H. R. 4931

One Hundred Sixth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,

the twenty-fourth day of January, two thousand

An Act

To provide for the training or orientation of individuals, during a Presidential

transition, who the President intends to appoint to certain key positions, to

provide for a study and report on improving the financial disclosure process

for certain Presidential nominees, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Presidential Transition Act

of 2000’’.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION ACT OF 1963.

Section 3(a) of the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 (3 U.S.C.

102 note) is amended—

(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by striking

‘‘including—’’ and inserting ‘‘including the following:’’;

(2) in each of paragraphs (1) through (6) by striking the

semicolon at the end and inserting a period; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

‘‘(8)(A)(i) Not withstanding subsection (b), payment of

expenses during the transition for briefings, workshops, or other

activities to acquaint key prospective Presidential appointees

with the types of problems and challenges that most typically

confront new political appointees when they make the transition

from campaign and other prior activities to assuming the

responsibility for governance after inauguration.

‘‘(ii) Activities under this paragraph may include interchange between such appointees and individuals who—

‘‘(I) held similar leadership roles in prior administrations;

‘‘(II) are department or agency experts from the Office

of Management and Budget or an Office of Inspector General of a department or agency; or

‘‘(III) are relevant staff from the General Accounting

Office.

‘‘(iii) Activities under this paragraph may include training

or orientation in records management to comply with section

2203 of title 44, United States Code, including training on

the separation of Presidential records and personal records

to comply with subsection (b) of that section.

‘‘(iv) Activities under this paragraph may include training

or orientation in human resources management and performance-based management.
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‘‘(B) Activities under this paragraph shall be conducted

primarily for individuals the President-elect intends to nominate as department heads or appoint to key positions in the

Executive Office of the President.

‘‘(9)(A) Notwithstanding subsection (b), development of a

transition directory by the Administrator of General Services

Administration, in consultation with the Archivist of the United

States (head of the National Archives and Records Administration) for activities conducted under paragraph (8).

‘‘(B) The transition directory shall be a compilation of Federal publications and materials with supplementary materials

developed by the Administrator that provides information on

the officers, organization, and statutory and administrative

authorities, functions, duties, responsibilities, and mission of

each department and agency.

‘‘(10)(A) Notwithstanding subsection (b), consultation by

the Administrator with any candidate for President or Vice

President to develop a systems architecture plan for the computer and communications systems of the candidate to coordinate a transition to Federal systems, if the candidate is elected.

‘‘(B) Consultations under this paragraph shall be conducted

at the discretion of the Administrator.’’.

SEC. 3. REPORT ON IMPROVING THE FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

PROCESS FOR PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEES.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the date of

the enactment of this Act, the Office of Government Ethics shall

conduct a study and submit a report on improvements to the financial disclosure process for Presidential nominees required to file

reports under section 101(b) of the Ethics in Government Act of

1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

of the Senate and the Committee on Government Reform of the

House of Representatives.

(b) CONTENT OF REPORT.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—The report under this section shall

include recommendations and legislative proposals on—

(A) streamlining, standardizing, and coordinating the

financial disclosure process and the requirements of financial disclosure reports under the Ethics in Government

Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) for Presidential nominees;

(B) avoiding duplication of effort and reducing the burden of filing with respect to financial disclosure of information to the White House Office, the Office of Government

Ethics, and the Senate; and

(C) any other relevant matter the Office of Government

Ethics determines appropriate.

(2) LIMITATION RELATING TO CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.—The

recommendations and proposals under this subsection shall

not (if implemented) have the effect of lessening substantive

compliance with any conflict of interest requirement.
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(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized

to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out

this section.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.