II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 721 

To require the disclosure of certain visitor access records. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 23, 2017 

Mr. UDALL (for himself, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. CARPER) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the disclosure of certain visitor access records. 

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 ‘‘Making Access Records 

5 Available to Lead American Government Openness Act’’ 

6 or the ‘‘MAR-A-LAGO Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 

9 (1) Beginning in 2009, the Obama administra10 tion instituted a policy to release the visitor access 

11 records for the White House complex. 


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1 (2) This policy was responsible for making pub2 lic the names of nearly 6,000,000 visitors to the 

3 White House in the 8 years of the Obama adminis4 tration. 

5 (3) This policy provided the people of the 

6 United States with insight into who influences the 

7 White House and transparency regarding efforts by 

8 lobbyists to effect policies, legislation, and Presi9 dential actions. 

10 (4) To date, the Trump administration has not 

11 indicated whether it will continue the policy of pub12 licly releasing White House visitor access records. 

13 (5) Since taking office on January 20, 2017, 

14 President Trump has conducted official business not 

15 only in the White House, but also at several of his 

16 privately owned clubs and resorts. 

17 (6) President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in 

18 Palm Beach, Florida, has been dubbed the ‘‘Winter 

19 White House’’ and the ‘‘Southern White House’’. 

20 (7) President Trump has spent 5 of his first 9 

21 weekends in office at Mar-a-Lago. 

22 (8) Mar-a-Lago is a private membership facility 

23 open to members, their guests, and others who have 

24 been invited as guests for special events. 


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1 (9) Visitors to Mar-a-Lago do not undergo the 

2 same background checks as White House visitors 

3 and visitor access records to the club have not been 

4 released to the public. 

5 (10) The President has conducted official busi6 ness and hosted international leaders at Mar-a-Lago. 

7 (11) Media reports have shown President 

8 Trump and members of his Cabinet at Mar-a-Lago 

9 and nearby Trump International Golf Club inter10 acting with members and guests, providing access 

11 unavailable to the general public. 

12 (12) President Trump owns many other prop13 erties that offer similar amenities and membership14 only access where he is likely to conduct official 

15 business during his term in office. 

16 (13) On March 11, 2017, President Trump 

17 hosted several members of his Cabinet at his Trump 

18 National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Virginia, to 

19 discuss homeland security, health care, and the 

20 economy according to media reports. 

21 (14) Media reports have indicated that the 

22 President may use his Bedminster, New Jersey, re23 sort as a ‘‘Summer White House’’. 

24 (15) The people of the United States expect 

25 and deserve transparency in government. The policy 


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1 to release visitor access records instituted by the 

2 previous administration appropriately balanced 

3 transparency with the need for confidentiality in 

4 government actions. 

5 (16) To the extent Mar-a-Lago and any other 

6 private facilities become locations where the Presi7 dent conducts business and interacts with individ8 uals who are not government officials, the same dis9 closures should apply. 

10 SEC. 3. IMPROVING ACCESS TO INFLUENTIAL VISITOR AC11 CESS RECORDS. 

12 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 (1) COVERED LOCATION.—The term ‘‘covered 

14 location’’ means— 

15 (A) the White House; 

16 (B) the residence of the Vice President; 

17 and 

18 (C) any other location at which the Presi19 dent or the Vice President regularly conducts 

20 official business. 

21 (2) COVERED RECORDS.—The term ‘‘covered 

22 records’’ means information relating to a visit at a 

23 covered location, which shall include— 

24 (A) the name of each visitor at the covered 

25 location; 


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1 (B) the name of each individual with whom 

2 each visitor described in subparagraph (A) met 

3 at the covered location; and 

4 (C) the purpose of the visit. 

5 (b) REQUIREMENT.—Except as provided in sub6 section (c), not later than 30 days after the date of enact7 ment of this Act, the President shall establish, and update 

8 every 90 days, a publicly available database that contains 

9 covered records for the preceding 90-day period. 

10 (c) EXCEPTIONS.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall not in12 clude in the database established under subsection 

13 (b) any covered record— 

14 (A) the posting of which would implicate 

15 personal privacy or law enforcement concerns or 

16 threaten national security; or 

17 (B) relating to a purely personal guest at 

18 a covered location. 

19 (2) SENSITIVE MEETINGS.—With respect to a 

20 particularly sensitive meeting at a covered location, 

21 the President shall— 

22 (A) include the number of visitors at the 

23 covered location in the database established 

24 under subsection (b); and 


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1 (B) post the applicable covered records in 

2 the database established under subsection (b) 

3 when the President determines that release of 

4 the covered records is no longer sensitive. 

Æ 


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