II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5277 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 4, 2019 

Received 

AN ACT 

To amend section 442 of title 18, United States Code, to 

exempt certain interests in mutual funds, unit investment 

trusts, employee benefit plans, and retirement plans from 

conflict of interest limitations for the Government Publishing Office. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 442 of title 18, United 

3 States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

4 ‘‘§ 442. Government Publishing Office 

5 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

6 ‘‘(1) the terms ‘diversified’, ‘employee benefit 

7 plan’, ‘holdings’, ‘mutual fund’, and ‘unit investment 

8 trust’ have the meanings given those terms under 

9 section 2640.102 of title 5, Code of Federal Regula10 tions, or any successor thereto; and 

11 ‘‘(2) the term ‘printing-related interest’ means 

12 an interest, direct or indirect, in— 

13 ‘‘(A) the publication of any newspaper or 

14 periodical; 

15 ‘‘(B) any printing, binding, engraving, or 

16 lithographing of any kind; or 

17 ‘‘(C) any contract for furnishing paper or 

18 other material connected with the public print19 ing, binding, lithographing, or engraving. 

20 ‘‘(b) OFFENSE.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para22 graph (2), the Director of the Government Pub23 lishing Office, Deputy Director of the Government 

24 Publishing Office, nor any of their assistants as de25 termined by the Director of the Government PubVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:50 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5277.RDS H5277

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HR 5277 RDS

1 lishing Office shall not, during his or her continu2 ance in office, have any printing-related interest. 

3 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, UNIT IN4 VESTMENT TRUSTS, EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS, 

5 AND RETIREMENT PLANS.—It shall not be a viola6 tion of paragraph (1) for an individual who is de7 scribed in such paragraph to have an interest in a 

8 diversified mutual fund, diversified unit investment 

9 trust, employee benefit plan, investment fund under 

10 the Thrift Savings Plan under subchapter III of 

11 chapter 84 of title 5, or pension plan established or 

12 maintained by a State government or any political 

13 subdivision of a State government for its employees 

14 that has 1 or more holdings that are printing-related 

15 interests if the fund, trust, or plan does not exhibit 

16 a practice of concentrating in printing-related inter17 ests. 

18 ‘‘(3) AUTHORITY OF SUPERVISING ETHICS OF19 FICE.—The supervising ethics office for the Govern20 ment Publishing Office under the Ethics in Govern21 ment Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) shall have the au22 thority to issue rules and promulgate regulations 

23 governing the implementation of this subsection. 


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1 ‘‘(c) PENALTY.—Whoever violates subsection (b)(1) 

2 shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more 

3 than 1 year, or both.’’. 

4 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

5 The table of sections for chapter 23 of title 18, United 

6 States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to 

7 section 442 and inserting the following: 

‘‘442. Government Publishing Office.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 3, 

2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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