I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1639

To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 with respect to honoraria,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 15, 1995

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees

on Government Reform and Oversight, House Oversight, and National

Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 with

respect to honoraria, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ethics in Government

5 Act Amendments of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF PROHIBITION OF HONORARIA.

7 Section 501(b) of the Ethics in Government Act of

8 1978 is amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘An individual’’ and inserting

2 ‘‘(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), an indi3 vidual’’; and

4 (2) by adding at the end the following new

5 paragraph:

6 ‘‘(2)(A) Subject to subparagraph (B), paragraph (1)

7 shall not apply to an honorarium paid to an officer or em8 ployee for an appearance, a speech, or an article published

9 in a bona fide publication if—

10 ‘‘(i) the purpose of the appearance, or the sub11 ject of the speech or article, does not relate pri12 marily to the responsibilities, policies, or programs

13 of the agency or office in which the individual is em14 ployed, and does not involve the use of Government

15 time, property or other resources of the Government,

16 or nonpublic Government information;

17 ‘‘(ii) the reason for which the honorarium is

18 paid is unrelated to that individual’s official duties

19 or status as such officer or employee; and

20 ‘‘(iii) the person offering the honorarium has no

21 interests that may be substantially affected by the

22 performance or nonperformance of that individual’s

23 official duties.

24 ‘‘(B) Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to an officer

25 or employee who is—
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1 ‘‘(i) a Member, or

2 ‘‘(ii) a noncareer officer or employee employed

3 in a position for which the rate of basic pay, exclu4 sive of any locality-based pay adjustment under sec5 tion 5302 of title 5 (or any comparable adjustment

6 pursuant to interim authority of the President) is

7 equal to or greater than the rate of basic pay pay8 able for Level V of the Executive Schedule.

9 ‘‘(C) A statement of the source, date, and amount

10 of any honorarium accepted by an individual under sub11 paragraph (A) shall be included in any report required by

12 such individual by section 101 or section 107 of this Act.

13 ‘‘(D) The amount of any honorarium accepted under

14 subparagraph (A) shall not exceed the usual and cus15 tomary fee for the services for which the honorarium is

16 paid, up to a maximum of $2,000.’’.

17 SEC. 3. REGULATIONS.

18 Section 503 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978

19 is amended—

20 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before

21 ‘‘This’’; and

22 (2) by adding at the end the following:

23 ‘‘(b) PRIOR NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE OF

24 HONORARIA.—(1)(A) Rules and regulations issued under

25 subsection (a) shall include procedures under which indi-
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1 viduals described in paragraph (2) shall notify the appro2 priate entity administering such rules and regulations be3 fore accepting honoraria permitted under section

4 501(b)(2)(A) that, in the aggregate, equal or exceed $200

5 in value from any one source in a calendar year. Such

6 rules and regulations may include provision for notifica7 tion after the acceptance of a noncash honorarium for an

8 appearance or speech if the offer of the honorarium is

9 made at the appearance or speech. Such rules and regula10 tions may also provide for the notification of the appro11 priate entity if an honorarium is not accepted.

12 ‘‘(B) Each entity administering such rules and regu13 lations shall compile all notifications received under sub14 paragraph (A) during each calendar quarter. Such com15 pilations shall be made available to the public in the same

16 manner as reports are made available to the public under

17 section 105 of this Act.

18 ‘‘(2) The individuals to whom paragraph (1) applies

19 are any noncareer officer or employee who occupies a posi20 tion classified above GS–15 of the General Schedule or,

21 in the case of positions not under the General Schedule,

22 for which the rate of basic pay is equal to or greater than

23 120 percent of the minimum rate of basic pay payable for

24 GS–15.
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1 ‘‘(3) Any person who fails to notify the appropriate

2 entity, pursuant to procedures established under para3 graph (1), before accepting honoraria—

4 ‘‘(A) shall pay, for deposit in the general fund

5 of the Treasury, an amount equal to the value of the

6 honoraria involved; and

7 ‘‘(B) shall be subject to appropriate disciplinary

8 and other remedial action in accordance with appli9 cable laws, Executive orders, and rules or regula10 tions.

11 The entity administering rules and regulations issued

12 under paragraph (1) may, in accordance with procedures

13 established in such rules and regulations, waive any pen14 alty under this paragraph in extraordinary cir15 cumstances.’’.

16 SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF HONORARIUM.

17 Section 505(3) of the Ethics in Government Act of

18 1978 is amended by striking ‘‘if the subject matter’’ and

19 all that follows through ‘‘Government’’.

20 SEC. 5. LIMITATION ON POSTEMPLOYMENT RESTRICTIONS.

21 (a) LIMITATION ON POSTEMPLOYMENT RESTRIC22 TIONS.—Section 207(j) of title 18, United States Code,

23 is amended by adding at the end the following new para24 graph:
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1 ‘‘(7) POLITICAL PARTIES AND CAMPAIGN COM2 MITTEES.—(A) Except as provided in subparagraph

3 (B), the restrictions contained in subsections (c),

4 (d), and (e) shall not apply to a communication or

5 appearance made solely on behalf of a candidate, in

6 his or her capacity as a candidate, an authorized

7 committee, a national committee, a national Federal

8 campaign committee, a State committee, or a politi9 cal party.

10 ‘‘(B) Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to—

11 ‘‘(i) any communication to, or appearance

12 before, the Federal Election Commission by a

13 former officer or employee of the Federal Elec14 tion Commission;

15 ‘‘(ii) any communication to, or appearance

16 before, an employee (as defined in section 2105

17 of title 5) of an Executive agency (as defined in

18 section 105 of title 5), unless the employee is—

19 ‘‘(I) an employee of the Executive Of20 fice of the President;

21 ‘‘(II) the head or assistant head of an

22 Executive department or a military depart23 ment (as such terms are defined in sec24 tions 101 and 102 of title 5); or
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1 ‘‘(III) an employee appointed by the

2 President, by and with the advice and con3 sent of the Senate;

4 ‘‘(iii) any communication or appearance re5 ferred to in subparagraph (A) that is made by

6 a person on any matter in which that person

7 also represents, as agent or attorney or other8 wise, anyone other than a person or entity de9 scribed in subparagraph (C); or

10 ‘‘(iv) a communication or appearance that

11 is made by—

12 ‘‘(I) a person who is subject to the re13 strictions of subsection (c) or (d) if the

14 communication or appearance is made be15 fore an officer or employee of a depart16 ment or agency, other than the Executive

17 Office of the President, and if that person

18 is also representing, aiding, or advising

19 anyone else (other than the United States

20 or a person or entity referred to in sub21 paragraph (C)) in any matter pending be22 fore that department or agency;

23 ‘‘(II) a person who is subject to the

24 restrictions of subsection (e)(1)(A) and

25 who is also representing, aiding, or advis-
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1 ing anyone else (other than the United

2 States or a person or entity referred to in

3 subparagraph (C)) in any matter pending

4 before either House of Congress or any

5 legislative office of the Congress;

6 ‘‘(III) a person who is subject to the

7 restrictions of subsection (e)(2)(A) and

8 who is also representing, aiding, or advis9 ing anyone else (other than the United

10 States or a person or entity referred to in

11 subparagraph (C)) in any matter pending

12 before any person described in subsection

13 (e)(2)(B);

14 ‘‘(IV) a person who is subject to the

15 restrictions of subsection (e)(3) and who is

16 also representing, aiding, or advising any17 one else (other than the United States or

18 a person or entity referred to in subpara19 graph (C)) in any matter pending before

20 the committee by which the former em21 ployee was employed;

22 ‘‘(V) a person who is subject to the

23 restrictions of subsection (e)(5)(A) and

24 who is also representing, aiding, or advis25 ing anyone else (other than the United
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1 States or a person or entity referred to in

2 subparagraph (C)) in any matter pending

3 before any person described in subsection

4 (e)(5)(B).

5 ‘‘(C) For purposes of this paragraph—

6 ‘‘(i) the term ‘candidate’ means any person

7 who seeks nomination for election, or election,

8 to Federal or State office or who has authorized

9 others to explore on his or her behalf the possi10 bility of seeking nomination for election, or elec11 tion, to Federal or State office;

12 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘authorized committee’

13 means any political committee designated in

14 writing by a candidate as authorized to receive

15 contributions or make expenditures to promote

16 the nomination for election, or the election, of

17 such candidate, or to explore the possibility of

18 seeking nomination for election, or the election,

19 of such candidate, except that a political com20 mittee that receives contributions or makes ex21 penditures to promote more than 1 candidate

22 may not be designated as an authorized com23 mittee for purposes of subparagraph (A);

24 ‘‘(iii) the term ‘national committee’ means

25 the organization which, by virtue of the bylaws
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1 of a political party, is responsible for the day2 to-day operation of such political party at the

3 national level;

4 ‘‘(iv) the term ‘national Federal campaign

5 committee’ means an organization that, by vir6 tue of the bylaws of a political party, is estab7 lished primarily for the purpose of providing as8 sistance, at the national level, to candidates

9 nominated by that party for election to the

10 office of Senator or Representative in, or

11 Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the

12 Congress;

13 ‘‘(v) the term ‘State committee’ means the

14 organization which, by virtue of the bylaws of

15 a political party, is responsible for the day-to16 day operation of such political party at the

17 State level;

18 ‘‘(vi) the term ‘political party’ means an

19 association, committee, or organization that

20 nominates a candidate for election to any Fed21 eral or State elected office whose name appears

22 on the election ballot as the candidate of such

23 association, committee, or organization; and

24 ‘‘(vii) the term ‘State’ means a State of

25 the United States, the District of Columbia, the
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1 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any terri2 tory or possession of the United States.’’.

3 (b) APPLICABILITY.—A former officer or employee

4 who is subject to the prohibitions contained in section

5 207(c) of title 18, United States Code, as in effect before

6 January 1, 1991, shall, notwithstanding such prohibitions,

7 be permitted to make communications and appearances

8 solely on behalf of a candidate, in his or her capacity as

9 candidate, an authorized committee, a national committee,

10 a national Federal campaign committee, a State commit11 tee, or a political party, as though the provisions of section

12 207 of title 18, United States Code, in effect on or after

13 January 1, 1991, as amended by this section, were appli14 cable to such former officer or employee.

15 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), the

17 amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the date

18 of the enactment of this Act.

19 (b) SECTION 2.—The amendments made by section

20 2 shall be effective as of January 1, 1991.

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