I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8597 

To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Rules of the House 

of Representatives, the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, the Legislative 

Reorganization Act of 1946, the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009, the Internal Revenue Code of 

1986, the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, the Financial Stability Act of 2010, and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to improve access to information in the legislative 

and executive branches of the Government, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 3, 2024 

Mr. QUIGLEY (for himself and Ms. NORTON) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, 

and in addition to the Committees on House Administration, the Judiciary, Ethics, Financial Services, and Rules, 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, the Rules 

of the House of Representatives, the Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995, the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, 

the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act 

for Fiscal Year 2009, the Internal Revenue Code of 

1986, the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, the 

Financial Stability Act of 2010, and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to 

improve access to information in the legislative and execVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:49 Jul 18, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597

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utive branches of the Government, 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 ‘‘Transparency in Gov5 ernment Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

7 The table of contents of this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title. 

Sec. 2. Table of contents. 

TITLE I—IMPROVING ACCESS TO INFORMATION ABOUT 

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES 

Sec. 101. Greater disclosure and electronic filing of personal financial information. 

Sec. 102. Greater disclosure of travel reports. 

Sec. 103. Greater disclosure of gift reports. 

Sec. 104. Greater disclosure of earmarks. 

Sec. 105. GAO study and report on effects of written requests by members of 

Congress for funding of projects. 

TITLE II—ENHANCING PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE WORK OF 

CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES, LEGISLATION, AND VOTES 

Sec. 201. Increased transparency of committee work. 

Sec. 202. Increased transparency of recorded votes. 

Sec. 203. Electronic format. 

Sec. 205. Use of data standards by congressional support offices. 

Sec. 206. Inclusion of digital version of funding tables in reports accompanying 

appropriations bills. 

Sec. 207. Select committee on the modernization of congress. 

Sec. 208. Expanded information in house staff directory. 

TITLE III—EXPANDING ACCESS TO CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH 

SERVICE REPORTS ON LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WEBSITE 

Sec. 301. Inclusion of reports from archive. 

Sec. 302. Availability of reports in structured format. 

Sec. 303. Report on making other materials available. 

Sec. 304. Effective date. 

TITLE IV—LOBBYING DISCLOSURE 

Sec. 401. Short title. 

Sec. 402. Modifications to enforcement. 


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Sec. 403. Definition of lobbyist. 

Sec. 404. Expedited online registration of lobbyists; thresholds for certain organizations whose employees are lobbyists. 

Sec. 405. Disclosure of political contributions. 

Sec. 406. Identification numbers for lobbyists. 

Sec. 407. Ethics training for lobbyists. 

Sec. 408. Repeal of exemption of reporting lobbying contacts reported under 

Foreign Agents Registration Act. 

Sec. 409. Repeal of use of estimates based on tax reporting system. 

TITLE V—TRANSPARENCY IN FEDERAL AWARDS 

Sec. 501. Improving application programming interface and website data elements. 

Sec. 502. Improving data quality. 

Sec. 503. Requirements relating to reporting of award data. 

Sec. 504. Recipient performance transparency. 

Sec. 505. Improvement of responsibility/qualification information. 

Sec. 506. Federal contractor compliance. 

Sec. 507. Improving access to information disclosed on lobbying activities. 

Sec. 508. Inclusion of narratives on USASpending.gov. 

Sec. 509. Suspension and debarment database. 

TITLE VI—EXECUTIVE BRANCH TRANSPARENCY 

Subtitle A—Public Availability of Information 

Sec. 601. Agency defined. 

Sec. 602. Requirement for disclosure of Federal sponsorship of all Federal advertising or other communications. 

Sec. 603. Improving access to influential executive branch official’s visitor access records. 

Sec. 604. Improving rulemaking disclosure for the Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs. 

Sec. 605. Improving registration information from agents of foreign principals. 

Sec. 606. Government-wide entity identifier. 

Sec. 607. Grants transparency requirements. 

Subtitle B—Publication of Opinions of Office of Legal Counsel 

Sec. 611. Short title. 

Sec. 612. Schedule of publication for final OLC opinions. 

Sec. 613. Exceptions and limitation on public availability of final OLC opinions. 

Sec. 614. Method of publication. 

Sec. 615. Index of opinions. 

Sec. 616. Private right of action. 

Sec. 617. Severability. 

Sec. 618. Definitions. 

Subtitle C—Contempt of Congress Procedures and Enforcement 

Sec. 621. Availability of civil action to enforce House of Representatives subpoenas. 

Sec. 622. Alternate procedures for enforcement of criminal contempt of Congress. 

Sec. 623. Increase in penalty for contempt of Congress. 

Sec. 624. Authority of United States Capitol Police to enforce citations. 


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Sec. 625. Collection of penalties imposed by the House of Representatives on 

persons cited for contempt of House. 

Sec. 626. No effect of expiration of Congress on pending actions. 

Subtitle D—Promoting Accountability and Security in Transitions 

Sec. 631. Short title. 

Sec. 632. Sense of Congress. 

Sec. 633. Definitions. 

Sec. 634. Management and custody of Presidential records. 

Sec. 635. Restrictions on access to Presidential records. 

Sec. 636. Exceptions to restricted access. 

Sec. 637. Regulations. 

Sec. 638. Disclosure requirement for official business conducted using non-official electronic messaging accounts. 

Sec. 639. Presidential Transition Act of 1963. 

Sec. 640. Former Presidents. 

Sec. 641. Presidential archival depository. 

TITLE VII—STRENGTHENING THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION 

ACT 

Sec. 701. Digital access to records made available under the Freedom of Information Act. 

Sec. 702. Freedom of Information Act Amendments. 

Sec. 703. Other matters. 

TITLE VIII—IMPROVING TRANSPARENCY WITHIN THE JUDICIAL 

SYSTEM 

Sec. 801. Televising Supreme Court proceedings. 

Sec. 802. Audio recording of Supreme Court proceedings. 

Sec. 803. Availability on the internet of financial disclosure reports of judicial 

officers. 

Sec. 804. GAO audit of pacer. 

Sec. 805. Electronic court records reform. 

TITLE IX—ENFORCEMENT 

Sec. 901. Report by the Government Accountability Office. 

TITLE X—MISCELLANEOUS 

Sec. 1001. Transfer of certain records to archivist of United States. 

Sec. 1002. Data standards. 


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1 TITLE I—IMPROVING ACCESS TO 

2 INFORMATION ABOUT MEM3 BERS OF CONGRESS AND 

4 CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES 

5 SEC. 101. GREATER DISCLOSURE AND ELECTRONIC FILING 

6 OF PERSONAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION. 

7 (a) ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REQUIRE8 MENTS.—(1) Section 102(a)(1)(B) of the Ethics in Gov9 ernment Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App. 102(a)(1)(B)) is 

10 amended in clause (iv) by striking ‘‘$15,000’’ and insert11 ing ‘‘$25,000’’ and by striking clauses (v) through (ix) and 

12 inserting the following new clauses: 

13 ‘‘(v) greater than $25,000 but not 

14 more than $100,000, rounded to the near15 est $10,000, 

16 ‘‘(vi) greater than $100,000 but not 

17 more than $1,000,000, rounded to the 

18 nearest $100,000, or 

19 ‘‘(vii) greater than $1,000,000, round20 ed to the nearest $1,000,000.’’. 

21 (2) Section 102(d)(1) of such Act (5 U.S.C. App. 

22 102(d)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘(3), (4), (5), and (8)’’ 

23 and inserting ‘‘(5) and (8)’’. 

24 (3) Section 102(d) of such Act (5 U.S.C. App. 

25 102(d)) is amended by redesignating paragraph (2) as 


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1 paragraph (3) and by inserting after paragraph (1) the 

2 following new paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(2) The categories for reporting the amount or 

4 value of the items covered in paragraphs (3) or (4) 

5 of subsection (a) are as follows: 

6 ‘‘(A) Not more than $15,000. 

7 ‘‘(B) Greater than $15,000 but not more 

8 than $25,000. 

9 ‘‘(C) Greater than $25,000 but not more 

10 than $100,000, rounded to the nearest 

11 $10,000. 

12 ‘‘(D) Greater than $100,000 but not more 

13 than $1,000,000, rounded to the nearest 

14 $100,000. 

15 ‘‘(E) Greater than $1,000,000, rounded to 

16 the nearest $1,000,000.’’. 

17 (b) MORE FREQUENT DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL

18 TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING LARGE SUMS OF MONEY.— 

19 (1) Section 101 of such Act (5 U.S.C. App. 

20 101) is amended by adding at the end the following 

21 new subsection: 

22 ‘‘(j) In addition to any other report required to be 

23 filed by a Member of Congress or officer or employee of 

24 the Congress, each such individual is required to file a 

25 quarterly report on April 30, July 30, October 30, and 


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1 January 30 of each year covering the preceding calendar 

2 quarter if that individual (or the spouse or any dependent 

3 child of that individual) purchased, sold, or exchanged any 

4 property described in subsection (a)(5) valued at not less 

5 than $250,000 during that calendar quarter. For any such 

6 transaction of not less than $250,000, such report shall 

7 contain all of the information required under subsection 

8 (a)(5).’’. 

9 (2)(A) Clause 1 of rule XXVI of the Rules of 

10 the House of Representatives is amended by insert11 ing ‘‘(a)’’ after ‘‘1.’’ and by adding at the end the 

12 following new paragraphs: 

13 ‘‘(b) If any report is filed with the Clerk for a cal14 endar quarter pursuant to section 101(i) of the Ethics in 

15 Government Act of 1978, the Clerk shall compile all such 

16 reports sent to the Clerk by Members and have them 

17 printed as a House document, which shall be made avail18 able to the public, as soon as practicable. 

19 ‘‘(c) Each individual required to file a report with the 

20 Clerk under title I under the Ethics in Government Act 

21 of 1978 shall file and maintain such report in electronic 

22 form.’’. 

23 (B) Comparable language to be added by the 

24 Senate. 


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1 (c) AVAILABILITY ON THE INTERNET OF REPORTS

2 FILED UNDER THIS TITLE WITH THE CLERK OF THE

3 HOUSE OR THE SECRETARY OF THE SENATE.—Section 

4 103 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. 

5 App. 103) is amended by adding at the end the following 

6 new subsection: 

7 ‘‘(m) The Clerk of the House of Representatives and 

8 the Secretary of the Senate shall each make available any 

9 report filed with them under this title (whether the report 

10 is filed in paper or electronic form) within 48 hours of 

11 the applicable submission deadline on the website of the 

12 Clerk or the Secretary, as applicable, in a searchable, sort13 able, downloadable, machine-readable format.’’. 

14 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

15 this section shall apply to reports filed for calendar years 

16 or calendar quarters beginning after the date of enactment 

17 of this Act. 

18 SEC. 102. GREATER DISCLOSURE OF TRAVEL REPORTS. 

19 (a) FOREIGN TRAVEL.—Clause 8(b)(3) of rule X of 

20 the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by 

21 adding at the end the following new sentence: ‘‘Within 48 

22 hours after any such report is filed with the chair of a 

23 committee, the chair shall post the report on the Internet 

24 site of the committee in a searchable, sortable, 

25 downloadable, machine-readable format.’’. 


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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

2 subsection (a) shall apply to travel commencing after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act. 

4 SEC. 103. GREATER DISCLOSURE OF GIFT REPORTS. 

5 (a) REQUIRING CLERK OF THE HOUSE TO POST RE6 PORTS ON INTERNET NOT LATER THAN 48 HOURS

7 AFTER RECEIPT.—(1) Clause 5(b)(5) of rule XXV of the 

8 Rules of the House of Representatives is amended— 

9 (A) by striking ‘‘shall make available’’ and in10 serting ‘‘shall post on the public Internet site of the 

11 Clerk and otherwise make available’’; and 

12 (B) by striking ‘‘as possible’’ and inserting the 

13 following: ‘‘as possible, but in no event later than 48 

14 hours,’’. 

15 (2) Comparable language to be added by the Senate. 

16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

17 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to reports filed on 

18 or after the date of the adoption of this resolution. 

19 SEC. 104. GREATER DISCLOSURE OF EARMARKS. 

20 (a) ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE BY MEMBERS.—(1) 

21 Rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives 

22 is amended by redesignating clause 22 as clause 23 and 

23 by inserting after clause 21 the following: 

24 ‘‘22. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner 

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1 efit, or a limited tariff benefit shall, within 24 hours after 

2 making such request— 

3 ‘‘(1) post on his or her public website for the 

4 remainder of the Congress the following— 

5 ‘‘(A) the name and address of the intended 

6 recipient; 

7 ‘‘(B) whether the intended recipient is a 

8 for-profit or not-for-profit entity; 

9 ‘‘(C) the requested amount (only in the 

10 case of congressional earmarks); and 

11 ‘‘(D) an explanation of the request, includ12 ing the purpose, and why it is a valuable use 

13 of taxpayer funds; 

14 ‘‘(2) electronically submit to the committee of 

15 subject-matter jurisdiction the webpage address 

16 where such information is posted; 

17 ‘‘(3) identify each request as having been sub18 mitted to the committee of subject-matter jurisdic19 tion; and 

20 ‘‘(4) display on the homepage of such website a 

21 hypertext link that contains the words ‘Earmarks’, 

22 ‘Appropriations Requests’, ‘Limited Tax Benefits’, 

23 or ‘Limited Tariff Benefits’ and that directs to such 

24 webpage address, and maintain that link for at least 


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1 30 calendar days after the last such request is made 

2 during the Congress.’’. 

3 (2) The last sentence of clause 16 of rule XXIII of 

4 the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by 

5 striking ‘‘and clause 17’’ and inserting ‘‘, clause 17, and 

6 clause 22’’. 

7 (b) ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE BY COMMITTEES.— 

8 Rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives is 

9 amended by adding at the end the following new clause: 

10 ‘‘Earmark disclosure websites 

11 ‘‘(a) Any committee that accepts any request of a 

12 Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner for a con13 gressional earmark, a limited tax benefit, or a limited tar14 iff benefit shall maintain a public website with an earmark 

15 disclosure webpage that contains the following for each 

16 such request— 

17 ‘‘(1) the bill name; 

18 ‘‘(2) the name, State, and district of that indi19 vidual; 

20 ‘‘(3) the name and address of the intended re21 cipient; 

22 ‘‘(4) whether the intended recipient is a for23 profit or not-for-profit entity; 

24 ‘‘(5) the requested amount (only in the case of 

25 congressional earmarks); 


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1 ‘‘(6) a brief description; and 

2 ‘‘(7) the applicable department or agency of the 

3 Government, and the account or program (if pro4 vided to the committee in the request); 

5 and 

6 ‘‘is in a downloadable format that is searchable 

7 and sortable by such characteristics. 

8 ‘‘(b) Any written statement received by a committee 

9 under clause 17(a) of rule XXIII shall be posted on the 

10 earmark disclosure webpage of the committee. 

11 ‘‘(c) The earmark disclosure webpage of a committee 

12 shall list the names of any Member, Delegate, and Resi13 dent Commissioner who requests a congressional earmark, 

14 a limited tax benefit, or a limited tariff benefit and link 

15 directly to their webpage addresses referred to in clause 

16 18(2) of rule XXIII. 

17 ‘‘(d) The earmark disclosure webpage of a committee 

18 shall post the information required under paragraphs (a) 

19 through (c) within one week of receipt, and shall maintain 

20 that information on that webpage for the remainder of the 

21 Congress. 

22 ‘‘(e) For purposes of this clause, the terms ‘congres23 sional earmark’, ‘limited tax benefit’, and ‘limited tariff 

24 benefit’ shall have the meaning given them in clause 9 of 

25 rule XXI.’’. 


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1 (c) POINT OF ORDER.—Clause 9 of rule XXI of the 

2 Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by re3 designating paragraphs (e), (f), and (g) as paragraphs (f), 

4 (g), and (h), respectively, and by inserting after paragraph 

5 (d) the following: 

6 ‘‘(e) It shall not be in order to consider any bill or 

7 joint resolution, or an amendment thereto or conference 

8 report thereon, that carries a congressional earmark, lim9 ited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit for which a Mem10 ber, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner failed to comply 

11 with any applicable requirement of clause 18 of rule 

12 XXIII.’’. 

13 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

14 this section shall apply to requests for congressional ear15 marks, limited tax benefits, and limited tariff benefits 

16 made after the date this resolution is agreed to. 

17 (e) CENTRALIZED DATABASE FOR EARMARKS, LIM18 ITED TAX BENEFITS, AND LIMITED TARIFF BENEFITS.— 

19 (1) The Clerk of the House of Representatives, the Sec20 retary of the Senate, and the chairs of the Committee on 

21 Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the 

22 Senate shall collaborate to create one centralized database 

23 where all requests for earmark, limited tax benefits, and 

24 limited tariff benefits are available on the Internet in a 

25 searchable, sortable, downloadable format to the public. 


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1 The data available to the public for each earmark should 

2 include— 

3 (A) an identification of the bill into which the 

4 earmark is to be inserted; 

5 (B) the name, State, and district of the Mem6 ber of Congress requesting the earmark; 

7 (C) the name and address of the intended re8 cipient; 

9 (D) whether the intended recipient is a for-prof10 it or not-for-profit entity; 

11 (E) the requested amount (only in the case of 

12 congressional earmarks); 

13 (F) a brief description of the earmark; and 

14 (G) the applicable department or agency of the 

15 Government, and the account or program (if pro16 vided to the committee in the request). 

17 (2) The centralized database for earmarks referred 

18 to in paragraph (1) shall be implemented within six 

19 months after the date of enactment of this Act. 

20 SEC. 105. GAO STUDY AND REPORT ON EFFECTS OF WRIT21 TEN REQUESTS BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 

22 FOR FUNDING OF PROJECTS. 

23 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

24 States shall conduct a study of the effect of written re25 quests to carry out and provide funding for projects and 


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1 activities which are submitted to offices of the executive 

2 branch by Members of Congress on the decisions made 

3 by such offices regarding the funding of those projects and 

4 activities. 

5 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

6 of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 

7 submit to Congress a report on the study conducted under 

8 subsection (a). 

9 TITLE II—ENHANCING PUBLIC 

10 ACCESS TO THE WORK OF 

11 CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT12 TEES, LEGISLATION, AND 

13 VOTES 

14 SEC. 201. INCREASED TRANSPARENCY OF COMMITTEE 

15 WORK. 

16 (a) IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—Clause 

17 1 of rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives 

18 is amended by adding at the end the following new para19 graph: 

20 ‘‘(e)(1) Each committee shall post on its Internet 

21 website the public hearings and markup schedules of the 

22 committee and each of its subcommittees at the same time 

23 that information is made available to members of the com24 mittee. 


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1 ‘‘(2) For each hearing and markup for which infor2 mation is posted under subparagraph (1), the committee 

3 shall post on its Internet website within 45 days the fol4 lowing: the topic, related legislation, testimony of wit5 nesses, opening statements of the chair and ranking mi6 nority member, transcripts, and audio and video record7 ings. 

8 ‘‘(3) Within 24 hours after a committee or sub9 committee orders any bill or resolution to be reported, the 

10 committee or subcommittee, as applicable, shall post on 

11 its Internet website all amendments that were agreed to, 

12 except for technical and conforming changes authorized by 

13 the committee or subcommittee, as well as all votes taken 

14 on the bill or resolution and on any amendment offered 

15 to the bill or resolution.’’. 

16 (b) IN THE SENATE.—Comparable language to be 

17 added by the Senate. 

18 SEC. 202. INCREASED TRANSPARENCY OF RECORDED 

19 VOTES. 

20 (a) ADDITIONAL DUTIES OF THE CLERK OF THE

21 HOUSE AND THE SECRETARY OF THE SENATE.—The 

22 Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary 

23 of the Senate shall post on the public Internet site of the 

24 Office of the Clerk or of the Secretary, respectively, a 

25 record, organized by the name of each Member or Senator, 


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1 in a structured data format, of the recorded votes of that 

2 Member or Senator, including the roll, date, issue, ques3 tion, result, and title or description of the vote, and any 

4 cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office related 

5 to the vote. 

6 (b) WEB LINK.—Each Member shall provide a link 

7 to the Clerk of the House of Representatives of a list of 

8 recorded votes from that Member’s website, and each Sen9 ator shall provide a link to the Secretary of the Senate 

10 of a list of recorded votes from that Senator’s website. 

11 (c) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term 

12 ‘‘Member’’ means a Representative in Congress, a delegate 

13 to Congress, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto 

14 Rico. 

15 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply to 

16 recorded votes occurring after the date of enactment of 

17 this Act. 

18 SEC. 203. ELECTRONIC FORMAT. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 2 of title 1 of the United 

20 States Code is amended by inserting after section 107 the 

21 following new section: 

22 ‘‘§ 107a. Electronic format 

23 ‘‘To the extent practicable, all bills, resolutions, or24 ders, and votes shall be created, exchanged, and published 

25 in searchable electronic formats, consistent with data 


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1 standards recommended by such advisory bodies as Con2 gress may establish.’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec4 tions at the beginning of chapter 2 of title 1 of the United 

5 States Code is amended by adding after the item relating 

6 to section 107 the following new item: 

‘‘107a. Electronic format.’’. 

7 SEC. 205. USE OF DATA STANDARDS BY CONGRESSIONAL 

8 SUPPORT OFFICES. 

9 All congressional support offices shall, to the extent 

10 practicable, use the data standards recommended by the 

11 Congressional Data Task Force for the congressional in12 formation that they create, exchange, and/or publish. 

13 SEC. 206. INCLUSION OF DIGITAL VERSION OF FUNDING 

14 TABLES IN REPORTS ACCOMPANYING APPRO15 PRIATIONS BILLS. 

16 (a) INCLUSION.—The Clerk of the House of Rep17 resentatives and the Secretary of the Senate shall ensure 

18 that each report accompanying any appropriations bill re19 ported by the Committees on Appropriations of the House 

20 or Senate (as the case may be) includes a formatted 

21 spreadsheet showing the amounts made available by the 

22 bill, in a tabular, digital format that shows separate en23 tries for each fiscal year covered by the bill. 


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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall apply 

2 with respect to any appropriations bill making funds avail3 able for fiscal year 2024 or any succeeding fiscal year. 

4 SEC. 207. SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE MODERNIZATION OF 

5 CONGRESS. 

6 Regular Modernization Select Committees: The 

7 House should authorize a Modernization Select Committee 

8 at least every fourth Congress. Prior to the Select Com9 mittee on the Modernization of Congress being established 

10 in 2019, the Joint Committee on the Organization of Con11 gress in 1993 was the last organized reform entity. As 

12 the pace of change accelerates, Congress needs to evaluate 

13 itself at more regular intervals. The House, with or with14 out the Senate, should authorize a Select Committee with 

15 a mandate to evaluate the operations and efficiency of the 

16 institution. 

17 SEC. 208. EXPANDED INFORMATION IN HOUSE STAFF DI18 RECTORY. 

19 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact20 ment of this Act, the Clerk of the House of Representa21 tives shall submit a report to the Committees on Appro22 priations and House Administration of the House of Rep23 resentatives on the feasibility of expanding the information 

24 included in the directory of employees of the House to inVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:49 Jul 18, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597

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1 clude information on the position held and the areas of 

2 responsibility assigned to each employee. 

3 TITLE III—EXPANDING ACCESS 

4 TO CONGRESSIONAL RE5 SEARCH SERVICE REPORTS 

6 ON LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

7 WEBSITE 

8 SEC. 301. INCLUSION OF REPORTS FROM ARCHIVE. 

9 Section 154(a)(2) of Legislative Branch Appropria10 tions Act, 2018 (2 U.S.C. 166a(a)(2)) is amended— 

11 (1) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as sub12 paragraph (C); and 

13 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the fol14 lowing new subparagraph: 

15 ‘‘(B) INCLUSION OF ARCHIVED MATE16 RIAL.—The term ‘CRS Report’ includes any re17 port or product described in subparagraph (A) 

18 which is produced prior to the effective date of 

19 this section, including any report or product 

20 maintained in a CRS archive.’’. 

21 SEC. 302. AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS IN STRUCTURED FOR22 MAT. 

23 Section 154(b)(1)(B) of the Legislative Branch Ap24 propriations Act, 2018 (2 U.S.C. 166a(b)(1)(B)) is 

25 amended by striking the period at the end and inserting 


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1 the following: ‘‘, and shall be available in a structured data 

2 format’’. 

3 SEC. 303. REPORT ON MAKING OTHER MATERIALS AVAIL4 ABLE. 

5 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

6 of this Act, the Director of the Congressional Research 

7 Service shall submit a report to Congress describing the 

8 steps the Director would be required to take in order to 

9 make materials and publications of the Service which are 

10 not treated as CRS Reports under section 154 of the Leg11 islative Branch Appropriations Act, 2018 (2 U.S.C. 166a) 

12 available through the website established and maintained 

13 by the Librarian of Congress under such section. 

14 SEC. 304. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

15 The amendments made by sections 301 and 302 shall 

16 take effect as if included in the enactment of section 154 

17 of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2018 (2 

18 U.S.C. 166a). 

19 TITLE IV—LOBBYING 

20 DISCLOSURE 

21 SEC. 401. SHORT TITLE. 

22 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Lobbyist Disclosure 

23 Enhancement Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 402. MODIFICATIONS TO ENFORCEMENT. 

2 (a) LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT TASK FORCE.—Sec3 tion 6 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 

4 1605) is amended by adding at the end the following new 

5 subsection: 

6 ‘‘(c) LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT TASK FORCE.— 

7 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Attorney General 

8 shall establish the Lobbying Disclosure Act Enforce9 ment Task Force (in this subsection referred to as 

10 the ‘Task Force’). 

11 ‘‘(2) FUNCTIONS.—The Task Force shall— 

12 ‘‘(A) have primary responsibility for inves13 tigating and prosecuting each case referred to 

14 the Attorney General under section 6(a)(8); 

15 ‘‘(B) collect and disseminate information 

16 to the public with respect to the enforcement of 

17 this Act; 

18 ‘‘(C) audit, as frequently as the Task 

19 Force determines to be necessary but not less 

20 frequently than once each calendar year, the ex21 tent of compliance or noncompliance with the 

22 requirements of this Act by lobbyists, lobbying 

23 firms, and registrants through a random sam24 pling of lobbying registrations and reports filed 

25 under that Act during the year; 


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1 ‘‘(D) establish, publicize, and operate a 

2 toll-free telephone number to serve as a hotline 

3 for members of the public to report noncompli4 ance with the requirements of this Act; and 

5 ‘‘(E) develop a mechanism to allow mem6 bers of the public to report such noncompliance 

7 online.’’. 

8 (b) REFERRAL OF CASES TO THE ATTORNEY GEN9 ERAL.—Section 6(a) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 1605(a)) is 

10 amended— 

11 (1) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘United 

12 States Attorney for the District of Columbia’’ and 

13 inserting ‘‘Attorney General’’; and 

14 (2) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘United 

15 States Attorney for the District of Columbia’’ and 

16 inserting ‘‘Attorney General’’. 

17 (c) INFORMATION IN ENFORCEMENT REPORTS.— 

18 Section 6(b)(1) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 1605(b)(1)) is 

19 amended by striking ‘‘by case’’ and all that follows 

20 through ‘‘public record’’ and inserting ‘‘by case and name 

21 of the individual lobbyists or lobbying firms involved, any 

22 sentences imposed’’. 

23 (d) RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVED ENFORCE24 MENT.—The Attorney General may make recommenda25 tions to Congress with respect to— 


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1 (1) the enforcement of and compliance with the 

2 Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995; and 

3 (2) the need for resources available for the en4 hanced enforcement of the Lobbying Disclosure Act 

5 of 1995, taking into consideration the recommenda6 tions of the Comptroller General in reports sub7 mitted under section 26 of such Act. 

8 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section and the amend9 ments made by this section shall take effect upon the expi10 ration of the 90-day period beginning on the date of the 

11 enactment of this Act. 

12 SEC. 403. DEFINITION OF LOBBYIST. 

13 (a) REPEAL OF 20 PERCENT THRESHOLD FOR IN14 CLUSION OF LOBBYING ACTIVITIES.—Section 3(10) of the 

15 Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1602(10)) is 

16 amended by striking ‘‘, other than an individual’’ and all 

17 that follows through ‘‘period’’. 

18 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

19 subsection (a) shall take effect on the first day of the first 

20 quarterly period described in section 5(a) of the Lobbying 

21 Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604(a)) that begins 

22 after the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date 

23 of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 404. EXPEDITED ONLINE REGISTRATION OF LOBBY2 ISTS; THRESHOLDS FOR CERTAIN ORGANIZA3 TIONS WHOSE EMPLOYEES ARE LOBBYISTS. 

4 (a) EXPEDITED REGISTRATION.—Section 4(a) of the 

5 Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603(a)) is 

6 amended— 

7 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘45 days’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘10 days’’; 

10 (B) by striking ‘‘, or on the first business 

11 day after such 45th day if the 45th day is not 

12 a business day,’’ and inserting ‘‘, or on the first 

13 business day occurring after such 10th day if 

14 such 10th day does not occur on a business 

15 day,’’; and 

16 (C) by inserting ‘‘online’’ after ‘‘shall reg17 ister’’; and 

18 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

19 (A) by striking ‘‘Any organization’’ and in20 serting the following: 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara22 graph (B), any organization’’; and 

23 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(B) THRESHOLD FOR CERTAIN ORGANI25 ZATIONS.—In the case of an organization with 

26 an employee who engages in lobbying activities 


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1 solely on behalf of the organization, the require2 ment to register under this subsection shall 

3 apply only if the lobbying activities of such em4 ployee include or are expected to include more 

5 than one lobbying contact.’’. 

6 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

7 this section shall take effect on the first day of the first 

8 quarterly period described in section 5(a) of the Lobbying 

9 Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604(a)) that begins 

10 after the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date 

11 of the enactment of this Act. 

12 SEC. 405. DISCLOSURE OF POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS. 

13 (a) EXPEDITED DISCLOSURE.—Section 5(d)(1) of 

14 the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 

15 1604(d)(1)) is amended— 

16 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 

17 by striking ‘‘30 days after’’ and all that follows 

18 through ‘‘30th day is not’’ and inserting ‘‘20 days 

19 after the end of the quarterly period beginning on 

20 the first day of January, April, July, and October of 

21 each year, or on the first business day after such 

22 20th day if such 20th day is not’’; and 

23 (2) by striking ‘‘semiannual period’’ each place 

24 it appears and inserting ‘‘quarterly period’’. 


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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 subsection (a) shall take effect on the first day of the first 

3 quarterly period described in section 5(a) of the Lobbying 

4 Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604(a)) that begins 

5 after the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date 

6 of the enactment of this Act. 

7 SEC. 406. IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS FOR LOBBYISTS. 

8 (a) REQUIRING ASSIGNMENT OF UNIQUE IDENTI9 FICATION NUMBER.— 

10 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Section 6(a)(3) of the 

11 Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 

12 1605(a)(3)) is amended— 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub14 paragraph (A); 

15 (B) by adding ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon 

16 the end of subparagraph (B); and 

17 (C) by adding after subparagraph (B) the 

18 following: 

19 ‘‘(C) a system that assigns a unique identi20 fication number for each lobbyist for whom a 

21 registration or report is filed under this Act;’’. 

22 (2) SECTION 406.—The amendments made by 

23 paragraph (1) shall apply to any registration or re24 port that is filed under section 4 or 5 of the Lob25 bying Disclosure Act of 1995— 


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1 (A) on or after the 90th day after the date 

2 of the enactment of this Act; or 

3 (B) before such 90th day, if such registra4 tion or report is, as of such 90th day, being re5 tained under section 6(a)(5) of the Lobbying 

6 Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1605(a)(5)). 

7 (b) REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 

8 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

9 Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary 

10 of the Senate shall submit a report to Congress on the 

11 progress made by the Clerk and the Secretary in imple12 menting the amendment made by subsection (a), and shall 

13 include in the report an analysis of the progress made in 

14 including the unique identification number assigned to a 

15 lobbyist in the statements and reports filed under the Lob16 bying Disclosure Act of 1995 in a structured data format. 

17 SEC. 407. ETHICS TRAINING FOR LOBBYISTS. 

18 (a) REQUIRING COMPLETION OF TRAINING.—The 

19 Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) 

20 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 27. ETHICS TRAINING FOR LOBBYISTS. 

22 ‘‘(a) REQUIRED ETHICS TRAINING.—Any individual 

23 who is a lobbyist registered or required to register under 

24 section 4 shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) complete ethics training described in sub2 section (b)— 

3 ‘‘(A) not later than 6 months after the in4 dividual is first employed or retained for serv5 ices that include one or more lobbying contacts; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(B) at least once in each 5-year period 

8 during which the individual is registered or re9 quired to register under section 4; and 

10 ‘‘(2) submit to the Clerk of the House of Rep11 resentatives and the Secretary of the Senate certifi12 cation of the training completed under paragraph 

13 (1). 

14 ‘‘(b) QUALIFIED TRAINING.—The Ethics Committee 

15 of the House of Representatives and the Select Committee 

16 on Ethics of the Senate shall jointly— 

17 ‘‘(1) determine the curriculum and certification 

18 requirements for the ethics training for individuals 

19 described in subsection (a); 

20 ‘‘(2) approve those educational institutions, pro21 fessional associations, or other persons who are 

22 qualified to provide such ethics training; 

23 ‘‘(3) determine the maximum fee that may be 

24 charged for the ethics training; and 


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1 ‘‘(4) provide oversight of the ethics training 

2 program established under this section in order to 

3 determine the quality of instruction in, and the ad4 ministration of, the training program. 

5 ‘‘(c) RESPONSIBILITIES OF CLERK AND SEC6 RETARY.—The Clerk of the House of Representatives and 

7 the Secretary of the Senate shall— 

8 ‘‘(1) collect and review for completion and accu9 racy the certifications of ethics training submitted 

10 under subsection (a)(2); and 

11 ‘‘(2) post on the websites of the Clerk and the 

12 Secretary, with respect to each individual required to 

13 complete ethics training under this section— 

14 ‘‘(A) whether the individual has complied 

15 with such requirement; and 

16 ‘‘(B) the certifications submitted by the in17 dividual under subsection (a)(2).’’. 

18 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendment made by 

20 subsection (a) shall take effect upon the expiration 

21 of the 1-year period beginning on the date of the en22 actment of this Act. 

23 (2) LOBBYISTS REGISTERED AS OF DATE OF

24 ENACTMENT.—In the case of individuals who are 

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1 sure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603) as of the effective 

2 date under paragraph (1), the ethics training re3 quired under section 27(a)(1) of such Act (as added 

4 by subsection (a)) shall be completed not later than 

5 the end of the 6-month period beginning on the ef6 fective date under paragraph (1). 

7 SEC. 408. REPEAL OF EXEMPTION OF REPORTING LOB8 BYING CONTACTS REPORTED UNDER FOR9 EIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT. 

10 (a) REPEAL.—Section 3(8)(B) of the Lobbying Dis11 closure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1602(8)(B)) is amended 

12 by striking clause (iv). 

13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

14 subsection (a) shall take effect on the first day of the first 

15 quarterly period described in section 5(a) of the Lobbying 

16 Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604(a)) that begins 

17 after the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date 

18 of the enactment of this Act. 

19 SEC. 409. REPEAL OF USE OF ESTIMATES BASED ON TAX 

20 REPORTING SYSTEM. 

21 Section 15 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

22 (2 U.S.C. 1610) is repealed. 


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1 TITLE V—TRANSPARENCY IN 

2 FEDERAL AWARDS 

3 SEC. 501. IMPROVING APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTER4 FACE AND WEBSITE DATA ELEMENTS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2 of the Federal Funding 

6 Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Public Law 

7 109–282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note) is amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (a)— 

9 (A) in paragraph (4)(A)(ii), by striking 

10 ‘‘and delivery orders’’ and inserting ‘‘lease 

11 agreements and assignments, and delivery or12 ders’’; 

13 (B) in paragraph (7)— 

14 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

15 ‘‘paragraph (2)(A)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘para16 graph (5)(A)(i)’’; 

17 (ii) in subparagraph (C)— 

18 (I) by striking ‘‘paragraph 

19 (2)(A)(ii)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

20 (5)(A)(ii)’’; and 

21 (II) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the 

22 semicolon; 

23 (iii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

24 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

25 and’’; and 


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1 (iv) by adding at the end the following 

2 new subparagraph: 

3 ‘‘(E) programmatically search and access 

4 all data in a serialized machine-readable format 

5 (such as XML) via a web-services application 

6 programming interface.’’; 

7 (C) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 

8 through (8) as paragraphs (2) through (9), re9 spectively; and 

10 (D) by inserting before paragraph (2) the 

11 following new paragraph: 

12 ‘‘(1) CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

13 ITEM.—The term ‘congressionally directed spending 

14 item’ means a provision or report language included 

15 primarily at the request of a Member of Congress 

16 providing, authorizing, or recommending a specific 

17 amount of discretionary budget authority, credit au18 thority, or other spending authority for a contract, 

19 loan, loan guarantee, grant, loan authority, or other 

20 expenditure with or to an entity, or targeted to a 

21 specific State, locality, or congressional district, 

22 other than through a statutory or administrative for23 mula-driven or competitive award process.’’; 

24 (2) in subsection (b)(1)— 


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1 (A) in subparagraph (F), by striking the 

2 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

3 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (G) as 

4 subparagraph (Q); and 

5 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (F) 

6 the following new subparagraphs: 

7 ‘‘(G) to the extent possible, the Federal 

8 agency, including the bureau, office, or subdivi9 sion, that authorized the Federal award; 

10 ‘‘(H) the number of full-time equivalent 

11 employees for any entity that receives an award; 

12 ‘‘(I) the estimated number of people who 

13 will benefit from the award; 

14 ‘‘(J) after January 1, 2024, for each con15 tract, subcontract, purchase order, task order, 

16 lease agreement and assignment, and delivery 

17 order— 

18 ‘‘(i) information about the extent of 

19 competition in awarding the contract, in20 cluding the number of bids or proposals 

21 determined to be responsive during the 

22 competitive process, and if the award was 

23 not competitive, the legal authority and 

24 specific rationale for awarding the contract 

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1 fined in section 107 of title 41, United 

2 States Code); 

3 ‘‘(ii) the full amount awarded under 

4 the contract or, in the case of lease agree5 ments or assignments, the amount paid to 

6 the Government, and the full amount of 

7 any option to expand or extend under the 

8 contract; 

9 ‘‘(iii) the amount of the profit incen10 tive, such as an award fee; 

11 ‘‘(iv) the type of contract, such as 

12 fixed price, cost plus pricing, labor hour 

13 contract, and time and materials contract; 

14 ‘‘(v) a permanent link to the original 

15 solicitation or notice and the solicitation 

16 ID; 

17 ‘‘(vi) an indication if the contract is 

18 the result of a legislative mandate, set19 aside, preference program requirement, or 

20 other criteria, and whether the contract is 

21 multi-year, consolidated, or performance22 based; and 

23 ‘‘(vii) an indication if the contract is 

24 a congressionally directed spending item; 


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1 ‘‘(K) after January 1, 2024, for any grant, 

2 subgrant, loan, award, cooperative agreement, 

3 and other form of financial assistance, an indi4 cation if the Federal award is a congressionally 

5 directed spending item; 

6 ‘‘(L) the North American Industry Classi7 fication System code for any entity that receives 

8 a Federal award; 

9 ‘‘(M) data on whether a business that re10 ceives a Federal award is a small business con11 cern owned and controlled by women, a small 

12 business concern owned and controlled by vet13 erans (as such terms are defined, respectively, 

14 in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 

15 U.S.C. 632)), or a small business concern 

16 owned and controlled by socially and economi17 cally disadvantaged individuals (as defined in 

18 section 8(d)(3)(C) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 

19 637(d)(3)(C))); 

20 ‘‘(N) data on if a business that receives an 

21 assistance award serves an underserved commu22 nity, such as a HUBZone (as defined in section 

23 31(b)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

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1 ness participates in the program established 

2 under section 8(a) of the Small Business Act 

3 (15 U.S.C. 637(a)) or another contracting as4 sistance program of the Federal Government; 

5 ‘‘(O) the relevant National Interest Action 

6 Code, which tracks cross agency spending on 

7 events of national interest; and 

8 ‘‘(P) after January 1, 2024, for any loan 

9 and loan guarantee, data on the name, address, 

10 and parent company of any private lender par11 ticipating in the award; and’’; and 

12 (3) in subsection (c)(5)— 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(2)(A)(i)’’ 

14 and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(5)(A)(i)’’; and 

15 (B) by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(2)(A)(ii)’’ 

16 and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(5)(A)(ii)’’. 

17 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as otherwise pro18 vided, the amendments made by subsection (a) shall be 

19 implemented not later than 6 months after the date of 

20 the enactment of this Act. 

21 SEC. 502. IMPROVING DATA QUALITY. 

22 The Federal Funding Accountability and Trans23 parency Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–282; 31 U.S.C. 

24 6101 note) is amended by adding at the end the following 

25 new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 9. IMPROVING DATA QUALITY. 

2 ‘‘(a) INSPECTOR GENERAL DATA AUDIT.—Each In3 spector General shall annually audit for the previous fiscal 

4 year the data used on the website established under sec5 tion 2 for the relevant Federal agency of the Inspector 

6 General, in compliance with generally accepted Govern7 ment auditing standards, and submit a report on such 

8 audit to the Director that includes at least the following: 

9 ‘‘(1) A review of data used for the website to 

10 verify accuracy of the data and assess the process 

11 used for improving data quality. 

12 ‘‘(2) A review of a statistically representative 

13 sample of Federal awards to determine whether the 

14 Federal agency of the Inspector General has appro15 priate measures in place to review data submissions 

16 under this Act for accuracy and completeness. 

17 ‘‘(3) An identification of and report on new 

18 standards that the Inspector General recommends 

19 for implementation by the Federal agency of the In20 spector General to improve data quality. 

21 ‘‘(4) A review of subaward data used for the 

22 website to assess completeness and accuracy of the 

23 data as best as possible and assess the process used 

24 to collect subaward data for changes that could im25 prove data quality. 


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1 ‘‘(b) OMB REPORT.—Not later than April 1 of each 

2 year, the Director shall make each report submitted under 

3 subsection (a) for the previous fiscal year available to the 

4 public, including a review of the findings of the audit and 

5 recommendations to improve data quality, through the 

6 website established under section 2. 

7 ‘‘(c) FEDERAL SUBAWARD REPORTING SYSTEM.— 

8 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 

9 of this section, the Inspector General of the General Serv10 ices Administration shall submit to Congress a report that 

11 includes the results of a comprehensive review of the 

12 FFATA Subaward Reporting System that identifies prob13 lems within the system that contribute to inaccurate and 

14 incomplete subaward reporting and provide specific rec15 ommendations for improvements. The review shall include 

16 an assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of the 

17 system, including the following: 

18 ‘‘(1) The accuracy and completeness of 

19 subaward data reported through the system. 

20 ‘‘(2) The consistency of reporting requirements 

21 across Federal agencies. 

22 ‘‘(3) The burden on Federal award recipients to 

23 comply with reporting requirements. 

24 ‘‘(4) The accessibility and availability of 

25 subaward data to the public and stakeholders. 


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1 ‘‘(5) The adequacy of enforcement mechanisms 

2 to ensure compliance with reporting requirements. 

3 ‘‘(d) DATA VERIFICATION SYSTEMS PRIOR TO

4 AWARD DISTRIBUTION.—Before making a Federal award 

5 to a recipient, the Federal agency shall verify the accuracy 

6 and completeness of the information of the recipient. To 

7 carry out this subsection, a Federal agency may use any 

8 available verification tools, including the System for 

9 Award Management database, the Do Not Pay system of 

10 the Department of the Treasury, and any other database 

11 designated by the Office of Management and Budget for 

12 verification purposes. Recipient data that must be verified 

13 includes the following: 

14 ‘‘(1) The legal name of the recipient. 

15 ‘‘(2) The street address. 

16 ‘‘(3) A taxpayer identification number. 

17 ‘‘(4) The number of employees of an entity, if 

18 applicable.’’. 

19 SEC. 503. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO REPORTING OF 

20 AWARD DATA. 

21 (a) REVISION OF GUIDANCE.—The Director of the 

22 Office of Management and Budget shall revise the guid23 ance to Federal agencies by the Office on reporting Fed24 eral awards to clarify— 


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1 (1) the requirement for award description en2 tries to include sufficient information to convey the 

3 scope and purpose of the award; and 

4 (2) requirements for validating and docu5 menting agency award data submitted by Federal 

6 agencies. 

7 (b) INCLUSION OF CITY INFORMATION.—The Direc8 tor of the Office of Management and Budget shall include 

9 information on the city in which work is performed in the 

10 public reporting of the completeness of agency data sub11 missions by the Office. 

12 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘Fed13 eral agency’’ and ‘‘Federal award’’ have the meanings 

14 given those terms in section 2(a) of the Federal Funding 

15 Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Public Law 

16 109–282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note), as amended by this Act. 

17 SEC. 504. RECIPIENT PERFORMANCE TRANSPARENCY. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Funding Account19 ability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Public Law 109– 

20 282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note), as amended by the preceding 

21 provisions of this Act, is further amended by adding at 

22 the end the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 10. RECIPIENT PERFORMANCE TRANSPARENCY AND 

2 PAST PERFORMANCE. 

3 ‘‘The Director shall ensure that the unique identifier 

4 required in section 2(b)(1)(E), which is used to link infor5 mation about an entity receiving an award on the website 

6 established under such section, is also used to link infor7 mation about such entity in the responsibility/qualification 

8 information on the System for Award Management.’’. 

9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

10 subsection (a) shall be implemented not later than 6 

11 months after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

12 SEC. 505. IMPROVEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITY/QUALIFICA13 TION INFORMATION. 

14 Section 872(c) of the Duncan Hunter National De15 fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Public Law 

16 110–417; 122 Stat. 4556) is amended— 

17 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

18 striking ‘‘5-year period’’ and inserting ‘‘10-year pe19 riod’’; and 

20 (2) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end the 

21 following new subparagraphs: 

22 ‘‘(E) In an administrative proceeding, any 

23 administrative judgment that does not contain 

24 an explicit finding or acknowledgment of fault. 


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1 ‘‘(F) In a civil proceeding, any settlement 

2 that does not contain an explicit finding or ac3 knowledgment of fault.’’. 

4 SEC. 506. FEDERAL CONTRACTOR COMPLIANCE. 

5 (a) PERIODIC INSPECTION OR REVIEW OF CONTRACT

6 FILES.—Section 2313(e)(2) of title 41, United States 

7 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 

8 subparagraph: 

9 ‘‘(C) PERIODIC INSPECTION OR REVIEW.— 

10 The Inspector General of each Federal agency 

11 shall periodically— 

12 ‘‘(i) conduct an inspection or review of 

13 each contract file described in subpara14 graph (B) to determine if the agency is 

15 providing appropriate consideration of the 

16 information included in the database estab17 lished under subsection (a); and 

18 ‘‘(ii) submit to the Committee on 

19 Homeland Security and Governmental Af20 fairs of the Senate and the Committee on 

21 Oversight and Accountability of the House 

22 of Representatives a report containing the 

23 results of the inspection or review con24 ducted under clause (i).’’. 


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1 (b) SELF-REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Subsection 

2 (f) of section 2313 of such title is amended to read as 

3 follows: 

4 ‘‘(f) SELF-REPORTING REQUIREMENT.— 

5 ‘‘(1) CONTRACTS IN EXCESS OF SIMPLIFIED AC6 QUISITION THRESHOLD.—No funds appropriated or 

7 otherwise made available by any Act may be used for 

8 any Federal contract for the procurement of prop9 erty or services in excess of the simplified acquisition 

10 threshold unless the contractor has first made the 

11 certifications set forth in section 52.209–5 of the 

12 Federal Acquisition Regulation. 

13 ‘‘(2) CONTRACTS IN EXCESS OF $500,000.—No 

14 funds appropriated or otherwise made available by 

15 any Act may be used for any Federal contract for 

16 the procurement of property or services in excess of 

17 $500,000 unless the contractor— 

18 ‘‘(A) certifies that the contractor has sub19 mitted to the Administrator of General Services 

20 the information required under subsection (c) 

21 and that such information is current as of the 

22 date of such certification; or 

23 ‘‘(B) certifies that the contractor has cu24 mulative active Federal contracts and grants 

25 with a total value of less than $10,000,000.’’. 


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1 (c) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than November 30 

2 for the previous fiscal year, the Comptroller General of 

3 the United States shall annually submit a report to the 

4 appropriate congressional committees describing the ex5 tent to which suspended or debarred contractors on the 

6 Excluded Parties List System— 

7 (1) are identified as having received Federal 

8 contracts on USAspending.gov; or 

9 (2) were granted waivers from Federal agencies 

10 from suspension or debarment for purposes of enter11 ing into Federal contracts. 

12 SEC. 507. IMPROVING ACCESS TO INFORMATION DIS13 CLOSED ON LOBBYING ACTIVITIES. 

14 (a) INFORMATION FILED WITH THE ADMINISTRATOR

15 OF GENERAL SERVICES.—Section 1352(b) of title 31, 

16 United States Code, is amended— 

17 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘file with that 

18 agency’’ and inserting ‘‘file electronically with the 

19 Administrator of General Services’’; and 

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

21 paragraph: 

22 ‘‘(7) The Administrator of General Services shall es23 tablish and maintain an online database that— 

24 ‘‘(A) is available to each agency and the public; 


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1 ‘‘(B) contains information disclosed pursuant to 

2 this subsection; and 

3 ‘‘(C) is searchable, sortable, machine-readable, 

4 and downloadable.’’. 

5 (b) DEADLINE FOR DATABASE.—Not later than 180 

6 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad7 ministrator of General Services shall establish the data8 base required by paragraph (7) of section 1352(b) of title 

9 31, United States Code, as added by subsection (a). 

10 SEC. 508. INCLUSION OF NARRATIVES ON 

11 USASPENDING.GOV. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

13 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Of14 fice of Management and Budget shall allow any agency, 

15 in reporting a Federal award to USASpending.gov (or a 

16 successor website), to upload a narrative for such award. 

17 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 

19 meanings given that term in section 6101 of title 31, 

20 United States Code. 

21 (2) FEDERAL AWARD.—The term ‘‘Federal 

22 award’’ has the meaning given that term in section 

23 2(a) of the Federal Funding Accountability and 

24 Transparency Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–282; 31 

25 U.S.C. 6101 note). 


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1 SEC. 509. SUSPENSION AND DEBARMENT DATABASE. 

2 (a) EXPANSION OF REQUIRED DATA; PUBLICATION

3 OF CONTRACTOR EVALUATION RATINGS.—Subsection (c) 

4 of section 2313 of title 41, United States Code is amend5 ed— 

6 (1) in the matter before paragraph (1), by 

7 striking ‘‘5-year period’’ and inserting ‘‘10-year pe8 riod’’; 

9 (2) in paragraph (1)— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘in connection with the 

11 award or performance of a contract or grant 

12 with the Federal Government’’; 

13 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

14 ‘‘$5,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$1,000’’; and 

15 (C) in subparagraph (C)— 

16 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘$5,000’’ 

17 and inserting ‘‘$1,000’’; 

18 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking 

19 ‘‘$100,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$10,000’’; and 

20 (3) by inserting at the end the following new 

21 paragraph: 

22 ‘‘(9) Contractor evaluation ratings as provided 

23 for in subsection (b)(4) of section 42.1503 of title 

24 48, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on the 

25 date of the enactment of this paragraph.’’. 


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1 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF RATINGS.—Section 

2 3010 of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010 (41 

3 U.S.C. 2313 note; Public Law 111–212), is amended by 

4 adding after ‘‘website’’ the following: ‘‘Contractor evalua5 tion ratings shall not be considered past performance re6 views for the purposes of this section.’’. 

7 (c) ELIMINATE LOOPHOLE.—Subsection (d)(3) of 

8 section 2313 of title 41, United States Code is amended 

9 by striking ‘‘, to the extent practicable,’’. 

10 (d) LOWER DISCLOSURE AND BENEFICIAL OWNER11 SHIP THRESHOLD.—Subsection (f) of section 2313 of title 

12 41, United States Code, is amended— 

13 (1) in the matter before paragraph (1), by 

14 striking ‘‘$10,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$5,000,000’’; 

15 and 

16 (2) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘subsection 

17 (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (c) and (d)’’. 

18 (e) LIABILITY; AUDITS.—Section 2313 of title 41, 

19 United States Code, is amended by adding at th end the 

20 following new subsections: 

21 ‘‘(h) ENFORCEMENT.—A knowing and willful failure 

22 to disclose or update information in accordance with sub23 section (f) may result in one or more of the following: 

24 ‘‘(1) Entry of the violation in the database de25 scribed by this section. 


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1 ‘‘(2) A civil fine not exceeding $200,000. 

2 ‘‘(3) Referral for suspension or debarment. 

3 ‘‘(i) PERIODIC AUDITING.— 

4 ‘‘(1) AUDIT PROCESS.—Not later than one year 

5 after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 

6 the Comptroller General of the United States shall 

7 develop a process to audit the following: 

8 ‘‘(A) Any data reported under this section 

9 for compliance with this section and any regula10 tion promulgated under this section. 

11 ‘‘(B) The online presentation on the Sys12 tem for Award Management for compliance 

13 with the 21st Century Integrated Digital Expe14 rience Act (10 U.S.C. 3501 note; Public Law 

15 115–336) and any other applicable law. 

16 ‘‘(C) Compliance with section 508 of the 

17 Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d). 

18 ‘‘(2) BIENNIAL AUDITS.—Upon completion of 

19 the process required pursuant to paragraph (1), and 

20 every other year thereafter, the Comptroller General 

21 shall conduct an audit pursuant to that process. 

22 ‘‘(3) AUDIT REPORTS.—Upon completion of 

23 each audit required pursuant to paragraph (2), the 

24 Comptroller General shall submit a report that de25 tails the findings of the audit to the following: 


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1 ‘‘(A) The Committee on Oversight and Ac2 countability of the House of Representatives. 

3 ‘‘(B) The Committee on Homeland Secu4 rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 

5 ‘‘(C) The public through the Government 

6 Accountability Office website.’’. 

7 (f) REPORTING STANDARDS.—Not later than 2 years 

8 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis9 trator for Federal Procurement Policy shall revise the 

10 Federal Acquisition Regulation maintained under section 

11 1303(a)(1) of title 41, United States Code, to prescribe 

12 minimum data quality standards requiring that informa13 tion entered into the database required by section 2313 

14 of title 41, United States Code, is reasonably informative 

15 and particular. 

16 TITLE VI—EXECUTIVE BRANCH 

17 TRANSPARENCY 

18 Subtitle A—Public Availability of 

19 Information 

20 SEC. 601. AGENCY DEFINED. 

21 In this subtitle (except as provided for in section 

22 606), the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given that term 

23 under section 551 of title 5, United States Code. 


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1 SEC. 602. REQUIREMENT FOR DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL 

2 SPONSORSHIP OF ALL FEDERAL ADVER3 TISING OR OTHER COMMUNICATIONS. 

4 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Except as provided for in sub5 section (b), each advertisement or other communication 

6 paid for by an agency, either directly or through a contract 

7 awarded by the agency, shall include a prominent notice 

8 informing the target audience that the advertisement or 

9 other communication is paid for by that agency. 

10 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—The requirement in subsection (a) 

11 shall not apply to an advertisement or other communica12 tion— 

13 (1) that is 200 characters or less; or 

14 (2) that is distributed through a short message 

15 service. 

16 (c) ADVERTISEMENT OR OTHER COMMUNICATIONS

17 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘advertisement or 

18 other communication’’ includes— 

19 (1) an advertisement disseminated in any form, 

20 including print or by any electronic means; and 

21 (2) a communication by an individual in any 

22 form, including speech, print, or by any electronic 

23 means. 


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1 SEC. 603. IMPROVING ACCESS TO INFLUENTIAL EXECUTIVE 

2 BRANCH OFFICIAL’S VISITOR ACCESS 

3 RECORDS. 

4 (a) DISCLOSURE OF WHITE HOUSE VISITOR ACCESS

5 RECORDS.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the 

6 enactment of this Act, and monthly thereafter, the Presi7 dent shall disclose to the public all White House visitor 

8 access records and any meeting log for a virtual business 

9 meeting for the previous month that are redacted in ac10 cordance with subsection (c). 

11 (b) DISCLOSURE OF AGENCY VISITOR ACCESS

12 RECORDS.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the 

13 enactment of this Act, and monthly thereafter, the head 

14 of each agency shall disclose to the public all visitor access 

15 records for the previous month for such agency that are 

16 redacted in accordance with subsection (c). 

17 (c) INFORMATION NOT DISCLOSED.—The President 

18 under subsection (a) and the head of the relevant agency 

19 under subsection (b), as the case may be, may determine 

20 to not disclose the following information pursuant to this 

21 section: 

22 (1) Any information— 

23 (A) that implicates personal privacy or law 

24 enforcement concerns (such as date of birth, so25 cial security number, and contact phone num26 ber); 


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1 (B) that implicates the personal safety of 

2 White House staff (including daily arrival and 

3 departure); or 

4 (C) whose release would so threaten na5 tional security interests that it outweighs a 

6 strong presumption in favor of the public inter7 est in disclosure. 

8 (2) For a non-renewable period of up to a year, 

9 any information related to purely personal guests, 

10 but only if the interest of the executive branch in 

11 protecting an unfettered consultation conducted in 

12 secret strongly outweighs the public interest in an 

13 accountable government free of corruption and polit14 ical influence. 

15 (3) Any information related to a small group of 

16 particularly sensitive meetings (such as visits of po17 tential Supreme Court nominees). 

18 SEC. 604. IMPROVING RULEMAKING DISCLOSURE FOR THE 

19 OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY 

20 AFFAIRS. 

21 (a) INCLUSION IN THE RULEMAKING DOCKET OF

22 DOCUMENTS AND COMMUNICATIONS RELATED TO THE

23 IMPLEMENTATION OF CENTRALIZED REGULATORY RE24 VIEW.—As soon as practicable and not later than 15 days 

25 after the conclusion of a centralized regulatory review for 


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1 a draft proposed or draft final rule, the Administrator of 

2 the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs shall in3 clude in the rulemaking docket the following: 

4 (1) A copy of the draft proposed or draft final 

5 rule and supporting analyses submitted to the Office 

6 of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review. 

7 (2) A copy of the draft proposed or draft final 

8 rule that incorporates substantive changes, if any, 

9 made to the rule as part of implementing centralized 

10 regulatory review. 

11 (3) A document describing in a complete, clear, 

12 and simple manner any substantive change made by 

13 the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to 

14 the draft proposed or draft final rule submitted by 

15 the agency to the Office for review. 

16 (4) A copy of any document and written com17 munication (including any electronic mail and elec18 tronic mail file attachment), and a summary of any 

19 oral communication (including any phone call, phone 

20 conference, and meeting), exchanged as part of the 

21 implementation of the centralized regulatory review 

22 between or among any of the following: 

23 (A) The agency responsible for the rule. 

24 (B) The Office of Information and Regu25 latory Affairs. 


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1 (C) Any other office or entity within the 

2 Executive Office of the President. 

3 (D) An agency that is not the agency re4 sponsible for the rule. 

5 (E) An individual who is not employed 

6 by— 

7 (i) the executive branch of the Federal 

8 Government; or 

9 (ii) an agency that is not the agency 

10 responsible for the rule. 

11 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 (1) CENTRALIZED REGULATORY REVIEW.—The 

13 term ‘‘centralized regulatory review’’ means the in14 stitutional process of Presidential oversight of indi15 vidual agency rules governed by Executive Order 

16 12866 (58 Fed. Reg. 51735; relating to regulatory 

17 planning and review), or any successor to such Exec18 utive order. 

19 (2) RULE.—The term ‘‘rule’’ has the meaning 

20 given that term in section 551 of title 5, United 

21 States Code. 

22 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec23 tion shall be construed to preempt or displace the disclo24 sure requirements under any other provision of law affectVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:49 Jul 18, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00055 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597

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1 ing administrative procedure, if such requirements are not 

2 inconsistent with the requirements of this section. 

3 SEC. 605. IMPROVING REGISTRATION INFORMATION FROM 

4 AGENTS OF FOREIGN PRINCIPALS. 

5 (a) IMPROVING ONLINE ACCESS TO REGISTRATION

6 INFORMATION.—Section 6(d)(1) of the Foreign Agents 

7 Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 616(d)(1)) is amend8 ed by striking ‘‘in a searchable, sortable, and 

9 downloadable manner’’ and inserting ‘‘in a format which 

10 is directly searchable, sortable, downloadable, and ma11 chine-readable’’. 

12 (b) REPEALING EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION

13 UNDER FOREIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT OF 1938 

14 FOR PERSONS FILING DISCLOSURE REPORTS UNDER

15 LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1995.— 

16 (1) REPEAL OF EXEMPTION.—Section 3 of the 

17 Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 

18 613) is amended by striking subsection (h). 

19 (2) TIMING OF FILING OF REGISTRATION

20 STATEMENTS.—Section 2 of the Foreign Agents 

21 Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 612) is amend22 ed— 

23 (A) in subsection (a), in the matter pre24 ceding paragraph (1), in the fourth sentence, by 

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1 clude’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in 

2 subsection (h), the registration statement shall 

3 include’’; and 

4 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(h) TIMING FOR FILING OF STATEMENTS BY PER6 SONS REGISTERED UNDER LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT

7 OF 1995.—In the case of an agent of a person described 

8 in section 1(b)(2) or an entity described in section 1(b)(3) 

9 who has registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 

10 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), after the agent files the 

11 first registration required under subsection (a) in connec12 tion with the agent’s representation of such person or enti13 ty, the agent shall file all subsequent statements required 

14 under this section at the same time, and in the same fre15 quency, as the reports filed with the Clerk of the House 

16 of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate (as the 

17 case may be) under section 5 of the Lobbying Disclosure 

18 Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604) in connection with the 

19 agent’s representation of such person or entity.’’. 

20 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

21 this section shall take effect upon the expiration of the 

22 30-day period which begins on the date of the enactment 

23 of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 606. GOVERNMENT-WIDE ENTITY IDENTIFIER. 

2 (a) AGENCY DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

3 ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘Executive 

4 agency’’ under section 105 of title 5, United States Code. 

5 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR ALL AGENCIES TO USE A

6 GOVERNMENT-WIDE ENTITY IDENTIFIER.—The head of 

7 each agency shall, to the extent practicable, require each 

8 private sector entity from which the agency regularly col9 lects reports, filings, forms, disclosures, or other regular10 ized information to obtain a unique entity identifier that 

11 allows the private sector entity to be identified uniquely 

12 across all Federal regulatory, procurement, assistance, 

13 and other reporting regimes. 

14 (c) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION CATEGORIZED

15 USING GOVERNMENT-WIDE ENTITY IDENTIFIER.—The 

16 head of each agency shall, to the extent practicable, pub17 lish any public regulatory, procurement, assistance, and 

18 other reported information categorized using the unique 

19 entity identifier required under this section. 

20 (d) GOVERNANCE.—The unique entity identifier re21 quired under this section shall be based on the global enti22 ty identifier issued by— 

23 (1) utilities endorsed by the Regulatory Over24 sight Committee, whose charter was set forth by the 

25 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of 


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1 the Group of Twenty and the Financial Stability 

2 Board; or 

3 (2) utilities endorsed or otherwise governed by 

4 the Global LEI Foundation so long as that Founda5 tion remains recognized by the Regulatory Oversight 

6 Committee or any successor global public oversight 

7 body. 

8 SEC. 607. GRANTS TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle V of title 31, United 

10 States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 73 the 

11 following: 

12 ‘‘CHAPTER 74—GRANTS TRANSPARENCY 

13 REQUIREMENTS 

‘‘Sec.

‘‘Sec. 7401. Definitions. 

‘‘Sec. 7402. Pre-award evaluation requirements. 

‘‘Sec. 7403. Website relating to federal grants. 

‘‘Sec. 7404. Postdecision explanation for failed applicants. 

14 ‘‘§ 7401. Definitions 

15 ‘‘In this chapter: 

16 ‘‘(1) APPLICANT.—The term ‘applicant’ means 

17 an entity that submits a proposal or application for 

18 a grant. 

19 ‘‘(2) COMPETITIVE GRANT.—The term ‘com20 petitive grant’ means a discretionary grant entered 

21 into through the use of merit-based selection proce22 dures for the purpose of allocating funds authorized 

23 under a grant program of an Executive agency. 


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1 ‘‘(3) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘Execu2 tive agency’ has the meaning given the term in sec3 tion 105 of title 5, except the term does not include 

4 the Government Accountability Office. 

5 ‘‘(4) GRANT.—The term ‘grant’ means an 

6 award of Federal financial assistance through a 

7 grant agreement or cooperative agreement making 

8 payment in cash or in kind to a recipient to carry 

9 out a public purpose authorized by law. 

10 ‘‘(5) GRANT REVIEWER.—The term ‘grant re11 viewer’, with respect to a grant— 

12 ‘‘(A) means any individual who reviews, 

13 evaluates, or participates in the decision to se14 lect an applicant for award of the grant; and 

15 ‘‘(B) includes— 

16 ‘‘(i) a peer reviewer; 

17 ‘‘(ii) a merit reviewer; and 

18 ‘‘(iii) a member of a technical evalua19 tion panel or board or a special emphasis 

20 panel. 

21 ‘‘§ 7402. Pre-award evaluation requirements 

22 ‘‘(a) EVALUATION REQUIRED.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Before awarding a competi24 tive grant and after determining eligibility and con25 ducting a merit-based review, the head of an ExecuVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:49 Jul 18, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00060 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597

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1 tive agency shall conduct an evaluation of the risk 

2 posed by an applicant to successfully carry out the 

3 grant in accordance with section 200.205 of title 2, 

4 Code of Federal regulations (or any successor there5 to). 

6 ‘‘(2) REVIEW OF INTERAGENCY DUPLICA7 TION.—To the extent practicable, each evaluation 

8 conducted under paragraph (1) shall include a re9 view of any interagency duplication of efforts for re10 search grants, which may be completed through a 

11 text-similarity detection process. 

12 ‘‘(b) SIMPLIFIED EVALUATION PROCEDURE FOR

13 CERTAIN APPLICANTS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) COVERED APPLICANT DEFINED.—In this 

15 subsection, the term ‘covered applicant’ means an 

16 applicant that, based on a risk assessment conducted 

17 by the Executive agency, is determined to pose a rel18 atively low risk of failing to execute the grant suc19 cessfully and properly. 

20 ‘‘(2) PROCEDURE.—In conducting the evalua21 tion required under subsection (a) with respect to a 

22 covered applicant, the head of an Executive agency 

23 shall— 

24 ‘‘(A) minimize the burden on the covered 

25 applicant; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) consider any existing findings with 

2 respect to the covered applicant under the sin3 gle audit process under chapter 75 of this title. 

4 ‘‘§ 7403. Website relating to Federal grants 

5 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—The Director of the Office of 

6 Management and Budget shall consult with the head of 

7 each Executive agency to upgrade grants.gov or any pro8 posed successor public website for finding Federal grant 

9 opportunities and applying for those grants so that the 

10 website— 

11 ‘‘(1) may serve as a central point of informa12 tion and provide full access for applicants for com13 petitive grants; and 

14 ‘‘(2) shall capture in one site, or provide elec15 tronic links to, other relevant databases. 

16 ‘‘(b) NOTICE OF COMPETITIVE GRANT FUNDS

17 AVAILABILITY.—At the time the head of an Executive 

18 agency issues a solicitation or otherwise announces the 

19 availability of funds for a competitive grant, the head of 

20 the Executive agency shall post on the grants website 

21 maintained under this section, in a searchable electronic 

22 format, relevant information about the grant opportunity, 

23 including the following: 

24 ‘‘(1) The grant announcement and purpose of 

25 the grant. 


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1 ‘‘(2) The anticipated period of performance for 

2 any new award and whether the Executive agency 

3 anticipates that the grant will be continued. 

4 ‘‘(3) In the case of an announcement with re5 spect to which a specific sum is reserved, the 

6 amount of funds available for the grant. 

7 ‘‘(4) A statement of eligibility requirements for 

8 the grant. 

9 ‘‘(5) Contact information for the Executive 

10 agency, including the name, telephone number, and 

11 electronic mail address of a specific person or per12 sons responsible for answering questions about the 

13 grant and the application process for the grant. 

14 ‘‘(6) A clear statement of the evaluation factors 

15 or criteria that the Executive agency intends to use 

16 to evaluate and rank grant applications or proposals 

17 submitted, including the weight to be applied to each 

18 factor or criterion. 

19 ‘‘(7) A description of the process and standards 

20 to be used by the Executive agency to determine 

21 that each grant reviewer does not have a prohibited 

22 conflict of interest, as defined by applicable statute 

23 or regulation, with respect to the evaluation or re24 view of a grant application or proposal, or the deci25 sion to award a grant. 


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1 ‘‘(8) The anticipated deadline for submission of 

2 grant applications or proposals. 

3 ‘‘(9) A set of sample winning grant proposals 

4 awarded under the same or similar program within 

5 the last 3 years. 

6 ‘‘(c) USE BY APPLICANTS.—The grants website 

7 maintained under this section shall, to the greatest extent 

8 practicable, allow applicants to— 

9 ‘‘(1) use the website with any widely-used com10 puter platform; 

11 ‘‘(2) search the website for any competitive 

12 grant by purpose, funding agency, program source, 

13 and other relevant criteria; and 

14 ‘‘(3) apply for a competitive grant using the 

15 website. 

16 ‘‘(d) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR GRANTEES.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The head of each Executive 

18 agency shall make available on the grants website 

19 maintained under this section detailed grant guid20 ance and written technical assistance for applicants. 

21 ‘‘(2) GRANT AWARD PROCESS INFORMATION

22 POSTED.—With respect to each grant awarded by an 

23 Executive agency, the head of the Executive agency 

24 shall, not later than 30 days after the date on which 


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1 the grant is awarded, post on the grants website 

2 maintained under this section— 

3 ‘‘(A) documentation explaining the basis 

4 for the selection decision for the grant, the 

5 number of proposals received for the grant, 

6 and, with respect to the proposal that resulted 

7 in the grant award, whether the grant was 

8 awarded consistent with a numerical ranking or 

9 other recommendations by grant reviewers; and 

10 ‘‘(B) in any case in which the award of the 

11 grant is not consistent with the numerical 

12 rankings or any other recommendations made 

13 by grant reviewers, a written justification ex14 plaining the rationale for the decision not to fol15 low the rankings or recommendations. 

16 ‘‘(3) SENSITIVE INFORMATION.— 

17 ‘‘(A) PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFOR18 MATION.—The head of each Executive agency 

19 may redact any personally identifiable informa20 tion from a post on the grants website main21 tained under this section. 

22 ‘‘(B) ADVERSE INFORMATION.—An Execu23 tive agency may not post on the grants website 

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1 cy determines would adversely affect an appli2 cant. 

3 ‘‘(e) SUBMISSION AND PUBLICATION OF GRANT SO4 LICITATION FORECAST ON THE GRANTS WEBSITE.— 

5 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than November 

6 30 of each fiscal year or not later than 60 days after 

7 the date on which amounts are appropriated to an 

8 Executive agency for a fiscal year, whichever is later, 

9 the head of the Executive agency shall post a fore10 cast, in accordance with paragraph (2), of any non11 emergency grant solicitation that the Executive 

12 agency expects to issue for the following calendar 

13 year, which— 

14 ‘‘(A) shall be based on the best informa15 tion available; and 

16 ‘‘(B) shall not be binding on the Executive 

17 agency. 

18 ‘‘(2) MATTERS INCLUDED.—The forecast re19 quired under paragraph (1) shall include, to the ex20 tent practicable, for each expected grant solicitation 

21 in a machine-readable format the following: 

22 ‘‘(A) A brief description of the subject and 

23 purpose of the grant, organized by the organi24 zational unit of the Executive agency. 


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1 ‘‘(B) Contact information for the organiza2 tional unit or individual responsible for the 

3 grant, if known, including name, telephone 

4 number, and electronic mail address. 

5 ‘‘(C) Each expected or actual date for the 

6 issuance of the grant solicitation and applica7 tion and the grant application submission dead8 line. 

9 ‘‘(D) The estimated amount of the average 

10 grant award, the estimated maximum and min11 imum amounts of the grant award, if applica12 ble, and the estimated total number of grant 

13 awards to be made. 

14 ‘‘(E) A description of the total amount 

15 available to be awarded. 

16 ‘‘(f) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para18 graph (2), nothing in this section shall be construed 

19 to require the publication of information otherwise 

20 exempt from disclosure under section 552 of title 5 

21 (commonly referred to as the ‘Freedom of Informa22 tion Act’). 

23 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The exemption under sec24 tion 552(b)(5) of title 5 shall not exempt from publi25 cation predecisional documents required to be posted 


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1 pursuant to the requirements under subsection 

2 (d)(2). 

3 ‘‘(g) TRANSPARENCY OF INFORMATION.—To the ex4 tent practicable, the grants website maintained under this 

5 section shall do the following: 

6 ‘‘(1) Make available information described in 

7 this section— 

8 ‘‘(A) in its original format; and 

9 ‘‘(B) without charge, license, or registra10 tion requirement. 

11 ‘‘(2) Permit the information described in this 

12 section to be— 

13 ‘‘(A) searched; 

14 ‘‘(B) downloaded in bulk; 

15 ‘‘(C) disseminated via automatic electronic 

16 means; and 

17 ‘‘(D) freely shared by the public, such as 

18 by social media. 

19 ‘‘(3) Use permanent uniform resource locators 

20 for the information described in this section. 

21 ‘‘(4) Provide an opportunity for the public to 

22 provide input about the usefulness of the site and 

23 recommendations for improvements. 


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1 ‘‘§ 7404. Postdecision explanation for failed appli2 cants 

3 ‘‘If requested by an applicant for a competitive grant, 

4 for each grant award made in an amount in excess of 

5 $100,000 pursuant to a merit-based selection procedure, 

6 an Executive agency shall provide the applicant with a 

7 timely direct interaction describing the basis for the award 

8 decision of the Executive agency, including, if applicable, 

9 the decision not to award a grant to the applicant.’’. 

10 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of chapters 

11 at the beginning of subtitle V of title 31, United States 

12 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

13 chapter 73 the following: 

‘‘74. Grant transparency requirements .................................... 7401’’. 

14 (c) INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEW OF PEER REVIEW

15 PROCESS.— 

16 (1) REVIEW.—Not later than 18 months after 

17 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Inspector 

18 General of each Executive agency that awards com19 petitive grants shall conduct a review of the effec20 tiveness of the conflicts of interest policy of the Ex21 ecutive agency, including a review of a random selec22 tion of peer review processes, with respect to the 

23 peer review process for competitive grants in order 

24 to detect favoritism. 


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1 (2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the 

2 terms ‘‘competitive grant’’ and ‘‘Executive agency’’ 

3 have the meaning given those terms in section 7401 

4 of title 31, United States Code, as added by sub5 section (a). 

6 (d) GRANTS WORKFORCE REPORT.— 

7 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

8 (A) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Ex9 ecutive agency’’ has the meaning given the term 

10 in section 105 of title 5, United States Code, 

11 except the term does not include the Govern12 ment Accountability Office. 

13 (B) FEDERAL GRANTS WORKFORCE.—The 

14 term ‘‘Federal grants workforce’’, with respect 

15 to an Executive agency, means each employee 

16 of the Executive agency who spends some or all 

17 of their time engaged in any of the following: 

18 (i) Grant planning, including any pro19 grammatic activity. 

20 (ii) Preparing grant solicitations, No21 tices of Funding Opportunity, Notices In22 viting Applications, or other requests for 

23 grant proposals. 


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1 (iii) Evaluating or reviewing grant ap2 plications, including serving on a peer re3 view board. 

4 (iv) Monitoring or administering grant 

5 performance by grantees. 

6 (v) Preparing the Notice of Award 

7 and negotiating terms and conditions. 

8 (vi) Post-award closeout activities, in9 cluding final technical and financial re10 ports. 

11 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

12 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

13 General of the United States shall submit to the 

14 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

15 Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Over16 sight and Accountability of the House of Represent17 atives a report on the Federal grants workforce, 

18 which shall address the following: 

19 (A) The size of the Federal grants work20 force and expected trends in Federal employ21 ment for the Federal grants workforce. 

22 (B) The adequacy of training opportunities 

23 for the Federal grants workforce. 

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1 quisition workforce training should be made 

2 available for grant training. 

3 (D) Whether a warrant system similar to 

4 that used in the Federal acquisition system 

5 should be established for Federal officials au6 thorized to award grants. 

7 (E) The use by Executive agencies of sus8 pension and debarment actions taken against 

9 grantees during the 3-year period preceding the 

10 date on which the report is submitted, and the 

11 level of agency resources assigned to the sus12 pension and debarment functions. 

13 (F) Any recommendations for improving 

14 the Federal grants workforce. 

15 Subtitle B—Publication of 

16 Opinions of Office of Legal Counsel 

17 SEC. 611. SHORT TITLE. 

18 This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘See UNdisclosed 

19 Legal Interpretations and Get Honest Transparency Act 

20 of 2024’’ or as the ‘‘SUNLIGHT Act of 2024’’. 

21 SEC. 612. SCHEDULE OF PUBLICATION FOR FINAL OLC 

22 OPINIONS. 

23 Each final opinion issued by the Office of Legal 

24 Counsel must be made publicly available in its entirety as 

25 soon as is practicable, but— 


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1 (1) not later than 30 days after the opinion is 

2 issued or updated if such action takes place on or 

3 after the date of enactment of this Act; 

4 (2) not later than 1 year after the date of en5 actment of this Act for an opinion issued on or after 

6 January 20, 1993; 

7 (3) not later than 2 years after the date of en8 actment of this Act for an opinion issued on or after 

9 January 20, 1981 and before or on January 19, 

10 1993; 

11 (4) not later than 3 years after the date of en12 actment of this Act for an opinion issued on or after 

13 January 20, 1969 and before or on January 19, 

14 1981; and 

15 (5) not later than 4 years after the date of en16 actment of this Act for all other opinions. 

17 SEC. 613. EXCEPTIONS AND LIMITATION ON PUBLIC AVAIL18 ABILITY OF FINAL OLC OPINIONS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—A final OLC opinion or part 

20 thereof may be withheld only to the extent— 

21 (1) information contained in the opinion was— 

22 (A) specifically authorized to be kept se23 cret, under criteria established by an Executive 

24 order, in the interest of national defense or for25 eign policy; 


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1 (B) in fact properly classified, including all 

2 procedural and marking requirements, pursuant 

3 to such Executive order; 

4 (C) the Attorney General determines that 

5 the national defense or foreign policy interests 

6 protected outweigh the public’s interest in ac7 cess to the information; and 

8 (D) has been put through declassification 

9 review within the past two years. 

10 (2) information contained in the opinion relates 

11 to the appointment of a specific individual not con12 firmed to Federal office; 

13 (3) information contained in the opinion is spe14 cifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other 

15 than sections 552 and 552b of title 5, United States 

16 Code), provided that such statute— 

17 (A) requires that the material be withheld 

18 in such a manner as to leave no discretion on 

19 the issue; or 

20 (B) establishes particular criteria for with21 holding or refers to particular types of material 

22 to be withheld; 

23 (4) information in the opinion includes trade se24 crets and commercial or financial information ob25 tained from a person and privileged or confidential 


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1 whose disclosure would likely cause substantial harm 

2 to the competitive position of the person from whom 

3 the information was obtained; 

4 (5) the President, in his or her sole and non5 delegable determination, formally and personally 

6 claims in writing that executive privilege prevents 

7 the release of the information and disclosure would 

8 cause specific identifiable harm to an interest pro9 tected by an exception or the disclosure is prohibited 

10 by law; or 

11 (6) information in the opinion includes per12 sonnel and medical files and similar files the disclo13 sure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted 

14 invasion of personal privacy. 

15 (b) DETERMINATION TO WITHHOLD.—Any deter16 mination under this section to withhold information con17 tained in a final OLC opinion must be made by the Attor18 ney General or a designee of the Attorney General. The 

19 determination shall be— 

20 (1) in writing; 

21 (2) made available to the public within the 

22 same timeframe as is required of a formal OLC 

23 opinion; 


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1 (3) sufficiently detailed as to inform the public 

2 of what kind of information is being withheld and 

3 the reason therefore; and 

4 (4) effective only for a period of 3 years, sub5 ject to review and reissuance, with each reissuance 

6 made available to the public. 

7 (c) FINAL OPINIONS.—For final OLC opinions for 

8 which the text is withheld in full or in substantial part, 

9 a detailed unclassified summary of the opinion must be 

10 made available to the public, in the same timeframe as 

11 required of the final OLC opinion, that conveys the es12 sence of the opinion, including any interpretations of a 

13 statute, the Constitution, or other legal authority. A nota14 tion must be included in any published list of OLC opin15 ions regarding the extent of the withholdings. 

16 (d) NO LIMITATION ON RELIEF.—A decision by the 

17 Attorney General to release or withhold information pur18 suant to this Act shall not preclude any action or relief 

19 conferred by statutory or regulatory regime that empowers 

20 any person to request or demand the release of informa21 tion. 

22 (e) REASONABLY SEGREGABLE PORTIONS OF OPIN23 IONS TO BE PUBLISHED.—Any reasonably segregable por24 tion of an opinion shall be provided after withholding of 

25 the portions which are exempt under this subsection. The 


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1 amount of information withheld, and the exemption under 

2 which the withholding is made, shall be indicated on the 

3 released portion of the opinion, unless including that indi4 cation would harm an interest protected by the exemption 

5 in this subsection under which the withholding is made. 

6 If technically feasible, the amount of the information with7 held, and the exemption under which the withholding is 

8 made, shall be indicated at the place in the opinion where 

9 such withholding is made. 

10 SEC. 614. METHOD OF PUBLICATION. 

11 The Attorney General shall publish each final OLC 

12 opinion to the extent the law permits, including by pub13 lishing the opinions on a publically accessible website 

14 that— 

15 (1) with respect to each opinion— 

16 (A) contains an electronic copy of the opin17 ion, including any transmittal letter associated 

18 with the opinion, in an open format that is plat19 form independent and that is available to the 

20 public without restrictions; 

21 (B) provides the public the ability to re22 trieve an opinion, to the extent practicable, 

23 through searches based on— 

24 (i) the title of the opinion; 


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1 (ii) the date of publication or revision; 

2 or 

3 (iii) the full text of the opinion; and 

4 (C) identifies the time and date when the 

5 opinion was required to be published, and when 

6 the opinion was transmitted for publication; 

7 and 

8 (D) provides a permanent means of access9 ing the opinion electronically; 

10 (2) includes a means for bulk download of all 

11 OLC opinions or a selection of opinions retrieved 

12 using a text-based search; 

13 (3) provides free access to the opinions, and 

14 does not charge a fee, require registration, or impose 

15 any other limitation in exchange for access to the 

16 website; and 

17 (4) is capable of being upgraded as necessary to 

18 carry out the purposes of this Act. 

19 SEC. 615. INDEX OF OPINIONS. 

20 (a) PUBLICATION OF INDEX.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Office of Legal Counsel 

22 shall publish a complete list of final OLC opinions, 

23 arranged chronologically, within 90 days of the date 

24 of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 (2) UPDATES AND REVISIONS.—The list of 

2 opinions shall be updated immediately every time an 

3 OLC opinion becomes final, and a revision to an 

4 opinion shall be listed as if it were a new opinion. 

5 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR LIST.—Each list under sub6 section (a) shall comply with the following: 

7 (1) The list must be made available to the pub8 lic by publication on the website under section 614. 

9 (2) The list shall— 

10 (A) include, for each opinion— 

11 (i) the full name of the opinion; 

12 (ii) the date it was finalized or re13 vised; 

14 (iii) each author’s name; 

15 (iv) each recipient’s name; 

16 (v) a summary of the opinion; 

17 (vi) a unique identifier assigned to 

18 each final or revised opinion; and 

19 (vii) whether an opinion has been 

20 withdrawn; and 

21 (B) be published in both human-readable 

22 and machine-readable formats. 

23 SEC. 616. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION. 

24 On complaint, the district court of the United States 

25 in the district in which the complainant resides, or has 


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1 his principal place of business, or in the District of Colum2 bia, has jurisdiction to enjoin the agency from withholding 

3 information contained in a final OLC opinion and to order 

4 the production of information improperly withheld from 

5 the complainant. In such a case the court shall determine 

6 the matter de novo, and may examine the contents of such 

7 OLC opinion in camera to determine whether such infor8 mation or any part thereof shall be withheld under any 

9 of the exemptions set forth in section 613, and the burden 

10 is on the agency to sustain its action. 

11 SEC. 617. SEVERABILITY. 

12 If any provision of this subtitle, any amendment 

13 made by this subtitle, or the application thereof to any 

14 person or circumstances is held invalid, the validity of the 

15 remainder of this subtitle, of any such amendments, and 

16 of the application of such provisions to other persons and 

17 circumstances shall not be affected thereby. 

18 SEC. 618. DEFINITIONS. 

19 (a) OLC OPINION.—The term ‘‘OLC opinion’’ means 

20 views on a matter of legal interpretation communicated 

21 by the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Jus22 tice to any other office or agency, or person in an office 

23 or agency, in the Executive Branch, including any office 

24 in the Department of Justice, the White House, or the 

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1 ance with sections 511–513 of title 28, United States 

2 Code. Where the communication of the legal interpretation 

3 takes place verbally, a memorialization of that communica4 tion qualifies as an ‘‘OLC opinion’’. 

5 (b) FINAL OLC OPINION.—The term ‘‘final OLC 

6 opinion’’ means an OLC opinion that— 

7 (1) the Attorney General, Assistant Attorney 

8 General for OLC, or a Deputy Assistant General for 

9 OLC, has determined is final; 

10 (2) government officials or government contrac11 tors are relying on; 

12 (3) is relied upon to formulate legal guidance; 

13 or 

14 (4) is directly or indirectly cited in another Of15 fice of Legal Counsel opinion. 

16 (c) REVISED OLC OPINION.—The term ‘‘revised 

17 OLC opinion’’ means an OLC opinion that is withdrawn, 

18 information is added to, or information is removed from. 

19 Subtitle C—Contempt of Congress 

20 Procedures and Enforcement 

21 SEC. 621. AVAILABILITY OF CIVIL ACTION TO ENFORCE 

22 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SUBPOENAS. 

23 (a) CIVIL ACTION.—The House of Representatives 

24 may in a civil action obtain any appropriate relief to en25 force compliance with a subpoena or order of the House, 


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1 or to enforce compliance with a subpoena or order issued 

2 by a committee or subcommittee of the House authorized 

3 to issue a subpoena or order, if the House by resolution 

4 authorizes the commencement of that civil action. 

5 (b) REPRESENTATION BY GENERAL COUNSEL.—Un6 less the House otherwise provides, the Office of the Gen7 eral Counsel of the House of Representatives shall rep8 resent the House in the civil action. 

9 (c) PERSONAL JURISDICTION.—Personal jurisdiction 

10 of the court over a defendant in a civil action under this 

11 section extends outside the territorial jurisdiction of the 

12 court if the claim— 

13 (1) arose out of conduct by the defendant— 

14 (A) within that territorial jurisdiction, or 

15 (B) causing any injury, including informa16 tional injury to the right of the House to make 

17 an investigation, within that territorial jurisdic18 tion; or 

19 (2) otherwise has a reasonable relationship to 

20 contacts of the defendant with the territorial juris21 diction. 

22 (d) ASSESSMENT OF COMPETING INTERESTS.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—In any civil action brought 

24 under this section, if the court has determined that 

25 the information or material which is the subject of 


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1 the subpoena or order involved is presumptively priv2 ileged based upon the President’s generalized inter3 est in confidentiality, the House may overcome this 

4 presumption by showing that— 

5 (A) the House, or a committee or sub6 committee thereof, has a specific need for the 

7 information or material in order to carry out its 

8 constitutional obligations; and 

9 (B) the information is not otherwise avail10 able. 

11 (2) ENFORCEMENT.—If the court determines 

12 that the House, or a committee or subcommittee 

13 thereof, has made the showing described in para14 graph (1), it shall enforce the subpoena or order in15 volved. 

16 (e) EXPEDITION OF TRIAL AND APPELLATE PRO17 CEEDINGS.—The court shall hear and determine a civil ac18 tion under this section as expeditiously as possible, and 

19 to the maximum extent practicable during the Congress 

20 in which the action is commenced. Any appellate pro21 ceedings relating to such a civil action shall similarly be 

22 expedited to assure to the extent possible that the matter 

23 is fully resolved during the Congress in which the action 

24 was commenced. 


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1 SEC. 622. ALTERNATE PROCEDURES FOR ENFORCEMENT 

2 OF CRIMINAL CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS. 

3 (a) ALTERNATE PROCEDURE.— 

4 (1) SCOPE OF APPLICATION.—If the House of 

5 Representatives finds a current or former officer or 

6 employee of the Executive branch has violated sec7 tion 102 of the Revised Statutes of the United 

8 States (2 U.S.C. 192) or that any person has vio9 lated such section at the direction of the President 

10 or another officer of the Executive branch, the pro11 cedures of this section apply. 

12 (2) CERTIFICATION BY SPEAKER.—In accord13 ance with section 104 of the Revised Statutes of the 

14 United States (2 U.S.C. 194), upon the finding by 

15 the House of Representatives of a violation to which 

16 this section applies, the Speaker shall certify that 

17 finding to the appropriate United States attorney, 

18 whose duty it shall be to bring the matter before the 

19 grand jury for its action. 

20 (3) CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING TO APPOINT21 MENT OF SPECIAL COUNSEL.—If— 

22 (A) the Attorney General or the United 

23 States attorney to whom the finding was cer24 tified informs the court or the House that the 

25 Department of Justice will not prosecute the 

26 case; or 


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1 (B) by the end of the 30th day after the 

2 date of receipt of a certification made under 

3 paragraph (2) a grand jury has not returned an 

4 indictment based on the violation alleged in the 

5 certification; 

6 the Special Division established under subsection (b) 

7 (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Special 

8 Division’’) shall appoint a special counsel under sub9 section (c). It shall be the duty of the Attorney Gen10 eral to inform that court and the House if a grand 

11 jury does not return an indictment by the end of the 

12 30-day period. The Speaker of the House, or any in13 terested congressional party, may file with the Spe14 cial Division a suggestion that circumstances giving 

15 rise to a duty to appoint a special counsel have oc16 curred after the 30-day period ends without the re17 turn of an indictment. 

18 (b) SPECIAL DIVISION.— 

19 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby estab20 lished within the United States Court of Appeals for 

21 the District of Columbia a Special Division to carry 

22 out the appointment of special counsels under this 

23 section. 

24 (2) DESIGNATION.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Justice of 

2 the United States shall designate three judges 

3 or justices of the United States, one of whom 

4 shall be an active judge of the United States 

5 Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, 

6 to serve on the Special Division, except that 

7 none of the judges or justices serving on the 

8 Special Division may serve or have served on 

9 the same court. 

10 (B) PRIORITY.—In designating judges and 

11 justices to serve on the Special Division, the 

12 Chief Justice shall give priority to senior circuit 

13 judges and retired justices of the United States 

14 Supreme Court. 

15 (C) DEADLINE.—The Chief Justice shall 

16 make the first such designation not later than 

17 45 days after the date of the enactment of this 

18 Act. 

19 (3) TERM OF SERVICE.—Each designation to 

20 the Special Division shall be for a term of 2 years, 

21 but the Chief Justice may fill any vacancy arising 

22 before the end of a term for the remainder of that 

23 term. 

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1 MINISTRATIVE MATTERS RELATING TO THE SPECIAL

2 COUNSEL.— 

3 (1) APPOINTMENT, QUALIFICATIONS, AND

4 PROSECUTORIAL JURISDICTION OF SPECIAL COUN5 SEL.— 

6 (A) APPOINTMENT AND QUALIFICA7 TIONS.—The Special Division shall appoint the 

8 special counsel, who must be an attorney in 

9 good standing with substantial prosecutorial ex10 perience— 

11 (i) who has not served in any capacity 

12 in the administration of the President who 

13 is or who was in office at the time the 

14 Speaker of the House certified the finding 

15 of a violation; and 

16 (ii) who is or who was not a Member, 

17 officer, or employee of Congress at the 

18 time the Speaker of the House certified the 

19 finding of a violation. 

20 (B) PROSECUTORIAL JURISDICTION.—The 

21 Special Division shall define the special coun22 sel’s prosecutorial jurisdiction as comprising the 

23 investigation and prosecution of the alleged vio24 lation, any conspiracy to commit the alleged 

25 violation, and any perjury, false statement, or 


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1 obstruction of justice occurring in relation to 

2 such investigation and prosecution. 

3 (2) AUTHORITY OF SPECIAL COUNSEL WITH

4 RESPECT TO MATTERS WITHIN PROSECUTORIAL JU5 RISDICTION.—With respect to all matters in that 

6 special counsel’s prosecutorial jurisdiction, a special 

7 counsel appointed under this section shall have full 

8 power and independent authority to exercise all pros9 ecutorial functions and powers, and any other func10 tions and powers normally ancillary thereto, of the 

11 Department of Justice, the Attorney General, and 

12 any other officer or employee of the Department of 

13 Justice, except that the Attorney General shall exer14 cise direction or control as to those matters that spe15 cifically require the Attorney General’s personal ac16 tion under section 2516 of title 18, United States 

17 Code. 

18 (3) COMPLIANCE WITH POLICIES OF THE DE19 PARTMENT OF JUSTICE.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—A special counsel shall, 

21 except to the extent that to do so would be in22 consistent with the purposes of this section, 

23 comply with the written or other established 

24 policies of the Department of Justice respecting 

25 enforcement of the criminal laws. 


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1 (B) NATIONAL SECURITY.—A special coun2 sel shall comply with guidelines and procedures 

3 used by the Department in the handling and 

4 use of classified material. 

5 (4) SALARY.—The special counsel shall receive 

6 a salary equivalent to the salary of the United 

7 States Attorney for the District of Columbia. 

8 (5) STAFF.—The special counsel may appoint 

9 and fix the salaries of such staff, not to exceed 12 

10 in number, as the special counsel deems necessary to 

11 carry out the functions of the special counsel under 

12 this section. However, no salary of a member of such 

13 staff may exceed the salary of the special counsel. 

14 (6) EXPENSES.—The Department of Justice 

15 shall pay all costs relating to the establishment and 

16 operation of any office of special counsel. The Attor17 ney General shall submit to the Congress, not later 

18 than 30 days after the end of each fiscal year, a re19 port on amounts paid during that fiscal year for ex20 penses of investigations and prosecutions the special 

21 counsel. 

22 (7) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Each special coun23 sel shall report to Congress annually on the special 

24 counsel’s activities under this section. The report 

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1 vestigation or prosecution conducted by the special 

2 counsel and provide information justifying the costs 

3 of the activities reported on. 

4 (d) REMOVAL OF SPECIAL COUNSEL.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—A special counsel may be re6 moved from office, other than by impeachment and 

7 conviction, only by the personal action of the Attor8 ney General, and only for good cause, physical or 

9 mental disability, or any other condition that sub10 stantially impairs the performance of that special 

11 counsel’s duties. 

12 (2) REPORT UPON REMOVAL.—If a special 

13 counsel is removed from office, the Attorney General 

14 shall promptly submit to the Special Division and to 

15 Congress a report specifying the facts found and the 

16 ultimate grounds for the removal. 

17 (3) JUDICIAL REVIEW OF REMOVAL.—A special 

18 counsel removed from office may obtain judicial re19 view of the removal in a civil action. The Special Di20 vision may not hear or determine any appeal of a de21 cision in any such civil action. The special counsel 

22 may be reinstated or granted other appropriate relief 

23 by order of the court. 

24 (4) APPOINTMENT OF REPLACEMENT.—Upon 

25 removal of a special counsel, the Special Division 


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1 shall appoint a similarly qualified individual to con2 tinue the functions of the special counsel. 

3 (e) TERMINATION OF SPECIAL COUNSEL’S AUTHOR4 ITY.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The authority of the special 

6 counsel shall cease 2 years after the date of the spe7 cial counsel’s appointment, but the Special Division 

8 may extend that authority for an additional period 

9 not to exceed one year, if the Special Division finds 

10 good cause to do so. Good cause to do so includes 

11 that the investigation or prosecution undertaken by 

12 the special counsel has been delayed by dilatory tac13 tics by persons who could provide evidence that 

14 would significantly assist the investigation or pros15 ecution, and also includes the need to allow the spe16 cial counsel to participate in any appellate pro17 ceedings related to prosecutions engaged in by the 

18 special counsel. 

19 (2) TERMINATION BY COURT.—The Special Di20 vision, either on the Special Division’s own motion 

21 or upon the request of the Attorney General, may 

22 terminate an office of special counsel at any time, on 

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1 pleted or so substantially completed that it would be 

2 appropriate for the Department of Justice to com3 plete such investigations and prosecutions. 

4 SEC. 623. INCREASE IN PENALTY FOR CONTEMPT OF CON5 GRESS. 

6 Section 102 of the Revised Statutes of the United 

7 States (2 U.S.C. 192) is amended by striking ‘‘deemed’’ 

8 and all that follows through ‘‘twelve months’’ and insert9 ing ‘‘fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not 

10 more than 2 years, or both’’. 

11 SEC. 624. AUTHORITY OF UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE 

12 TO ENFORCE CITATIONS. 

13 (a) AUTHORITY.—Section 9B(a) of the Act entitled 

14 ‘‘An Act to define the area of the United States Capitol 

15 Grounds, to regulate the use thereof, and for other pur16 poses’’, approved July 31, 1946 (2 U.S.C. 1967(a)), is 

17 amended— 

18 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

19 (4); 

20 (2) by striking the period at the end of para21 graph (5) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

22 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

23 paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(6) within any area, to enforce a citation 

25 issued with respect to a violation of section 102 of 


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1 the Revised Statutes of the United States which re2 lates to the House of Representatives, or any cita3 tion issued with respect to a resolution adopted by 

4 the House citing a person for contempt of the 

5 House.’’. 

6 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

7 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to citations issued 

8 on or after the expiration of the 90-day period which be9 gins on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

10 SEC. 625. COLLECTION OF PENALTIES IMPOSED BY THE 

11 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON PERSONS 

12 CITED FOR CONTEMPT OF HOUSE. 

13 (a) CIVIL ACTION.—If the House of Representatives 

14 adopts a resolution citing a person for contempt of the 

15 House, the House may commence a civil action to collect 

16 a monetary penalty from the person if the House by subse17 quent resolution authorizes the commencement of that 

18 civil action. 

19 (b) REPRESENTATION BY GENERAL COUNSEL.—Un20 less the House otherwise provides, the Office of the Gen21 eral Counsel of the House of Representatives shall rep22 resent the House in the civil action. 

23 (c) PERSONAL JURISDICTION.—Personal jurisdiction 

24 of the court over a defendant in a civil action under this 


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1 section extends outside the territorial jurisdiction of the 

2 court if the claim— 

3 (1) arose out of conduct by the defendant— 

4 (A) within that territorial jurisdiction; or 

5 (B) causing any injury, including informa6 tional injury to the right of the House to make 

7 an investigation, within that territorial jurisdic8 tion; or 

9 (2) otherwise has a reasonable relationship to 

10 contacts of the defendant with the territorial juris11 diction. 

12 (d) EXPEDITION OF TRIAL AND APPELLATE PRO13 CEEDINGS.—The court shall hear and determine a civil ac14 tion under this section as expeditiously as possible, and 

15 to the maximum extent practicable during the Congress 

16 in which the action is commenced. Any appellate pro17 ceedings relating to such a civil action shall similarly be 

18 expedited to assure to the extent possible that the matter 

19 is fully resolved during the Congress in which the action 

20 was commenced. 

21 SEC. 626. NO EFFECT OF EXPIRATION OF CONGRESS ON 

22 PENDING ACTIONS. 

23 Any civil action commenced by the House of Rep24 resentatives pursuant to this subtitle, and the authority 

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1 resentatives with respect to the action, shall not be ren2 dered moot or otherwise affected as the result of the expi3 ration of the Congress in which the House commenced the 

4 action. 

5 Subtitle D—Promoting Account6 ability and Security in Transi7 tions 

8 SEC. 631. SHORT TITLE. 

9 This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Ac10 countability and Security in Transitions Act of 2024’’ or 

11 the ‘‘PAST Act of 2024’’. 

12 SEC. 632. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

13 The sense of Congress is the following: 

14 (1) The preservation of Presidential records (as 

15 defined in section 2201 of title 44, United States 

16 Code) is a legal obligation for every Presidential ad17 ministration, as Presidential records are the most 

18 important and widely used source for studying how 

19 the executive branch of the Federal Government 

20 works, how it has changed over time, and how it 

21 might evolve to serve the needs of a new era. 

22 (2) The preservation of Presidential records is 

23 therefore vital for— 

24 (A) the public to be able to understand 

25 and learn from the past; 


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1 (B) future policymaking to build on the 

2 past administration’s successes and experience; 

3 (C) ensuring accountability for results, 

4 performance, and conduct; and 

5 (D) other purposes that serve to strength6 en American democracy. 

7 (3) Any effort to destroy, alter, or remove Pres8 idential records in violation of chapter 22 of title 44, 

9 United States Code— 

10 (A) threatens the values described in para11 graph (2); and 

12 (B) may subject a person engaging in such 

13 efforts to other criminal penalties under section 

14 641 or 2071 of title 18, United States Code. 

15 (4) The lawful disposal of Presidential records 

16 that no longer have administrative, historical, infor17 mational, or evidentiary value must follow a process 

18 as described in section 2203 of title 44, United 

19 States Code. 

20 (5) What constitutes a Presidential record is 

21 determined solely by whether the record relates to 

22 the ‘‘carrying out of constitutional, statutory, or 

23 other official or ceremonial duties of the President’’, 

24 as indicated in the definition of the term ‘‘Presi25 dential records’’ in section 2201 of title 44, United 


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1 States Code, and by the content of the information 

2 contained in the record. 

3 (6) For communication between agencies and 

4 the Executive Office of the President, the copy of 

5 the record belonging to the agency is retained as an 

6 agency record pursuant to section 3301 of title 44, 

7 United States Code. 

8 (7) Consistent with section 2203 of title 44, 

9 United States Code, any Presidential records created 

10 with non-official electronic media shall be ‘‘pre11 served’’, which includes a comprehensive documenta12 tion of all records and associated metadata and at13 tachments. 

14 (8) Applications or software with an automatic 

15 deleting functionality are antithetical to the legal 

16 and historical obligations described under chapter 22 

17 of title 44, United States Code. 

18 (9) Periods of Presidential transition are mo19 ments where the national security of the United 

20 States is most vulnerable, necessitating an early, 

21 good faith, and consistent commitment by the out22 going administration to ensure continuity of oper23 ations as it relates to national security and pro24 tecting critical infrastructure, among other reasons. 


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1 (10) Agencies and the Executive Office of the 

2 President are required by law to cooperate with the 

3 Archivist of the United States and the Federal 

4 Transition Coordinator of the General Service Ad5 ministration, who is tasked with ensuring agencies 

6 comply with all statutory requirements relating to 

7 transition planning under section 4(c) of the Presi8 dential Transition Act of 1963 (3 U.S.C. 102 note). 

9 (11) During a Presidential transition, Presi10 dential records, which contain valuable information 

11 regarding agreements or negotiations with foreign 

12 governments and international organizations and the 

13 actions and beliefs of foreign nations or actors are 

14 of enormous value to the national security. 

15 (12) Any effort to delay briefings, coordination, 

16 and sharing information regarding key national se17 curity relationships, threats, and operations with an 

18 incoming administration or the destruction, removal, 

19 or alteration of Presidential records that attest to 

20 the information described in this section could pose 

21 a grave danger to the national security. 

22 (13) An expeditious ascertainment of the plau23 sible President-elect and Vice-President-elect by the 

24 Administrator of General Services plays a vital role 

25 in ensuring continuity of Government and protecting 


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1 national security such that the risk of redundant ex2 penditure is overwhelmed by the advantages of an 

3 early access to transition resources to allow for tran4 sition planning. 

5 (14) The National Archives and Records Ad6 ministration plays an essential role in ensuring the 

7 official proceedings of Government are documented 

8 to improve democracy in the United States, protect 

9 national security, provide continuity of Government 

10 during a transition, and promote accountability for 

11 actions taking during a Presidency. 

12 (15) The robust funding of the National Ar13 chives and Records Administration and protection of 

14 its officers and employees from political interference 

15 is a national imperative and must be a priority for 

16 Congress. 

17 SEC. 633. DEFINITIONS. 

18 Section 2201 of title 44, United States Code, is 

19 amended— 

20 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, and in21 cludes the metadata associated with all such mate22 rial’’ before the period; and 

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

24 ‘‘(6) The term ‘electronic messaging account’ 

25 includes electronic mail, chat or instant messaging, 


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1 text messaging, voicemail messaging, and other mes2 saging platforms or apps, such as social media or 

3 mobile applications, among other applications. 

4 ‘‘(7) The term ‘official electronic messaging ac5 count’ includes electronic messaging accounts pro6 vided by an executive agency or the Executive Office 

7 of the President. 

8 ‘‘(8) The term ‘dispose’, with respect to docu9 mentary material, means to remove, deface, alter, 

10 corrupt, delete, erase, or otherwise destroy the docu11 mentary material.’’. 

12 SEC. 634. MANAGEMENT AND CUSTODY OF PRESIDENTIAL 

13 RECORDS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2203 of title 44, United 

15 States Code, is amended— 

16 (1) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), and 

17 (g) as subsections (g), (h), and (i), respectively; 

18 (2) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub19 section (e); 

20 (3) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 

21 following: 

22 ‘‘(c) The President shall obtain the advice of the Ar23 chivist in applying standards, procedures, and techniques 

24 designed to— 

25 ‘‘(1) improve the management of records; 


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1 ‘‘(2) promote the maintenance and security of 

2 records determined appropriate for preservation; and 

3 ‘‘(3) facilitate the segregation and disposal of 

4 records of temporary value. 

5 ‘‘(d)(1) During the President’s term of office, if the 

6 President wishes to dispose of those Presidential records 

7 of such President that no longer have administrative, his8 torical, informational, or evidentiary value— 

9 ‘‘(A) the President shall request, in writing, the 

10 views of the Archivist concerning the proposed dis11 posal of such Presidential records; and 

12 ‘‘(B) the Archivist shall indicate, in writing, 

13 whether the Archivist intends to take any action 

14 under subsection (g) of this section with respect to 

15 the Presidential records. 

16 ‘‘(2) Not later than 5 business days after the date 

17 on which the Archivist provides a written indication under 

18 paragraph (1)(B), the Archivist shall make publicly avail19 able on a website any communications received or sent by 

20 the Archivist regarding the potential disposal of Presi21 dential records under paragraph (1).’’; 

22 (4) in subsection (e), as so redesignated— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘subsection (c)’’ and in24 serting ‘‘subsection (d)’’; and 


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1 (B) by striking ‘‘subsection (e)’’ and in2 serting ‘‘subsection (g)’’; and 

3 (5) by inserting after subsection (e), as so re4 designated, the following: 

5 ‘‘(f) In January of each even-numbered year, the Ar6 chivist shall, in coordination with the Office of Administra7 tion of the Executive Office of the President, submit to 

8 the Chairman and Ranking Member of each committee of 

9 jurisdiction of either House of Congress, of the Committee 

10 on Appropriations of the Senate, and of the Committee 

11 on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and to 

12 the President a report that— 

13 ‘‘(1) is based on inspections conducted by the 

14 Archivist, in coordination with the Office of Admin15 istration of the Executive Office of the President, of 

16 the Presidential records management programs of 

17 the Executive Office of the President; and 

18 ‘‘(2) evaluates— 

19 ‘‘(A) the records management activities 

20 and training conducted and standard operating 

21 procedures and guidance issued pursuant to 

22 this section; and 

23 ‘‘(B) responses to any recommendations 

24 resulting from inspections or studies conducted 

25 under this section.’’. 


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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

2 (1) Section 2105(a)(2) of title 44, United 

3 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘paragraph 

4 (f)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (i)(2)’’. 

5 (2) Chapter 22 of title 44, United States Code, 

6 is amended— 

7 (A) in section 2204(b)(2)(A), by striking 

8 ‘‘section 2203(d)(1)’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘2203(i)(1)’’; and 

10 (B) in section 2206(1), by striking ‘‘sec11 tion 2203(f)(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

12 2203(i)(4)’’. 

13 SEC. 635. RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS TO PRESIDENTIAL 

14 RECORDS. 

15 Section 2204 of title 44, United States Code, is 

16 amended— 

17 (1) in subsection (b)(3), by striking ‘‘shall not 

18 be subject to judicial review, except as provided’’ and 

19 inserting ‘‘shall be subject to judicial review, includ20 ing as provided’’; and 

21 (2) in subsection (e)— 

22 (A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘The United 

23 States’’; and 

24 (B) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(2)(A) A person seeking access to a Presidential 

2 record to which access is restricted under subsection (a) 

3 may file an action in the United States District Court for 

4 the District of Columbia seeking release of the Presi5 dential record. 

6 ‘‘(B) In an action filed under subparagraph (A), the 

7 court shall direct the release of a Presidential record, or 

8 a reasonably segregable portion thereof, if the court deter9 mines that the Presidential record, or the reasonably seg10 regable portion thereof, is not within any of the categories 

11 specified in subsection (a) and there is not a valid claim 

12 of constitutionally based privilege against disclosure.’’. 

13 SEC. 636. EXCEPTIONS TO RESTRICTED ACCESS. 

14 Section 2205(2)(C) of title 44, United States Code, 

15 is amended— 

16 (1) by striking ‘‘to any committee or sub17 committee thereof’’ and inserting ‘‘upon request by 

18 the Chairman or Ranking Member of a committee or 

19 subcommittee thereof, to such Chairman or ranking 

20 member,’’; and 

21 (2) by striking ‘‘its business’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘the business of the committee or subcommittee’’. 

23 SEC. 637. REGULATIONS. 

24 Section 2206 of title 44, United States Code, is 

25 amended— 


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1 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ before ‘‘The Archivist’’; 

2 (2) in subsection (a), as so designated— 

3 (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

4 the end; 

5 (B) in paragraph (4), by striking the pe6 riod and inserting a semicolon; and 

7 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(5) provisions— 

9 ‘‘(A) for what constitutes official and non10 official electronic messaging accounts; and 

11 ‘‘(B) establishing procedures for docu12 menting— 

13 ‘‘(i) Presidential records created on 

14 non-official electronic messaging accounts 

15 (including emerging technologies, applica16 tions, and platforms); and 

17 ‘‘(ii) required metadata; 

18 ‘‘(6) provisions for the preservation of digital 

19 media, including from social media accounts, that 

20 may appear to be personal records or private prop21 erty but the preservation of which may be required 

22 under this chapter; and 

23 ‘‘(7) provisions for the appropriate cir24 cumstances and controls for the use of messaging 


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1 applications and software with automatic deleting or 

2 other similar functionalities.’’; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(b) The Archivist shall issue, and shall annually up5 date, implementation guidance with respect to the regula6 tions described in paragraphs (5) and (6) of subsection 

7 (a).’’. 

8 SEC. 638. DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT FOR OFFICIAL BUSI9 NESS CONDUCTED USING NON-OFFICIAL 

10 ELECTRONIC MESSAGING ACCOUNTS. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2209(a) of title 44, 

12 United States Code, is amended— 

13 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

14 striking ‘‘create or send’’ and inserting ‘‘create, 

15 send, or receive’’; 

16 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 

17 subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, and adjust18 ing the margin accordingly; and 

19 (3) by striking ‘‘The President,’’ and inserting 

20 the following: 

21 ‘‘(1) LIMITATIONS.—Not later than 90 days 

22 after assuming office, the President shall publicly re23 lease guidelines for officers and employees of the Ex24 ecutive Office of the President who create or receive 

25 documentary material that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) prohibit the use of non-official elec2 tronic messaging accounts that cannot be easily 

3 copied or forwarded to an official electronic 

4 messaging account for official business; and 

5 ‘‘(B) prohibit the use of messaging ac6 counts or software with automatic deleting or 

7 other similar functionalities. 

8 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS FOR USE.—The Presi9 dent,’’. 

10 SEC. 639. PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION ACT OF 1963. 

11 The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 (3 U.S.C. 

12 102 note) is amended— 

13 (1) in section 3— 

14 (A) in subsection (a)(8)(A), by striking 

15 clause (v) and inserting the following: 

16 ‘‘(v)(I)(aa) Activities under this paragraph shall in17 clude the preparation of a detailed classified, compart18 mented summary by the relevant outgoing executive 

19 branch officials of— 

20 ‘‘(AA) specific strategic, tactical, and oper21 ational threats to national security; 

22 ‘‘(BB) major military or covert operations; and 

23 ‘‘(CC) pending decisions on possible uses of 

24 military force or covert actions. 


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1 ‘‘(bb) The summary prepared under item (aa) 

2 shall be provided to the President-elect and members 

3 of office staff with appropriate clearances that are 

4 designated by the President-elect as soon as possible 

5 after the date of the general elections held to deter6 mine the electors of President and Vice President 

7 under section 1 or 2 of title 3, United States Code. 

8 ‘‘(II) The Archivist of the United States shall collabo9 rate with the Federal Transition Coordinator and agen10 cies, including the Executive Office of the President, to 

11 ensure that the President-elect and members of office staff 

12 with appropriate clearances that are designated by the 

13 President-elect can easily access national security informa14 tion (including documents, videos, audio, and briefings) 

15 created by the previous administration after the inaugura16 tion of the President-elect. 

17 ‘‘(III) The Archivist of the United States shall submit 

18 to the Chairman and Ranking Member of each committee 

19 of jurisdiction of either House of Congress, of the Com20 mittee on Appropriations of the Senate, and of the Com21 mittee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives 

22 a report if the Archivist of the United States believes there 

23 appears to be noncompliance with the requirements under 

24 this clause.’’; and 

25 (B) in subsection (c)— 


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1 (i) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 

2 paragraph (4); and 

3 (ii) by inserting after paragraph (2) 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘(3)(A) Not later than 6 days after the date of a gen6 eral election described in paragraph (1), the Administrator 

7 shall make the ascertainment described in paragraph (1) 

8 without any interference or undue pressure from the 

9 President or a candidate for President, or any representa10 tive thereof, based on provisional results from State elec11 tion officials and expert analysis of results. 

12 ‘‘(B) Given the imperatives of an orderly transition, 

13 if there is a plausible chance that the apparent successful 

14 candidate for the office of President and Vice President, 

15 respectively, are not the incumbent, or if the incumbent 

16 was not a candidate, the Administrator shall provide a 

17 portion of the services and facilities authorized to be pro18 vided under this section to all parties with a plausible 

19 chance of being the successful candidate.’’; and 

20 (2) in section 4— 

21 (A) in subsection (d)— 

22 (i) in paragraph (2)— 

23 (I) in subparagraph (B), by 

24 striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 


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1 (II) in subparagraph (C), by 

2 striking the period at the end and in3 serting ‘‘; and’’; and 

4 (III) by adding at the end the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(D) under the guidance of the Archivist 

7 of the United States, monitor compliance with 

8 chapter 22 of title 44, United States Code, in9 cluding the preservation of all records and pre10 vention of any records from being disposed un11 less done in accordance with such chapter.’’; 

12 (ii) in paragraph (3)— 

13 (I) by redesignating subpara14 graphs (C) and (D) as subparagraphs 

15 (D) and (E), respectively; and 

16 (II) by inserting after subpara17 graph (B) the following: 

18 ‘‘(C) the Archivist of the United States;’’; 

19 and 

20 (iii) by adding at the end the fol21 lowing: 

22 ‘‘(5) ROLE OF THE ARCHIVIST.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 

24 days before the date of a Presidential election, 

25 the Archivist of the United States shall send a 


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1 written communication to all officers and em2 ployees of the Executive Office of the President 

3 who create or receive documentary material (as 

4 defined under section 2201 of title 44, United 

5 States Code)— 

6 ‘‘(i) describing the requirements under 

7 chapter 22 of title 44, United States Code; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(ii) establishing a timeline for co10 operation with the Archivist of the United 

11 States to ensure an orderly and timely 

12 transition of records subject to such chap13 ter if there is a Presidential transition. 

14 ‘‘(B) REPORTING.— 

15 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 

16 days after the date of a Presidential elec17 tion which results in a Presidential transi18 tion, the Archivist of the United States, in 

19 coordination with the Federal Transition 

20 Coordinator, shall submit to the Chairman 

21 and Ranking Member of each committee of 

22 jurisdiction of either House of Congress, of 

23 the Committee on Appropriations of the 

24 Senate, and of the Committee on Appro25 priations of the House of Representatives a 


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1 report discussing the status of the transi2 tion activities of the White House Transi3 tion Coordinating Council and identifying 

4 concerns, if any, regarding compliance with 

5 chapter 22 of title 44, United States Code. 

6 ‘‘(ii) NONCOMPLIANCE.—The Archi7 vist of the United States shall submit to 

8 the Chairman and Ranking Member of 

9 each committee of jurisdiction of either 

10 House of Congress, of the Committee on 

11 Appropriations of the Senate, and of the 

12 Committee on Appropriations of the House 

13 of Representatives a report if the Archivist 

14 of the United States believes there appears 

15 to be noncompliance with the requirements 

16 or timeline described in subparagraph 

17 (A).’’; 

18 (B) in subsection (e)(2)— 

19 (i) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

20 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

21 (ii) in subparagraph (E), by striking 

22 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

23 and’’; and 

24 (iii) by adding at the end the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(F) under the guidance of the Archivist of 

2 the United States, monitor compliance with 

3 chapter 22 of title 44, United States Code, in4 cluding the preservation of all records and pre5 vention of any records from being disposed un6 less done in accordance with such chapter.’’; 

7 (C) by redesignating subsection (i) as sub8 section (j); and 

9 (D) by inserting after subsection (h) the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(i) ROLE OF THE ARCHIVIST.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 

13 before the date of a Presidential election, the Archi14 vist of the United States shall send a written com15 munication to the head of each agency— 

16 ‘‘(A) describing the requirements under 

17 chapter 33 of title 44, United States Code; and 

18 ‘‘(B) establishing a timeline for coopera19 tion with the Archivist of the United States to 

20 ensure an orderly and timely transition of 

21 records subject to such chapter if there is a 

22 Presidential transition. 

23 ‘‘(2) REPORTING.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 

25 days after the date of a Presidential election 


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1 which results in a Presidential transition, the 

2 Archivist of the United States, in coordination 

3 with the Federal Transition Coordinator, shall 

4 submit to the Chairman and Ranking Member 

5 of each committee of jurisdiction of either 

6 House of Congress, of the Committee on Appro7 priations of the Senate, and of the Committee 

8 on Appropriations of the House of Representa9 tives a report discussing the status of the tran10 sition activities of agencies and identifying con11 cerns, if any, regarding compliance with chapter 

12 33 of title 44, United States Code. 

13 ‘‘(B) NONCOMPLIANCE.—The Archivist of 

14 the United States shall submit to the Chairman 

15 and Ranking Member of each committee of ju16 risdiction of either House of Congress, of the 

17 Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, 

18 and of the Committee on Appropriations of the 

19 House of Representatives a report if the Archi20 vist of the United States believes there appears 

21 to be noncompliance with the requirements or 

22 timeline described in paragraph (1).’’. 

23 SEC. 640. FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

24 The Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide retirement, cler25 ical assistants, and free mailing privileges to former PresiVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:49 Jul 18, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00114 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597

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1 dents of the United States, and for other purposes’’, ap2 proved August 25, 1958 (commonly known as the 

3 ‘‘Former Presidents Act of 1958’’) (3 U.S.C. 102 note), 

4 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(h) If the Archivist of the United States determines 

6 that a former President did not comply with major re7 quirements under chapter 22 of title 44, United States 

8 Code, or the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 (3 U.S.C. 

9 102 note), the monetary amounts described in subsections 

10 (a) and (b) shall be withheld until the later of— 

11 ‘‘(1) 1 year after the date on which the Archi12 vist makes that determination; or 

13 ‘‘(2) the date on which the Archivist determines 

14 the former President has adequately complied with 

15 the requirements.’’. 

16 SEC. 641. PRESIDENTIAL ARCHIVAL DEPOSITORY. 

17 Section 2112 of title 44, United States Code, is 

18 amended— 

19 (1) in subsection (b)— 

20 (A) by striking ‘‘When the Archivist’’ and 

21 inserting ‘‘(1) Subject to paragraph (2), when 

22 the Archivist’’; and 

23 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(2) The Archivist may not deposit papers, doc25 uments, or other historical materials accepted under 


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1 section 2111 of this title or other Federal records 

2 appropriate for preservation in a Presidential archi3 val depository relating to a former President under 

4 paragraph (1) until after the date on which the Ar5 chivist determines that the former President has 

6 adequately complied with the requirements under 

7 chapter 22 relating to Presidential records (as de8 fined in section 2201).’’; 

9 (2) in subsection (g), by adding at the end the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(6)(A) Notwithstanding paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) 

12 (to the extent that such paragraphs are inconsistent with 

13 this paragraph), this subsection shall be administered in 

14 accordance with this paragraph with respect to any Presi15 dential archival depository created as a depository for the 

16 papers, documents, and other historical materials and 

17 Presidential records pertaining to any President who takes 

18 any action, including destruction, alteration, concealment, 

19 or removal, that threatens or damages the integrity and 

20 statutory preservation requirements under chapter 22 for 

21 Presidential records (as defined in section 2201). 

22 ‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraphs (A)(ii), 

23 (B)(i)(II), and (B)(ii)(II) of paragraph (3) the percentage 

24 of 100 percent shall apply instead of 60 or 20 percent.’’; 

25 and 


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1 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(h) None of the funds in the account in the National 

3 Archives Trust Fund that may be expended for the benefit 

4 and in the interest of a Presidential archival depository 

5 relating to a former President may be used for the cost 

6 of digitizing records the former President wishes to de7 posit in and make available through the Presidential archi8 val depository.’’. 

9 TITLE VII—STRENGTHENING 

10 THE FREEDOM OF INFORMA11 TION ACT 

12 SEC. 701. DIGITAL ACCESS TO RECORDS MADE AVAILABLE 

13 UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION 

14 ACT. 

15 Section 552(a)(3) is amended by adding at the end 

16 the following: 

17 ‘‘(F) Not later than two months after the 

18 date on which the head of an agency makes a 

19 record available to a person under this para20 graph, the head of the agency shall make avail21 able on the website of the agency, at no cost to 

22 the public and in a searchable, sortable, 

23 downloadable, and machine-readable format, 

24 electronic copies of the request for the record 

25 and any response provided to the person that 


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1 made the request for the record (including the 

2 record made available to the person), unless the 

3 head of the agency determines that the exces4 sive cost of making such copies available on the 

5 website would place an undue burden on the 

6 agency.’’. 

7 SEC. 702. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT AMENDMENTS. 

8 (a) DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN RECORDS.—Section 

9 552(a)(2) of title 5, United States Code, is amended by 

10 adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(F)(i) materials related to the operations and estab12 lishment of advisory committees (as defined in section 

13 1001) and any subcommittee thereof, including events, 

14 timelines, agendas, minutes, transcripts, recordings, com15 mittee member names and biographies, conflict of interest 

16 waivers, committee charters, and any other related mate17 rials; 

18 ‘‘(ii) unclassified reports submitted to Congress 

19 by the head of the agency; 

20 ‘‘(iii) unclassified testimony submitted to Con21 gress by the head of the agency; 

22 ‘‘(iv) agency organization charts and directories 

23 with the contact information for all offices of the 

24 agency; 


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1 ‘‘(v) any log relating to a request for a record 

2 under paragraph (3), including any tracking number 

3 assigned to the request, the date the request was re4 ceived by the head of the agency, the subject of the 

5 request, and the disposition of the request; 

6 ‘‘(vi) any record that reflects the official cal7 endar of the head of the agency, including a record 

8 that reflects an event, meeting, or telephone call 

9 scheduled for the head of the agency; 

10 ‘‘(vii) a list— 

11 ‘‘(I) identifying— 

12 ‘‘(aa) each contract or grant of the 

13 agency with a value exceeding 

14 $100,000,000; or 

15 ‘‘(bb) the 10 contracts or grants of 

16 the agency with the highest value if fewer 

17 than 10 contracts or grants have a value 

18 exceeding $100,000,000; 

19 ‘‘(II) the award ID for each such contract 

20 or grant; 

21 ‘‘(III) a description of each such contract 

22 or grant, including the award type of the con23 tract or grant; 

24 ‘‘(IV) the recipient of each such contract 

25 or grant; 


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1 ‘‘(V) the start and end date each such con2 tract or grant; and 

3 ‘‘(VI) the total obligations related to the 

4 contract or grant; 

5 ‘‘(viii) final reports or memoranda created by 

6 an entity other than the agency, including other 

7 Governmental entities, at the request of the head of 

8 the agency and used to make a final policy decision; 

9 ‘‘(ix) any memorandum from the Office of 

10 Legal Council of the Department of Justice provided 

11 to the head of the agency; 

12 ‘‘(x) any documents containing legal analysis 

13 relied upon formally or informally by the head of the 

14 agency to respond to the public; 

15 ‘‘(xi) any documents containing legal analysis 

16 relied upon formally or informally by the head of the 

17 agency to inform policy analysis or policy determina18 tions; and 

19 ‘‘(xii) unclassified reports of the Inspector Gen20 eral of the agency.’’. 

21 (b) ACCESS TO ELECTRONIC RECORDS BY FOIA OF22 FICERS.—Section 552(a)(3)(C) of title 5, United States 

23 Code, is amended to read as follows: 

24 ‘‘(C) In responding under this paragraph to a request 

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1 mat, an agency shall make a reasonable effort to produce 

2 the record in that form or format, except when such an 

3 effort would significantly interfere with the operation of 

4 the automated information system of the agency. 

5 ‘‘(D) For the purpose of responding under this para6 graph to a request for a record, the Chief FOIA Officer 

7 of the agency may access and retrieve any such record 

8 without making a request to a document custodian of the 

9 agency for such access or retrieval.’’. 

10 (c) CLARIFYING AUTHORIZATION FOR COURT ORDER

11 COMPLIANCE.—Section 552(a)(4)(B) of title 5, United 

12 States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(B)(i) A person aggrieved by a failure of an agency 

14 to comply with any requirement of this section may bring 

15 an action against the agency in a district court of the 

16 United States. The district courts shall have original juris17 diction of all actions arising under this section. Venue over 

18 such an action is proper in the district in which the com19 plainant resides, or has his principal place of business, or 

20 in which the agency records that are the subject of the 

21 action are situated, or in the District of Columbia. The 

22 court in such an action may— 

23 ‘‘(I) enjoin the agency from withholding an 

24 agency record; 


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1 ‘‘(II) order the agency to publish records 

2 in the Federal Register as required by para3 graph (1), and to require such publication on a 

4 continuing basis; 

5 ‘‘(III) order the agency to make records 

6 available for public inspection in an electronic 

7 format as required by paragraph (2), and to re8 quire such public access on a continuing basis; 

9 ‘‘(IV) order the agency to produce agency 

10 records in response to a request under para11 graph (3); 

12 ‘‘(V) provide relief to resolve any dispute 

13 over— 

14 ‘‘(aa) the validity of a request under 

15 paragraph (3), including whether a request 

16 reasonably describes the records sought or 

17 has been submitted in accordance with an 

18 agency’s published rules and procedures; 

19 ‘‘(bb) an agency’s interpretation of 

20 the scope of a request under paragraphs 

21 (1), (2), or (3); 

22 ‘‘(cc) the validity of an agency deter23 mination under paragraph (6); 

24 ‘‘(dd) the reasonableness of an agen25 cy’s search for records; 


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1 ‘‘(ee) the ability of an agency to re2 produce a record in a particular form or 

3 format; 

4 ‘‘(ff) the treatment of a record under 

5 paragraph (2) of subsection (f); 

6 ‘‘(gg) any fee issue, including an 

7 agency’s denial of a request for the waiver 

8 or reduction fees; and 

9 ‘‘(hh) the denial of a request for expe10 dited processing; 

11 ‘‘(VI) enjoin the agency from maintaining 

12 or applying any policy or practice that impairs 

13 lawful access to records or otherwise fails to 

14 abide by the terms of this section; 

15 ‘‘(VII) issue a declaratory judgment, to the 

16 extent authorized by section 2201 of title 28; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(VIII) provide any other appropriate eq19 uitable relief to remedy a violation of this sec20 tion. 

21 ‘‘(ii) In any action brought under this section, 

22 the court shall determine the matter de novo. The 

23 court, may examine the contents of agency records 

24 in camera to determine whether such records or any 

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1 emptions set forth in subsection (b) of this section. 

2 The burden is on the agency to sustain its action. 

3 In addition to any other matters to which a court 

4 accords substantial weight, a court shall accord sub5 stantial weight to an affidavit of an agency con6 cerning the agency’s determination as to technical 

7 feasibility under paragraph (2)(C) and subsection 

8 (b), and reproducibility under paragraph (3)(B).’’. 

9 (d) DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN COMMERCIAL OR FI10 NANCIAL INFORMATION UNDER FOIA.—Section 

11 552(b)(4) of the United States Code is amended by insert12 ing after ‘‘confidential’’ the following: ‘‘except for commer13 cial or financial information the disclosure of which under 

14 this subsection would not cause substantial harm to the 

15 person from any competitor of the person’’. 

16 (e) ADDITIONAL MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED IN AN17 NUAL REPORT.—Section 552(e)(1) of title 5, United 

18 States Code, is amended— 

19 (1) in subparagraph (P), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

20 and inserting a semicolon; 

21 (2) in subparagraph (Q), by striking the period 

22 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

23 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(R) a detailed description of any steps taken 

25 by the agency to design or format information or 


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1 records, such that such information or records may 

2 be made available to the public under subsection (a); 

3 ‘‘(S) the number of requests for records the 

4 agency found to be not reasonably described or un5 duly burdensome; and 

6 ‘‘(T) the number of requests for records with 

7 respect to which the agency could neither confirm 

8 nor deny the existence of the records.’’. 

9 SEC. 703. OTHER MATTERS. 

10 (a) PRESUMPTION OF OPENNESS.— 

11 (1) AMENDMENTS.—Section 552(b) of title 5, 

12 United States Code, is amended— 

13 (A) in paragraph (3)(B), by inserting 

14 ‘‘with an explanation for the exemption’’ after 

15 ‘‘specifically cites to this paragraph’’; 

16 (B) in paragraph (5), by inserting before 

17 the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘, except 

18 for inter-agency and intra-agency memoran19 dums or letters required to be disclosed under 

20 subsection (a), including— 

21 ‘‘(A) opinions that are controlling interpre22 tations of law; 

23 ‘‘(B) final reports or memoranda created 

24 by an entity other than the agency, including 

25 other Governmental entities, at the request of 


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1 the agency and used to make a final policy deci2 sion; or 

3 ‘‘(C) guidance documents used by the 

4 agency to respond to the public.’’; 

5 (C) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘similar 

6 files’’ and inserting ‘‘files that contain personal 

7 information (such as contact information or fi8 nancial information of a person)’’; and 

9 (D) in the matter following paragraph 

10 (9)— 

11 (i) by inserting before ‘‘Any reason12 ably segregable portion’’ the following: ‘‘An 

13 agency may not withhold information 

14 under this subsection unless such agency 

15 reasonably foresees that disclosure would 

16 cause specific identifiable harm to an inter17 est protected by an exemption’’; and 

18 (ii) by inserting before ‘‘If technically 

19 feasible,’’ the following: ‘‘For each record 

20 not released in whole or in part pursuant 

21 to the exemption under paragraph (3), the 

22 agency shall, at the time the agency pro23 vides the record or a response to the re24 quest for such record, identify that the 


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1 record was not released in whole or in part 

2 pursuant to such exemption’’. 

3 (2) EXEMPTION DECISION TRANSPARENCY.— 

4 Section 552(a)(6)(C)(i) of title 5, United States 

5 Code, is amended by striking the fourth sentence 

6 and inserting at the end the following: ‘‘Any notifi7 cation of denial or partial denial of any request for 

8 records under this subsection shall set forth each 

9 name and title or position of each person responsible 

10 for the denial or partial denial or any decision to 

11 withhold a responsive record under subsection (b).’’. 

12 (3) PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF

13 GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SERVICES.—Section 

14 552(h) of title 5, United States Code, is amended by 

15 adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(7) ACCESS TO AGENCY RECORDS.—The head of an 

17 administrative agency shall provide to the Director of the 

18 Office of Government Information Services any record re19 quested by the Director for the purpose of carrying out 

20 mediation services pursuant to paragraph (3).’’. 

21 (b) GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE.—Sub22 section (i) of section 552 of title 5, United States Code, 

23 is amended to read as follows: 

24 ‘‘(i) The Comptroller General shall— 


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1 ‘‘(2) not later than one year following enact2 ment of this clause, and every 2 years thereafter, 

3 audit each agency to determine compliance with and 

4 implementation of the requirements of this section 

5 and issue reports to the Committee on Judiciary of 

6 the House of Representatives and the Senate on the 

7 result of such audit; 

8 ‘‘(3) catalog the matters specifically exempted 

9 from disclosure by statute pursuant to subsection 

10 (b)(3), and any use of such exemptions by agencies; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(4) review and prepare a report on the proc13 essing of requests by agencies for information per14 taining to an entity that has received assistance 

15 under title I of the Emergency Economic Stabiliza16 tion Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5211 et seq.) during 

17 any period in which the Federal Government owns 

18 or owned more than 50 percent of the stock of such 

19 entity.’’. 

20 (c) ANNUAL REPORT BY CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH

21 SERVICE.—Section 552 of title 5, United States Code, is 

22 amended by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(n) ANNUAL REPORT BY CONGRESSIONAL RE24 SEARCH SERVICE.—The Congressional Research Service 

25 shall, on an annual basis— 


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1 ‘‘(1) compile a list of statutes that specifically 

2 exempt records from disclosure pursuant to sub3 section (b)(3); and 

4 ‘‘(2) make such list available to— 

5 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Oversight and Ac6 countability of the House of Representatives 

7 and the Committee on Homeland Security and 

8 Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 

9 ‘‘(B) the public.’’. 

10 (d) PUBLIC INTEREST BALANCING TEST.—Section 

11 552(a)(8)(A)(i)(I) of title 5, United States Code is amend12 ed by inserting ‘‘, and such harm outweighs the public 

13 interest (including the interest in furthering public under14 standing of the operations or decision making of an official 

15 or employee of an agency, facilitating the ability of the 

16 public to make informed decisions with respect to electoral 

17 or democratic processes, investigating any reasonable sus18 picion of governmental wrongdoing, and furthering public 

19 health or safety) in making available such information’’ 

20 after ‘‘described in subsection (b)’’. 


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1 TITLE VIII—IMPROVING TRANS2 PARENCY WITHIN THE JUDI3 CIAL SYSTEM 

4 SEC. 801. TELEVISING SUPREME COURT PROCEEDINGS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 45 of title 28, United 

6 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘§ 678. Televising supreme court proceedings 

9 ‘‘The Supreme Court shall permit television coverage 

10 of all open sessions of the Court unless the Court decides, 

11 by a vote of the majority of justices, that allowing such 

12 coverage in a particular case would constitute a violation 

13 of the due process rights of one or more of the parties 

14 before the Court.’’. 

15 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The chapter analysis 

16 for chapter 45 of title 28, United States Code, is amended 

17 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘678. Televising Supreme Court proceedings.’’. 

18 SEC. 802. AUDIO RECORDING OF SUPREME COURT PRO19 CEEDINGS. 

20 The Chief Justice of the United States shall ensure 

21 that the audio of an oral argument before the Supreme 

22 Court of the United States is recorded and is made pub23 licly available on the internet website of the Supreme 

24 Court at the same time that it is recorded. 


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1 SEC. 803. AVAILABILITY ON THE INTERNET OF FINANCIAL 

2 DISCLOSURE REPORTS OF JUDICIAL OFFI3 CERS. 

4 Section 103 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 

5 (5 U.S.C. App. 103), as amended by this Act, is further 

6 amended by inserting at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(n) The Judicial Conference shall make available 

8 any report filed with it under this title by a judicial officer 

9 within 48 hours of the applicable submission deadline on 

10 the website of the Judicial Conference in a searchable, 

11 sortable, downloadable, machine-readable format.’’. 

12 SEC. 804. GAO AUDIT OF PACER. 

13 Not later than one year after the date of the enact14 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

15 States shall conduct an audit of the public access to court 

16 electronic records system maintained by the Administra17 tive Office of the United States Courts, and shall submit 

18 to Congress, the Administrative Office of the United 

19 States Courts, and any other appropriate Federal agency 

20 or office, a report that contains the results of the audit, 

21 along with any recommendations for improving the public 

22 access to court electronic records system. 

23 SEC. 805. ELECTRONIC COURT RECORDS REFORM. 

24 (a) CONSOLIDATION OF THE CASE MANAGEMENT/ 

25 ELECTRONIC CASE FILES SYSTEM.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

2 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 

3 of the Administrative Office of the United States 

4 Courts, in coordination with the Administrator of 

5 General Services, shall consolidate the Case Manage6 ment/Electronic Case Files system, and shall develop 

7 one system for all filings with courts of the United 

8 States, which shall be administered by the Adminis9 trative Office of the United States Courts. 

10 (2) USE OF TECHNOLOGY.—In developing the 

11 system under paragraph (1), the Director shall use 

12 modern technology in order— 

13 (A) to improve security, data accessibility, 

14 affordability, and performance; and 

15 (B) to minimize the burden on pro se liti16 gants. 

17 (3) AVAILABILITY TO STATES.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—A State may choose to 

19 participate in the system developed under this 

20 subsection. 

21 (B) FEE.—The Director shall charge a fee 

22 to a State that chooses to participate in the sys23 tem, which is set at a level to recover the cost 

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1 ministration and maintenance of the system to 

2 the State. 

3 (b) PUBLIC ACCESS TO COURT ELECTRONIC

4 RECORDS SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

6 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 

7 of the Administrative Office of the United States 

8 Courts, in coordination with the Administrator of 

9 General Services, shall update the Public Access to 

10 Court Electronic Records system, which shall be 

11 subject to the following requirements: 

12 (A) A document filed with a court shall be 

13 made publicly accessible upon filing, except as 

14 ordered by a court or by rule of the Judicial 

15 Conference. 

16 (B) All documents on the system shall be 

17 available to the public and to parties before the 

18 court free of charge. 

19 (C) Any information that is prohibited 

20 from public disclosure by law or court order 

21 shall be redacted. 

22 (D) All documents shall be text-searchable 

23 and machine-readable. 


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1 (E) To the extent practicable, external 

2 websites shall be able to link to documents on 

3 the system. 

4 (F) The system shall include digital audio 

5 and visual files of court recordings, when such 

6 files are available. 

7 (G) The system shall provide search func8 tions for public use. 

9 (2) MINIMIZING THE BURDEN ON PRO SE LITI10 GANTS.—In developing the system to comply with 

11 the requirements under paragraph (1), the Director 

12 shall, to the extent practicable, not impose a dis13 proportionate impact on pro se litigants. 

14 (3) USE OF TECHNOLOGY.—In developing the 

15 system under paragraph (1), the Director shall use 

16 modern technology in order— 

17 (A) to improve security, data accessibility, 

18 affordability, and performance; and 

19 (B) to minimize the burden on pro se liti20 gants. 

21 (4) AUTHORITY TO EXEMPT CERTAIN DOCU22 MENTS.—The Director may identify categories of 

23 documents which are not made publicly accessible 

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1 ceedings, the recordings of which are not made avail2 able under paragraph (1)(F). 

3 (c) DEFINITION OF MACHINE-READABLE.—In this 

4 section, the term ‘‘machine-readable’’ means a format in 

5 which information or data can be easily processed by a 

6 computer without human intervention while ensuring no 

7 semantic meaning is lost. 

8 TITLE IX—ENFORCEMENT 

9 SEC. 901. REPORT BY THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY 

10 OFFICE. 

11 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

12 States shall conduct an annual audit of the activities of 

13 agencies in the legislative and executive branch to deter14 mine, with respect to in the year prior to the study— 

15 (1) whether data required by law to be provided 

16 to the public through the Internet by an agency in 

17 the legislative or executive branch of the Federal 

18 Government was— 

19 (A) made available in accordance with the 

20 law, except for data that is subject to privacy, 

21 security, or privilege exemptions; 

22 (B) collected at the source, with the high23 est possible level of granularity, not in aggre24 gate or modified forms; 


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1 (C) made available as quickly as necessary 

2 to preserve the value of the data; 

3 (D) available to the widest range of users 

4 for the widest range of purposes; 

5 (E) reasonably structured to allow auto6 mated processing; 

7 (F) available to anyone, with no registra8 tion requirement; 

9 (G) available in a format over which no 

10 person has exclusive control; and 

11 (H) subject to any copyright, patent, 

12 trademark, or trade secret protections (with 

13 reasonable privacy, security, and privilege re14 strictions); and 

15 (2) determine whether the data provided to the 

16 public under this Act is produced and maintained 

17 using any standard for data publication required by 

18 a law, regulation, executive order, or policy of the 

19 Federal Government, including any such standard 

20 established by the National Technology Transfer and 

21 Advancement Act of 1995 (Public law 104–113), the 

22 DATA Act (Public Law 101–113), or OMB Circular 

23 A–119. 

24 (b) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall submit 

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1 section (a) to the Committee on Oversight and Account2 ability of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

3 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 

4 Senate. 

5 TITLE X—MISCELLANEOUS 

6 SEC. 1001. TRANSFER OF CERTAIN RECORDS TO ARCHIVIST 

7 OF UNITED STATES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), not 

9 later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 

10 Act, the Attorney General of the United States shall trans11 fer to the Archivist of the United States each record— 

12 (1) created during the period beginning on Jan13 uary 1, 1981, and ending December 31, 1986; and 

14 (2) subject to Item 7 of Records Schedule N1– 

15 60–10–31 of the National Archives and Records Ad16 ministration. 

17 (b) RETENTION.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 

19 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney 

20 General of the United States may submit to the Ar21 chivist of the United States a written request to re22 tain any record described in subsection (a), in ac23 cordance with section 1235.14 of title 36, Code of 

24 Federal Regulations. The Archivist shall approve or 


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1 deny each such request not later than 60 days after 

2 receiving the request. 

3 (2) TRANSFER OF RECORDS AFTER DENIAL.— 

4 Not later than 30 days after the Archivist of the 

5 United States denies a request under paragraph (1), 

6 the Attorney General shall transfer to the Archivist 

7 each record for which the request for retention has 

8 been denied. 

9 (c) ENFORCEMENT.—If the Attorney General fails to 

10 comply with the requirements of this section, the Archivist 

11 of the United States may bring an action in the proper 

12 district court of the United States to enforce compliance 

13 with this section. 

14 SEC. 1002. DATA STANDARDS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title I of the Finan16 cial Stability Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5311 et seq.) is 

17 amended by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 124. DATA STANDARDS. 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury 

20 shall, by rule, promulgate data standards for the informa21 tion reported to member agencies by financial entities 

22 under the jurisdiction of the member agency and the data 

23 collected from member agencies on behalf of the Council. 

24 ‘‘(b) STANDARDIZATION.—Member agencies, in con25 sultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall impleVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:49 Jul 18, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00138 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8597.IH H8597

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1 ment regulations promulgated by the Secretary of the 

2 Treasury under subsection (a) to standardize the types 

3 and formats of data reported to member agencies or col4 lected on behalf of the Council, as described under sub5 section (a). If a member agency fails to implement such 

6 regulations prior to the expiration of the 3-year period fol7 lowing the date of publication of final regulations, the Sec8 retary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Chair9 person, may implement such regulations with respect to 

10 the financial entities under the jurisdiction of the member 

11 agency. 

12 ‘‘(c) DATA STANDARDS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) COMMON IDENTIFIERS AND DATA FOR14 MATS.—The data standards promulgated under sub15 section (a) shall include— 

16 ‘‘(A) common identifiers for information 

17 reported to member agencies or collected on be18 half of the Council, including a common legal 

19 entity identifier for all entities required to re20 port to member agencies; and 

21 ‘‘(B) common data formats for information 

22 reported to member agencies or collected on be23 half of the Council. 


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1 ‘‘(2) DATA STANDARD REQUIREMENTS.—The 

2 data standards promulgated under subsection (a) 

3 shall, to the extent practicable— 

4 ‘‘(A) render information fully searchable 

5 and machine-readable; 

6 ‘‘(B) be nonproprietary; 

7 ‘‘(C) incorporate standards developed and 

8 maintained by voluntary consensus standards 

9 bodies; and 

10 ‘‘(D) be consistent with and implement ap11 plicable accounting and reporting principles. 

12 ‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—In promulgating data 

13 standards under subsection (a), the Secretary of the 

14 Treasury shall consult with other Federal depart15 ments and agencies and multi-agency initiatives re16 sponsible for Federal data standards. 

17 ‘‘(4) INTEROPERABILITY OF DATA.—In promul18 gating data standards under subsection (a), the Sec19 retary of the Treasury shall seek to promote inter20 operability of financial regulatory data across mem21 bers of the Council.’’. 

22 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

23 under section 1(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform 


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1 and Consumer Protection Act is amended by inserting 

2 after the item relating to section 123 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 124. Data standards.’’. 

Æ 


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