I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1162 

To require the Office of Management and Budget to report to Congress 

on actions taken by Executive branch employees to censor lawful speech, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 24, 2023 

Mr. PERRY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Oversight and Accountability 

A BILL 

To require the Office of Management and Budget to report 

to Congress on actions taken by Executive branch employees to censor lawful speech, 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 ‘‘Accountability for Gov5 ernment Censorship Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REPORTS ON FEDERAL AGENCY COMMUNICATIONS 

7 WITH PLATFORMS REGARDING CENSORSHIP 

8 OF SPEECH. 

9 (a) AGENCY REPORT TO OMB.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

2 the date of enactment of this Act, the head of each 

3 agency shall submit a report to the Director of the 

4 Office of Management and Budget listing each in5 stance during the 5-year period immediately pre6 ceding the date of enactment of this Act that an of7 ficer or employee of the agency communicated with 

8 a platform (including an interactive computer serv9 ice) that is not owned and operated by the Federal 

10 Government for the purposes of— 

11 (A) removing or suppressing lawful speech, 

12 in whole or in part, from or on any platform; 

13 (B) adding any disclaimer, information, or 

14 other alert to lawful speech expressed on any 

15 platform; or 

16 (C) removing or restricting the access of 

17 any person or entity to any platform. 

18 (2) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—With respect 

19 to any communication listed pursuant to paragraph 

20 (1), the head of the agency shall include the fol21 lowing information: 

22 (A) The name of the sub-agency, bureau, 

23 or office at which the officer or employee is em24 ployed. 


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1 (B) The name of any officer or employee 

2 involved in the communication, including their 

3 position and direct supervisor or supervisors. 

4 (C) The statutory authority for making the 

5 communication (if any), and if no such author6 ity exists, an explanation for why the agency 

7 viewed it in their authority to take the action. 

8 (D) The name of the platform that re9 ceived the communication, including the name 

10 and positions of employees of the platform that 

11 were specifically communicated with. 

12 (E) A written justification summarizing 

13 and explaining the purpose for taking the com14 munication. 

15 (F) A written summary of the outcome of 

16 the communication. 

17 (G) A list of any other agency that was in18 volved in, consulted with, or otherwise coordi19 nated on the communication. 

20 (3) CERTIFICATION OF NO COMMUNICATIONS.— 

21 If an officer or employee of an agency has not en22 gaged in a communication described under para23 graph (1) during such 5-year period, the head of 

24 that agency shall submit to the Director a certifiVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:27 Mar 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1162.IH H1162

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1 cation to that effect not later than 90 days after the 

2 date of enactment of this Act. 

3 (b) OMB REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 210 days 

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

6 shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Secu7 rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the 

8 Committee on Oversight and Accountability of the 

9 House of Representatives a report, which may in10 clude a classified annex, that includes— 

11 (A) the information on communications 

12 submitted to the Director by any agency pursu13 ant to subsection (a); and 

14 (B) a summary of the agency communica15 tions reported under subsection (a) organized 

16 by platform (including an interactive computer 

17 service) that received such communications. 

18 (2) UNCLASSIFIED FORM.—The information in19 cluded in the report submitted by the Director list20 ing communications under subsection (a), descrip21 tions of such communications under each of sub22 paragraphs (A) through (D) of subsection (a)(2), 

23 and the summary under paragraph (1)(B) of this 

24 paragraph may not be included in any classified 

25 annex and shall be submitted in unclassified form. 


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1 (c) INSPECTORS GENERAL REVIEW AND ENFORCE2 MENT.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 210 days 

4 after the date of enactment of this Act, each Inspec5 tor General of an agency that submits a report or 

6 certification to the Director under subsection (a) 

7 shall conduct a review of the agency’s compliance 

8 with the requirements of this Act and submit a re9 port on such compliance to the Committee on Home10 land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen11 ate and the Committee on Oversight and Account12 ability of the House of Representatives. 

13 (2) CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING FOR AGENCIES

14 FOUND TO BE NONCOMPLIANT.—An agency required 

15 to submit a report or certification to the Director 

16 under subsection (a) that is found by the agency’s 

17 Inspector General to be noncompliant with the re18 quirements of this Act shall brief the Committee on 

19 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

20 Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Ac21 countability of the House of Representatives not 

22 later than 60 days after the committee receives an 

23 Inspector General report on an agency’s compliance. 

24 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act— 


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1 (1) the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given 

2 that term in section 551(1) of title 5, United States 

3 Code, and includes any office within the Executive 

4 Office of the President; 

5 (2) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 

6 the Office of Management and Budget; and 

7 (3) the term ‘‘interactive computer service’’ has 

8 the meaning given that term in section 230(f) of the 

9 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)). 

Æ 


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