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[Senate Report 116-31]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                       Calendar No. 67
116th Congress      }                                    {      Report
                                 SENATE
 1st Session        }                                    {      116-31
_______________________________________________________________________

                                     

             ACCESS TO CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED REPORTS ACT

                               __________

                              R E P O R T

                                 of the

                   COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND

                          GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                              to accompany

                                 S. 195

          TO REQUIRE THE DIRECTOR OF THE GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING
         OFFICE TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN A WEBSITE ACCESSIBLE
             TO THE PUBLIC THAT ALLOWS THE PUBLIC TO OBTAIN
ELECTRONIC COPIES OF ALL CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED REPORTS IN ONE PLACE, 
                         AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                 April 10, 2019.--Ordered to be printed

                                  ______

                         U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 

89-010                         WASHINGTON : 2018 

        COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                    RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio                    GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
RAND PAUL, Kentucky                  THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma             MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
MITT ROMNEY, Utah                    KAMALA D. HARRIS, California
RICK SCOTT, Florida                  KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming             JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri

                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

                                                       Calendar No. 67
116th Congress      }                                    {      Report
                                 SENATE
 1st Session        }                                    {      116-31

======================================================================

 
             ACCESS TO CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED REPORTS ACT

                                _______
                                

                 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. 195]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 195) to require the 
Director of the Government Publishing Office to establish and 
maintain a website accessible to the public that allows the 
public to obtain electronic copies of all congressionally 
mandated reports in one place, and for other purposes, having 
considered the same, reports favorably thereon with amendment 
and recommends that the bill as amended do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
  I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
 II. Background and Need for the 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. 195, Access to Congressionally Mandated 
Reports Act, is to increase transparency of Federal Government 
operations by requiring the Government Publishing Office (GPO) 
to publish online all congressionally-mandated government 
reports issued by Federal agencies.

              II. BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR THE LEGISLATION

    Congress often mandates in legislation for an agency to 
provide it with a report of particular information or policies. 
From 2014-2015, Congress expected to receive 4,291 written 
reports from 466 Federal agencies and nonprofit groups.\1\ 
However, the reports are typically only provided to 
congressional offices in hard copy, and ``stored in the 
abyss.''\2\ Agencies expend taxpayer-funded time and resources 
to produce these reports which are intended to inform 
legislation or congressional oversight of agency operations, 
yet the general public and Congress itself faces obstacles to 
locate and review these reports.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\David Fahrenthold, Unrequired Reading, Washington Post (May 3, 
2014), https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/05/03/
unrequired-reading/?utm_term=.44fe005eb16e. See also U.S. House of 
Representatives, Office of the Clerk, Reports to be Made to Congress, 
House Document No. 116-4 (Jan. 3, 2019).
    \2\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Agencies are not always required to publicly post 
congressionally-mandated reports. Without such a requirement, 
agencies decide whether or not to make them accessible to the 
public. Moreover, there is no central database for the public 
to locate congressionally-mandated reports. If an individual or 
organization sought to compile congressionally-mandated 
reports, they would have to manually search through each 
Federal agency's website to determine what is publicly 
available.
    S. 195 facilitates the public's access to congressionally-
mandated reports by requiring all Federal agencies to send any 
such reports to the GPO for publication on its website.

                        III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    S. 195 was introduced on January 19, 2019, by Senators Rob 
Portman (R-OH), Margaret Hassan (D-NH), and Amy Klobuchar (D-
MN). The bill was referred to the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs.
    The Committee considered S. 195 at a business meeting on 
February 13, 2019. S. 195 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 
``Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act''.

Sec. 2. Definitions

    This section provides definitions for the terms 
``congressionally mandated report,'' ``Director,'' ``Federal 
agency,'' ``open format,'' and ``reports website.''

Sec. 3. Establishment of website for congressionally mandated reports

    This section establishes a website for the public to access 
congressionally-mandated reports.
    Subsection (a) requires GPO to establish and maintain a 
website for publication of electronic copies of all 
congressionally-mandated reports. This subsection requires GPO 
to consult with the Clerk of the House of Representatives, the 
Secretary of the Senate, and the Librarian of Congress on the 
maintenance and collection of congressionally-mandated reports.
    Subsection (b) describes the requirements for the website 
required under subsection (a). This subsection requires GPO to 
ensure that each report has a citation to the statue, 
conference report, or resolution requiring the report. Each 
electronic copy must be easily accessible and available to the 
public. This subsection requires that reports on the website 
are searchable by title, Federal agency, date of publication, 
receiving congressional committee, legislation requiring the 
report, subject tags, an alpha-numeric identifier for each 
report, key words, and full text searches. A congressionally-
mandated report must be published on the GPO website a month 
after it is submitted to Congress. All reports on the GPO 
website must be downloadable either individually or in bulk. 
The website must also indicate whether an agency submitted a 
congressionally mandated report by the required deadline or 
whether an agency did not submit such a report.
    Subsection (c) requires GPO to maintain a list of 
congressionally-mandated reports that Federal agencies fail to 
submit along with their due dates. If an agency fails to 
provide a report in an open format, GPO must attempt to convert 
it to an open format.
    Subsection (d) prohibits GPO from charging a fee, requiring 
registration, or imposing any other limitation for access the 
reports website.
    Subsection (e) requires GPO to update the website as 
necessary.

Sec. 4. Federal agency responsibilities

    This section establishes protocols for agencies to submit 
congressionally mandated reports to GPO.
    Subsection (a) requires Federal agencies to submit an 
electronic copy of each congressionally mandated report to GPO, 
as well as other information required under this bill. This 
subsection does not remove any requirement for a Federal agency 
to publish the report on its agency website.
    Subsection (b) requires OMB to issue guidance to agencies 
within 240 days of the implementation of this bill.
    Subsection (c) requires agencies to submit the reports in 
an open format.
    Subsection (d) requires each agency to designate a point of 
contact for congressionally-mandated reports.
    Subsection (e) requires the Librarian of Congress and the 
Clerk of the House of Representatives to annually submit to GPO 
a list of Federal agency reports mandated by Congress that 
year. All such reports must be submitted to GPO by April 1 of 
the following year and can be submitted on a rolling basis.

Sec. 5. Removing and altering reports

    Section 5 allows a Federal agency to change or remove a 
congressionally-mandated report on the GPO website only if the 
agency consults with each congressional committee that received 
the report and if Congress enacts a joint resolution 
authorizing the change or removal. This section exempts 
technical corrections from this requirement.

Sec. 6. Relationship to the Freedom of Information Act

    This section establishes procedures for exempting certain 
information in congressionally-mandated reports from disclosure 
on the GPO website.
    Subsection (a) clarifies that compliance with the 
provisions in the bill does not interfere with an agency's 
requirements under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) nor 
does the bill require GPO to review congressionally-mandated 
reports for identifying and redacting information exempt from 
disclosure under FOIA.
    Subsection (b) requires Federal agencies to redact 
information from a congressionally-mandated report only if the 
information is exempt from disclosure under FOIA before 
submitting the report to GPO. Agencies must identify each 
redaction from the report and the exemption under which the 
redaction is made.
    Subsection (c) allows a Federal agency to withhold 
information from publication on the GPO website only if the 
agency reasonably foresees that disclosure violates a privacy 
interest under FOIA or is prohibited by law. In such 
circumstances, the agency must consider whether a partial 
disclosure of information is permissible, and if so, take the 
necessary steps to separate and release nonexempt information.

Sec. 7. Implementation

    Section 7 requires implementation of this bill within one 
year of enactment. This section applies the requirements of 
this bill to all congressionally-mandated reports submitted to 
Congress on or after the implementation deadline.

                   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 ESTIMATES

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                     Washington, DC, March 8, 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. 195, the Access to 
Congressionally Mandated Reports Act.
    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.
    
    
    S. 195 would require the Government Publishing Office (GPO) 
to establish and maintain a website for the public to obtain 
electronic copies of all Congressionally mandated reports. 
Under S. 195, all federal agencies would be required to provide 
GPO with electronic copies of reports required by law each 
year. The Library of Congress (LOC) would be required to submit 
to GPO a list of Congressionally mandated reports that must be 
submitted during a year.
    Using information from GPO, LOC, and federal agencies that 
produce thousands of Congressionally mandated reports, CBO 
estimates that implementing the bill would cost $400,000 a year 
or $2 million over the 2019-2024 period. Those costs primarily 
consist of the salaries and expenses associated with four 
employees who would establish and maintain the website. In 
addition, there would be some costs for the agencies to collect 
and submit Congressionally mandated reports. Any spending would 
be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
    Enacting S. 195 could affect direct spending by some 
agencies (such as the Tennessee Valley Authority) because they 
are authorized to use receipts from fees, the sale of goods, 
and other collections to cover their operating costs. Because 
most of those agencies can adjust the amounts they collect as 
operating costs change, 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, Deputy 
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.

                                  [all]
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