U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

1 

89–010 

" ! SENATE 116TH CONGRESS

1st Session 

REPORT

2019

116–31 

Calendar No. 67 

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 

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. 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. 


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1David 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. 

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. 

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 


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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 congressionallymandated 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. 


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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. 


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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. 

Æ 


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