U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

1 

89–010 

" ! SENATE 116TH CONGRESS

1st Session 

REPORT

2019

116–32 

Calendar No. 68 

MODERNIZING CONGRESSIONAL REPORTING 

ACT OF 2019 

R E P O R T 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

TO ACCOMPANY

S. 196 

TO SAVE TAXPAYER MONEY AND IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY 

AND SPEED OF INTRAGOVERNMENTAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND 

FOR OTHER PURPOSES 

APRIL 10, 2019.—Ordered to be printed 


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(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

RAND PAUL, Kentucky 

JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma 

MITT ROMNEY, Utah 

RICK SCOTT, Florida 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming 

JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri 

GARY C. PETERS, Michigan 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire 

KAMALA D. HARRIS, California 

KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona 

JACKY ROSEN, Nevada 

GABRIELLE D’ADAMO SINGER, Staff Director 

JOSEPH C. FOLIO, III, Chief Counsel 

DANIEL J. SPINO, Professional Staff Member 

DAVID M. WEINBERG, Minority Staff Director 

ZACHARY I. SCHRAM, Minority Chief Counsel 

ASHLEY E. POLING, Minority Director of Governmental Affairs 

LAURA W. KILBRIDE, Chief Clerk 


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Calendar No. 68 

116TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 1st Session 116–32 

MODERNIZING CONGRESSIONAL REPORTING ACT OF 2019 

APRIL 10, 2019.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. JOHNSON, from the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 196] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 

to which was referred the bill (S. 196) to save taxpayer money and 

improve the efficiency and speed of intragovernmental correspondence, and for other purposes, having considered the same, reports 

favorably thereon with amendments and recommends that the bill, 

as amended, do pass. 

CONTENTS 

Page 

I. Purpose and Summary .................................................................................. 1 

II. Background and the Need for Legislation ................................................... 2 

III. Legislative History ......................................................................................... 2 

IV. Section-by-Section Analysis .......................................................................... 2 

V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact .................................................................. 4 

VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate ................................................ 4 

VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported ........................... 5 

I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

The purpose of S. 196, the Modernizing Congressional Reporting 

Act of 2019, is to reduce wasteful Federal Government spending on 

hard-copy paper submissions of Federal agency reports to Congress. 

S. 196 requires Federal agencies to send all congressional reports 

or other information in an electronic, searchable format unless a 

congressional office specifically requests otherwise. The bill also requires agencies to post all congressionally-mandated reports they 

submit, and any work related to the submitted report, on to the 

public website of the agency for public viewing and access. 


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1S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental Aff. Majority holds in its archive 19 boxes of 

reports and communications transmitted in 2017. Ninety percent of these archived communications are identified by the Committee Chief Clerk as having been transmitted from Federal 

agencies and departments. Each box is 4.75′′ wide, and contains roughly 500 sheets of paper 

per 2′′. 2Letter from Acting Secretary Robert L. Wilkie to Chairman Ron Johnson (May 29, 2018) (on 

file with the S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental Aff.). 3Fourth Continuing Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2018, Pub. L. No. 115–120. 

4S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental Aff., transcript of July 26, 2017 business meeting. 

II. BACKGROUND AND THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION

In 2017, the Committee’s majority staff received an estimated 

20,000 sheets of physical mail transmitted by Federal agencies.1

The production of congressionally-mandated reports and physical 

correspondence comes at a cost to the taxpayers. For example, the 

Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General reported that it cost nearly $3,600 to print and mail just one edition 

of its Semiannual Report to Congress.2

In 2017, the Committee passed the Federal Register Printing 

Savings Act to reduce unnecessary and wasteful printing costs. The 

Act, signed into law on January 22, 2018, prohibits the Government Publishing Office from distributing printed copies of the Federal Register to offices of the Federal Government and Members of 

Congress unless an office specifically requests otherwise.3 During 

the Committee’s consideration of the Act, Senator Lankford remarked, ‘‘[w]e all see the exact same thing, things that are printed, 

passed out, never touched. For those of us that get all of our information on an iPad or on a computer, we are not going to the printed paper at the same level.’’ 4

S. 196 addresses unnecessary printing by requiring Federal 

agencies to send congressionally-mandated reports and correspondence electronically. The bill also provides transparency to the 

American public by requiring Federal agencies to post all congressionally-mandated reports and information on the agency’s public 

website. 

III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

S. 196 was introduced on January 19, 2019, by Senators Rob 

Portman (R–OH), Tom Carper (D–DE), Steve Daines (R–MT), Joni 

Ernst (R–IA), Kamala Harris (D–CA), Margaret Wood Hassan (D– 

NH), John Hoeven (R–ND), Doug Jones (D–AL), and James 

Lankford (R–OK). The bill was referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. 

The Committee considered S. 196 at a business meeting on February 13, 2019. S. 196 passed by voice vote en bloc with Senators 

Johnson, Portman, Paul, Lankford, Romney, Scott, Enzi, Hawley, 

Peters, Carper, Hassan, Harris, Sinema, and Rosen present. 

IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE BILL, AS REPORTED

Section 1. Short title 

This section establishes the short title of the bill as the ‘‘Modernizing Congressional Reporting Act of 2019.’’ 


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Section 2. Definitions 

This section provides definitions for the terms ‘‘acceptable format,’’ ‘‘agency,’’ ‘‘congressional office,’’ ‘‘congressional office,’’ ‘‘congressionally mandated report,’’ ‘‘open format,’’ ‘‘recorded information,’’ and ‘‘structured data.’’ 

Section 3. Electronic transmission of reports 

Subsection (a) requires Federal agencies to send any report or recorded information in an acceptable electronic format. 

Subsection (b) requires Federal agencies to submit to Congress 

such a report in an original electronic file or an electronically converted file rather than a scanned document. The electronic file submitted to Congress must be searchable by character recognition. 

Subsection (c) permits an agency to submit a report in a manner 

other than described in subsection (a) upon agreement with the 

congressional office. 

Subsection (d) requires that, if a congressional office designates 

a method of receiving the report that deviates from the method outlined in subsection (a), an agency must submit a report under the 

method designated by the congressional office unless otherwise requested by the congressional office. 

Section 4. Publishing of reports 

Subsection (a) requires Federal agencies to post any congressionally-mandated report or recorded information on its website in a 

consistent location. 

Subsection (b) prohibits any fee, required registration or other 

limitations for access to any report posted on an agency website 

under this bill. 

Subsection (c) requires open access to all information posted 

under this bill, including restrictions that would prevent the reuse 

of information. 

Subsection (d) requires agency websites to include a list of all reports posted under subsection (c) with a link to each report. All reports must be searchable and sortable by title, date of publication, 

receiving congressional office, statute or resolution that requires 

the report, metadata elements of the report, and an alpha-numeric 

identifier that is consistent across report editions. This subsection 

also requires all reports to have links to download the report and 

other information. 

Subsection (e) requires agencies to post reports to their websites 

within 30 days after the report is due to Congress. 

Subsection (f) allows agencies to change or remove a report or 

data only if the agency discusses such change or removal with the 

receiving congressional office(s), and Congress enacts a joint resolution authorizing the change or removal. This subsection authorizes 

technical corrections without these requirements. 

Subsection (g) clarifies that this bill does not interfere with an 

agency’s compliance to the Freedom of Information Act and information exempt from public disclosure. When an agency redacts 

such information from a report, the agency must identify the specific exemption for the redaction. 

Subsection (h) allows a Federal agency to withhold information 

from a report if the agency reasonably sees that disclosure of such 

information would be harmful or is prohibited by law to disclose. 


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The agency must consider if a partial disclosure of information is 

possible, and if so, take the necessary steps to separate and release 

any nonexempt information. 

Subsection (i) requires agencies to post the list of reports required under subsection (d) to Data.gov within 30 days of the enactment of this bill. 

Subsection (j) clarifies that this bill does not relieve an agency 

from any other requirement to publish a congressionally-mandated 

report and does not impose any additional need to redact any submission to or withhold information from any congressional office. 

V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT

Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of 

the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has considered 

the regulatory impact of this bill and determined that the bill will 

have no regulatory impact within the meaning of the rules. The 

Committee agrees with the Congressional Budget Office’s statement that the bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 

mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

(UMRA) and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 

VI. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

U.S. CONGRESS, 

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, 

Washington, DC, March 1, 2019. 

Hon. RON JOHNSON, Chairman, 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 

U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. 

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 196, the Modernizing Congressional Reporting Act of 2019. 

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is David Hughes. 

Sincerely, 

KEITH HALL, Director. 

Enclosure. 


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S. 196 would require that all of the information federal agencies 

provide to the Congress be submitted in an electronic format. In 

addition, the bill would direct each agency to make electronically 

submitted information available on their respective public websites 

in a free, open, and accessible manner. Finally, agencies would be 

required to make a list of all information transmitted to Congress—including reports, data, and other materials—publicly available via data.gov. CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost about $2 

million over the 2019–2024 period. CBO expects that each of the 

26 major executive agencies would need about 15 percent of the 

time of one federal employee at an average annual cost of $15,000. 

That time would be spent on submitting Congressionally-mandated 

reports electronically, as well as creating and updating an online 

searchable database where reports would be published. Any spending for those activities would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. 

Enacting S. 196 would affect direct spending by some agencies 

(such as the Tennessee Valley Authority) because they are authorized to use receipts from the sale of goods, fees, and other collections to cover their operating costs. Because most of those agencies 

can adjust the amounts collected, CBO estimates that any net 

changes in direct spending by those agencies would be negligible. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is David Hughes. This 

estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Assistant Director 

for Budget Analysis. 

VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

Because this legislation would not repeal or amend any provision 

of current law, it would not make changes in existing law within 

the meaning of clauses (a) and (b) of paragraph 12 of rule XXVI 

of the Standing Rules of the Senate. 

Æ 


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