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[House Report 114-415]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

114th Congress   }                                      {  Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session      }                                      {  114-415

======================================================================
 
               ELIMINATING PORNOGRAPHY FROM AGENCIES ACT

                                _______
                                

February 4, 2016.--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. 901]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to whom 
was referred the bill (H.R. 901) 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..................................................     3
Application of Law to the Legislative Branch.....................     3
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...........................................     4
Committee Estimate...............................................     5
Budget Authority and Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate...     5

                     Committee Statement and Views

                          PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

    H.R. 901, the Eliminating Pornography from Agencies Act 
prohibits the access of pornographic or explicit websites on a 
federal computer, with an exception for an investigative 
purpose that requires accessing such sites. The bill gives the 
Office of Management and Budget 90 days to develop guidelines 
for this policy.

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    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 the OIG went to 
investigate this employee at his office, the OIG 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 that the employee had 
about 20,000 adult pornographic images on his government-issued 
laptop.\4\ The case was ultimately referred to the U.S. 
Attorney's Office, who declined to prosecute in March 2015.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\``The Office of Inspector General's Cases of Employee Misconduct 
at the Environmental Protection Agency,'' Statement of Allan Williams, 
Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, Before the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of 
Representatives, May 7, 2014, (4), http://oversight.house.gov/wp-
content/uploads/2014/05/Williams-Statement.pdf.
    \2\Id.
    \3\Id.
    \4\``Employee Misconduct at the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency,'' Statement of Patrick Sullivan, Assistant Inspector General 
for Investigations, before the Committee on Oversight and Government 
Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, April 30, 2015, (2), http://
oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Final-Statement-of-
Sullivan-for-HOGR-Hearing-04-30-2015.pdf.
    \5\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Additional cases of employees viewing pornography at the 
EPA have also surfaced. 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 that the employee typically viewed 
pornography at work for one to four hours a day and that 30-40 
percent of the electronic media on his computer was 
pornography.\7\ The case was ultimately referred to the U.S. 
Attorney's Office, who declined to prosecute in March 2015.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\Id.
    \7\Id.
    \8\Id at 3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) OIG 
provided Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) a summary of 
investigations from the past five years of employees who used 
their work computer to view pornography at the SEC.\9\ The 
summary demonstrated that 33 cases had occurred, some involving 
senior employees.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\``Summary of Pornography-Related Investigations Conducted by the 
Securities and Exchange Commission Office of Inspector General,'' 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/
SECPornSummary.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    There have been many other instances of federal employees 
accessing pornography across the federal government. For 
example, cases have been reported at the Department of Housing 
and Urban Development, the Department of Commerce, the Federal 
Communications Commission, the General Services 
Administration,\10\ and the National Science Foundation.\11\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \10\``Porn-surfing Feds Blame Boredom, Lack of Work for 
Misbehavior,'' Jim McElhatton, The Washington Times, July 31, 2014, 
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/31/feds-accept-bordom-
lack-of-work-as-excuses-for-sur/.
    \11\``Porn Crisis Hits Government Agencies,'' Judicial Watch, 
Liberty News Now, February 25, 2015, http://www.libertynewsnow.com/
crisis-hits-government-agencies/article955.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The cases mentioned above and the many others that are not 
discussed here are evidence of the need for action. H.R. 901 
addresses the issue of federal employees accessing pornography 
on their federal computers, making it clear that accessing 
pornographic or explicit sites on a government computer is 
completely unacceptable.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC) introduced H.R. 5628, the 
``Eliminating Pornography from Agencies Act,'' in the 113th 
Congress on September 18, 2014. The bill text is identical to 
the current legislation, H.R. 901. H.R. 5628 was referred to 
the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. No action was 
taken on the bill.
    Congressman Meadows reintroduced the legislation as H.R. 
901 in the 114th Congress on February 11, 2015. The bill was 
referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
    On March 25, 2014, the Committee held a Full Committee 
Business Meeting to consider H.R. 901. The bill was ordered 
favorably reported, without amendment, by voice vote.

                           Section-by-Section

Section 1. Short title

    Designates the short title of the bill as the ``Eliminating 
Pornography from Agencies Act''.

Section 2. Prohibition on accessing pornographic web sites from federal 
        computers

    Requires the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget to create guidelines that prohibit access of 
pornographic or explicit web sites from a Federal computer.
    Provides an exception to the prohibition for investigative 
purposes.

                       Explanation of Amendments

    No amendments were offered during Full Committee 
consideration of H.R. 901.

                        Committee Consideration

    On March 25, 2015 the Committee met in open session and 
ordered reported favorably the bill, H.R. 901, by voice vote, a 
quorum being present.

                            Roll Call Votes

    There were no recorded votes during Full Committee 
consideration of H.R. 901.

              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 directs the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget to issue guidelines that prohibit the access of a 
pornographic or other explicit website from a federal computer, 
except any federal computer that is used for an investigative 
purpose that requires accessing such a website. Thus, the 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 the bill is to prohibit accessing 
pornographic web sites from Federal computers.

                    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 Committee estimates that enacting this bill does not 
direct the completion of any specific rule makings within the 
meaning of 5 U.S.C. 551. However, the Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget is directed to issue guidelines that 
prohibit the access of a pornographic or other explicit web 
site 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 5 U.S.C. App., Section 5(b).

                       Unfunded Mandate Statement

    Section 423 of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment 
Control Act (as amended by Section 101(a)(2) of the Unfunded 
Mandate Reform Act, P.L. 104-4) requires a statement as to 
whether the provisions of the reported include unfunded 
mandates. In compliance with this requirement the Committee has 
received a letter from the Congressional Budget Office included 
herein.

                         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.

     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:

H.R. 901--Eliminating Pornography From Agencies Act

    H.R. 901 would require the Office of Management and Budget 
to issue guidelines to prohibit federal computers from 
accessing pornographic and other explicit websites. CBO 
estimates that implementing the bill would not have a 
significant cost because the use of government property for 
unauthorized purposes is already prohibited. Enacting the bill 
would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-
as-you-go procedures do not apply.
    H.R. 901 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal 
governments.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew 
Pickford. The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.

                                  [all]
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