69–006 

115TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1st Session 115–81 

ELIMINATING PORNOGRAPHY FROM AGENCIES ACT 

APRIL 6, 2017.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of 

the Union and ordered to be printed 

Mr. CHAFFETZ, from the Committee on Oversight and Government 

Reform, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany H.R. 680] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to whom 

was referred the bill (H.R. 680) to prohibit accessing pornographic 

web sites from Federal computers, and for other purposes, having 

considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment 

and recommend that the bill do pass. 

CONTENTS 

Page 

Committee Statement and Views ........................................................................... 1 

Section-by-Section .................................................................................................... 3 

Explanation of Amendments ................................................................................... 3 

Committee Consideration ........................................................................................ 3 

Roll Call Votes ......................................................................................................... 4 

Application of Law to the Legislative Branch ....................................................... 4 

Statement of Oversight Findings and Recommendations of the Committee ...... 4 

Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives .................................... 4 

Duplication of Federal Programs ............................................................................ 4 

Disclosure of Directed Rule Makings ..................................................................... 4 

Federal Advisory Committee Act ............................................................................ 4 

Unfunded Mandate Statement ............................................................................... 4 

Earmark Identification ............................................................................................ 5 

Committee Estimate ................................................................................................ 5 

Budget Authority and Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate .................... 5 

COMMITTEE STATEMENT AND VIEWS

PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

H.R. 680, the Eliminating Pornography from Agencies Act requires guidelines to prohibit the access of pornographic or explicit 

websites on a federal computer. The bill does provide an exception 


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1 Is EPA Leadership Obstructing Its Own Inspector General?: Hearing Before the H. Comm. 

on Oversight & Gov’t Reform, 113th Cong. 22 (2014) (written statement of Allan Williams, Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 2 Id. 

3 EPA Mismanagement: Hearing Before the H. Comm. on Oversight & Gov’t Reform, 114th 

Cong. 16 (2015) (written statement of Patrick Sullivan, Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 4 Id. at 17. 5 Id. 

6 Id. 

7 Id. 

8 Id. at 18. 9 Report: SEC Staffers Watched Porn as Economy Crashed, CNN (Apr. 23, 2010), available at 

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/23/sec.porn/. 10 Id. 11Scott MacFarlane, Rick Yarborough & Jeff Piper, Dozens of Federal Employees Watched 

Abundance of Porn on the Job in Recent Years, NBC-4 I TEAM (Feb. 27, 2017), available at 

http://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/Dozens-of-Federal-Employees-Watched-Abundance-of-Porn-on-the-Job-in-Recent-Years-414743293.html. 12 Id. 

from this prohibition where there is an investigative purpose that 

requires accessing such sites from a federal computer. The bill 

gives the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 90 days to develop guidelines. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

The Committee has identified multiple cases of federal employees 

viewing pornography at work. 

In September 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

Office of Environmental Information informed the EPA Office of 

the Inspector General (OIG) that an EPA employee had been viewing pornography at work.1 When OIG personnel investigated this 

employee at his office, OIG staff found him viewing pornography.2

The employee subsequently told the OIG that he viewed pornography for an average of two-to-six hours a day while at work.3 The 

OIG also found the employee had about 20,000 adult pornographic 

images on his government-issued laptop.4 The OIG referred the 

case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which declined to prosecute in 

March 2015.5

In another example, the EPA OIG investigated one EPA employee in the Office of the Administrator for watching pornography 

on his government-issued computer during the workday after an 

individual reportedly saw him viewing pornography at work in 

April 2014.6 The subsequent investigation found the employee typically viewed pornography at work for 1-to-4 hours a day and that 

30–40 percent of the electronic media on his computer was pornography.7 The OIG referred the case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 

which declined to prosecute in March 2015.8

In 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) OIG 

provided Senator Charles Grassley a summary of investigations 

from the prior five years on federal employees using work computers to view pornography at the SEC.9 The summary detailed 33 

cases, some involving senior employees.10

In February 2017, a Washington, D.C.-based news station reviewed records received from Freedom of Information Act requests 

that revealed almost 100 cases of federal employees viewing pornography while on government computers across the federal government.11 These cases occurred at 12 major federal government 

agencies over the past 5 years.12


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These cases demonstrate that current prohibitions on unauthorized use of federal computers are not sufficient to prevent some employees from accessing pornographic materials while at work. 

These situations not only contribute to lowering agency morale, but 

they also raise cybersecurity concerns for vulnerable agency computer systems. H.R. 680 sends a clear signal across the federal government that watching pornography on federal computers will not 

be tolerated. 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

On January 24, 2017, the Chair of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, Representative Mark Meadows (R-NC) introduced H.R. 680, with Representative Walter Jones (R-NC). H.R. 

680 was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government 

Reform. The Committee considered H.R. 680 at a business meeting 

on March 8, 2017 and ordered the bill favorably reported by voice 

vote. 

There have been two bills identical to H.R. 680 introduced in previous Congresses. In the 114th Congress, Representative Meadows 

introduced H.R. 901 on February 11, 2015. The bill was referred 

to the Committee and ordered favorably reported by voice vote on 

March 25, 2015. The text of H.R. 901 was included as part of H.R. 

4361, the Government Reform and Improvement Act, which passed 

the House of Representatives on July 7, 2016 by a vote of 241–181. 

In the 113th Congress, Representative Meadows introduced H.R. 

5628 on September 18, 2014. The bill was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 

SECTION-BY-SECTION

Section 1. Short title 

Section 1 designates the title as the ‘‘Eliminating Pornography 

from Agencies Act.’’ 

Section 2. Prohibition on accessing pornographic web sites from 

Federal computers 

Section 2 requires the Director of the Office of Management and 

Budget to issue guidelines not later than 90 days after the date of 

enactment that prohibit access to pornographic or explicit websites 

from a Federal computer. 

Section 2 provides an exception to this prohibition for investigative purposes. 

EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENTS

There were no amendments offered during Committee consideration of H.R. 680. 

COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION

On March 8, 2017, the Committee met in open session and ordered reported favorably the bill, H.R. 680, by voice vote, a quorum 

being present. 


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ROLL CALL VOTES

No roll call votes were requested or conducted during Full Committee consideration of H.R. 680. 

APPLICATION OF LAW TO THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

Section 102(b)(3) of Public Law 104–1 requires a description of 

the application of this bill to the legislative branch where the bill 

relates to the terms and conditions of employment or access to public services and accommodations. This bill requires OMB to issue 

guidelines prohibiting the access of pornographic or explicit 

websites on a federal computer, with an exception to this prohibition for an investigative purpose. As such, this bill does not relate 

to employment or access to public services and accommodations. 

STATEMENT OF OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF

THE COMMITTEE

In compliance with clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII and clause (2)(b)(1) 

of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee’s oversight findings and recommendations are reflected in the 

descriptive portions of this report. 

STATEMENT OF GENERAL PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

In accordance with clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 

House of Representatives, the Committee’s performance goal or objective of this bill is to prohibit accessing pornographic web sites 

from federal computers, and for other purposes. 

DUPLICATION OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS

No provision of this bill establishes or reauthorizes a program of 

the Federal Government known to be duplicative of another Federal program, a program that was included in any report from the 

Government Accountability Office to Congress pursuant to section 

21 of Public Law 111–139, or a program related to a program identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. 

DISCLOSURE OF DIRECTED RULE MAKINGS

The Director of the Office of Management and Budget is directed 

to issue guidelines within 90 days of enactment of this act to prohibit the access of a pornographic or other explicit website from a 

federal computer. 

FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT

The Committee finds that the legislation does not establish or 

authorize the establishment of an advisory committee within the 

definition of Section 5(b) of the appendix to title 5, United States 

Code. 

UNFUNDED MANDATE STATEMENT

Section 423 of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act (as amended by Section 101(a)(2) of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, P.L. 104–4) requires a statement as to whether 

the provisions of the reported bill include unfunded mandates. In 


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compliance with this requirement, the Committee has included 

below a letter received from the Congressional Budget Office. 

EARMARK IDENTIFICATION

This bill does not include any congressional earmarks, limited 

tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in clause 9 of rule 

XXI. 

COMMITTEE ESTIMATE

Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and a comparison by the Committee of the costs that would be incurred in carrying out this bill. 

However, clause 3(d)(2)(B) of that Rule provides that this requirement does not apply when the Committee has included in its report 

a timely submitted cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the 

Congressional Budget Act of 1974, which the Committee has included below. 

BUDGET AUTHORITY AND CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST

ESTIMATE

With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of 

the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 308(a) of the 

Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and with respect to requirements 

of clause (3)(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 

1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate for 

this bill from the Director of Congressional Budget Office: 

U.S. CONGRESS, 

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, 

Washington, DC, March 21, 2017. 

Hon. JASON CHAFFETZ, 

Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 

House of Representatives, Washington, DC. 

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 680, the Eliminating Pornography from Agencies Act. 

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

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew Pickford. 

Sincerely, 

MARK P. HADLEY

(For Keith Hall, Director). 

Enclosure. 

H.R. 680—Eliminating Pornography from Agencies Act 

H.R. 680 would require the Office of Management and Budget to 

issue guidelines to prohibit federal computers from accessing pornographic and other explicit websites. Several federal laws, regulations and policies prohibit the use of government property for unauthorized purposes such as viewing pornography. According to 

several agency officials that CBO consulted, government information technology systems generally block access to pornographic maVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:39 Apr 07, 2017 Jkt 069006 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\HR081.XXX HR081

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terial. CBO estimates that implementing the bill would not have a 

significant cost because the viewing of pornography using government computers is already prohibited. 

Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or revenues; 

therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates 

that enacting H.R. 680 would not increase net direct spending or 

on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028. 

H.R. 680 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would 

impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew Pickford. The 

estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant 

Director for Budget Analysis. 

Æ 


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