subsection shall set forth each 

15 name and title or position of each person responsible 

16 for the denial or partial denial or any decision to 

17 withhold a responsive record under subsection (b).’’. 

18 (c) GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE.—Sub19 section (i) of section 552 of title 5, United States Code, 

20 is amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘(i) The Government Accountability Office shall— 

22 ‘‘(1) conduct audits of administrative agencies 

23 on compliance with and implementation of the re24 quirements of this section and issue reports detailing 

25 the results of such audits; 


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1 ‘‘(2) catalog the number of exemptions under 

2 subsection (b)(3) and agency use of such exemp3 tions; and 

4 ‘‘(3) review and prepare a report on the proc5 essing of requests by agencies for information per6 taining to an entity that has received assistance 

7 under title I of the Emergency Economic Stabiliza8 tion Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5211 et seq.) during 

9 any period in which the Government owns or owned 

10 more than 50 percent of the stock of such entity.’’. 

11 (d) ANNUAL REPORT BY CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH

12 SERVICE.—Section 552 of title 5, United States Code, is 

13 amended by adding at the end the following new sub14 section: 

15 ‘‘(n) The Congressional Research Service shall, on an 

16 annual basis, provide the Committee on Oversight and Re17 form of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

18 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

19 Senate with a list of statutes described in subsection 

20 (b)(3). Each such list shall be made publicly available.’’. 


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1 TITLE VIII—IMPROVING TRANS2 PARENCY WITHIN THE JUDI3 CIAL SYSTEM 

4 SEC. 801. TELEVISING SUPREME COURT PROCEEDINGS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 45 of title 28, United 

6 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘§ 678. Televising Supreme Court proceedings 

9 ‘‘The Supreme Court shall permit television coverage 

10 of all open sessions of the Court unless the Court decides, 

11 by a vote of the majority of justices, that allowing such 

12 coverage in a particular case would constitute a violation 

13 of the due process rights of one or more of the parties 

14 before the Court.’’. 

15 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The chapter analysis 

16 for chapter 45 of title 28, United States Code, is amended 

17 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘678. Televising Supreme Court proceedings.’’. 

18 SEC. 802. AUDIO RECORDING OF SUPREME COURT PRO19 CEEDINGS. 

20 The Chief Justice of the United States shall ensure 

21 that the audio of an oral argument before the Supreme 

22 Court of the United States is recorded and is made pub23 licly available on the internet website of the Supreme 

24 Court at the same time that it is recorded. 


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1 SEC. 803. AVAILABILITY ON THE INTERNET OF FINANCIAL 

2 DISCLOSURE REPORTS OF JUDICIAL OFFI3 CERS. 

4 Section 103 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 

5 (5 U.S.C. App. 103), as amended by this Act, is further 

6 amended by inserting at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(n) The Judicial Conference shall make available 

8 any report filed with it under this title by a judicial officer 

9 within 48 hours of the applicable submission deadline on 

10 the website of the Judicial Conference in a searchable, 

11 sortable, downloadable, machine-readable format.’’. 

12 SEC. 804. GAO AUDIT OF PACER. 

13 Not later than one year after the date of the enact14 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

15 States shall conduct an audit of the public access to court 

16 electronic records system maintained by the Administra17 tive Office of the United States Courts, and shall submit 

18 to Congress, the Administrative Office of the United 

19 States Courts, and any other appropriate Federal agency 

20 or office, a report that contains the results of the audit, 

21 along with any recommendations for improving the public 

22 access to court electronic records system. 

23 SEC. 805. ELECTRONIC COURT RECORDS REFORM. 

24 (a) CONSOLIDATION OF THE CASE MANAGEMENT/ 

25 ELECTRONIC CASE FILES SYSTEM.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

2 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 

3 of the Administrative Office of the United States 

4 Courts, in coordination with the Administrator of 

5 General Services, shall consolidate the Case Manage6 ment/Electronic Case Files system, and shall develop 

7 one system for all filings with courts of the United 

8 States, which shall be administered by the Adminis9 trative Office of the United States Courts. 

10 (2) USE OF TECHNOLOGY.—In developing the 

11 system under paragraph (1), the Director shall use 

12 modern technology in order— 

13 (A) to improve security, data accessibility, 

14 affordability, and performance; and 

15 (B) to minimize the burden on pro se liti16 gants. 

17 (3) AVAILABILITY TO STATES.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—A State may choose to 

19 participate in the system developed under this 

20 subsection. 

21 (B) FEE.—The Director shall charge a fee 

22 to a State that chooses to participate in the sys23 tem, which is set at a level to recover the cost 

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1 ministration and maintenance of the system to 

2 the State. 

3 (b) PUBLIC ACCESS TO COURT ELECTRONIC

4 RECORDS SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

6 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 

7 of the Administrative Office of the United States 

8 Courts, in coordination with the Administrator of 

9 General Services, shall update the Public Access to 

10 Court Electronic Records system, which shall be 

11 subject to the following requirements: 

12 (A) A document filed with a court shall be 

13 made publicly accessible upon filing, except as 

14 ordered by a court or by rule of the Judicial 

15 Conference. 

16 (B) All documents on the system shall be 

17 available to the public and to parties before the 

18 court free of charge. 

19 (C) Any information that is prohibited 

20 from public disclosure by law or court order 

21 shall be redacted. 

22 (D) All documents shall be text-searchable 

23 and machine-readable. 


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1 (E) To the extent practicable, external 

2 websites shall be able to link to documents on 

3 the system. 

4 (F) The system shall include digital audio 

5 and visual files of court recordings, when such 

6 files are available. 

7 (G) The system shall provide search func8 tions for public use. 

9 (2) MINIMIZING THE BURDEN ON PRO SE LITI10 GANTS.—In developing the system to comply with 

11 the requirements under paragraph (1), the Director 

12 shall, to the extent practicable, not impose a dis13 proportionate impact on pro se litigants. 

14 (3) USE OF TECHNOLOGY.—In developing the 

15 system under paragraph (1), the Director shall use 

16 modern technology in order— 

17 (A) to improve security, data accessibility, 

18 affordability, and performance; and 

19 (B) to minimize the burden on pro se liti20 gants. 

21 (4) AUTHORITY TO EXEMPT CERTAIN DOCU22 MENTS.—The Director may identify categories of 

23 documents which are not made publicly accessible 

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1 ceedings, the recordings of which are not made avail2 able under paragraph (1)(F). 

3 (c) DEFINITION OF MACHINE-READABLE.—In this 

4 section, the term ‘‘machine-readable’’ means a format in 

5 which information or data can be easily processed by a 

6 computer without human intervention while ensuring no 

7 semantic meaning is lost. 

8 TITLE IX—ENFORCEMENT 

9 SEC. 901. AUDITS BY THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY 

10 OFFICE. 

11 (a) AUDIT REQUIREMENT.—The Comptroller Gen12 eral shall conduct annual audits of the implementation of 

13 the provisions in this Act, and shall submit annually to 

14 the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of 

15 Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security 

16 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report on the 

17 results of the audits. 

18 (b) MATTERS COVERED BY AUDITS.—Audits con19 ducted under this section shall address whether the con20 gressional and executive branch data that is required to 

21 be provided to the public through the internet is each of 

22 the following: 

23 (1) COMPLETE.—Made available, except for 

24 data that is subject to privacy, security, or privilege 

25 exemptions. 


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1 (2) PRIMARY.—Collected at the source, with the 

2 highest possible level of granularity, not in aggregate 

3 or modified forms. 

4 (3) TIMELY.—Made available as quickly as nec5 essary to preserve the value of the data. 

6 (4) ACCESSIBLE.—Available to the widest range 

7 of users for the widest range of purposes. 

8 (5) MACHINE PROCESSABLE.—Reasonably 

9 structured to allow automated processing. 

10 (6) NON-DISCRIMINATORY.—Available to any11 one, with no registration requirement. 

12 (7) NON-PROPRIETARY.—Available in a format 

13 over which no entity has exclusive control. 

14 (8) LICENSE-FREE.—Not subject to any copy15 right, patent, trademark, or trade secret regulation 

16 (with reasonable privacy, security, and privilege re17 strictions). 

18 (c) CURRENT STANDARDS.—Audits conducted under 

19 this section shall also address whether the data provided 

20 to the public under this Act is produced and maintained 

21 using current standards for data publication. 


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1 TITLE X—MISCELLANEOUS 

2 SEC. 1001. TRANSFER OF CERTAIN RECORDS TO ARCHIVIST 

3 OF UNITED STATES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), not 

5 later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 

6 Act, the Attorney General of the United States shall trans7 fer to the Archivist of the United States each record— 

8 (1) created during the period beginning on Jan9 uary 1, 1981, and ending December 31, 1986; and 

10 (2) subject to Item 7 of Records Schedule N1– 

11 60–10–31 of the National Archives and Records Ad12 ministration. 

13 (b) RETENTION.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 

15 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney 

16 General of the United States may submit to the Ar17 chivist of the United States a written request to re18 tain any record described in subsection (a), in ac19 cordance with section 1235.14 of title 36, Code of 

20 Federal Regulations. The Archivist shall approve or 

21 deny each such request not later than 60 days after 

22 receiving the request. 

23 (2) TRANSFER OF RECORDS AFTER DENIAL.— 

24 Not later than 30 days after the Archivist of the 

25 United States denies a request under paragraph (1), 


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1 the Attorney General shall transfer to the Archivist 

2 each record for which the request for retention has 

3 been denied. 

4 (c) ENFORCEMENT.—If the Attorney General fails to 

5 comply with the requirements of this section, the Archivist 

6 of the United States may bring an action in the proper 

7 district court of the United States to enforce compliance 

8 with this section. 

9 SEC. 1002. DATA STANDARDS. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title I of the Finan11 cial Stability Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5311 et seq.) is 

12 amended by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘SEC. 124. DATA STANDARDS. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury 

15 shall, by rule, promulgate data standards for the informa16 tion reported to member agencies by financial entities 

17 under the jurisdiction of the member agency and the data 

18 collected from member agencies on behalf of the Council. 

19 ‘‘(b) STANDARDIZATION.—Member agencies, in con20 sultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall imple21 ment regulations promulgated by the Secretary of the 

22 Treasury under subsection (a) to standardize the types 

23 and formats of data reported to member agencies or col24 lected on behalf of the Council, as described under sub25 section (a). If a member agency fails to implement such 


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1 regulations prior to the expiration of the 3-year period fol2 lowing the date of publication of final regulations, the Sec3 retary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Chair4 person, may implement such regulations with respect to 

5 the financial entities under the jurisdiction of the member 

6 agency. 

7 ‘‘(c) DATA STANDARDS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) COMMON IDENTIFIERS AND DATA FOR9 MATS.—The data standards promulgated under sub10 section (a) shall include— 

11 ‘‘(A) common identifiers for information 

12 reported to member agencies or collected on be13 half of the Council, including a common legal 

14 entity identifier for all entities required to re15 port to member agencies; and 

16 ‘‘(B) common data formats for information 

17 reported to member agencies or collected on be18 half of the Council. 

19 ‘‘(2) DATA STANDARD REQUIREMENTS.—The 

20 data standards promulgated under subsection (a) 

21 shall, to the extent practicable— 

22 ‘‘(A) render information fully searchable 

23 and machine-readable; 

24 ‘‘(B) be nonproprietary; 


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1 ‘‘(C) incorporate standards developed and 

2 maintained by voluntary consensus standards 

3 bodies; and 

4 ‘‘(D) be consistent with and implement ap5 plicable accounting and reporting principles. 

6 ‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—In promulgating data 

7 standards under subsection (a), the Secretary of the 

8 Treasury shall consult with other Federal depart9 ments and agencies and multi-agency initiatives re10 sponsible for Federal data standards. 

11 ‘‘(4) INTEROPERABILITY OF DATA.—In promul12 gating data standards under subsection (a), the Sec13 retary of the Treasury shall seek to promote inter14 operability of financial regulatory data across mem15 bers of the Council.’’. 

16 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

17 under section 1(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform 

18 and Consumer Protection Act is amended by inserting 

19 after the item relating to section 123 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 124. Data standards.’’. 

Æ 


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