II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1411 

To require the Public Printer to establish and maintain a website accessible 

to the public that allows the public to obtain electronic copies of all 

congressionally mandated reports in one place, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 25, 2011 

Mr. LIEBERMAN (for himself, Ms. COLLINS, and Mr. COBURN) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To require the Public Printer to establish and maintain 

a website accessible to the public that allows the public 

to obtain electronic copies of all congressionally mandated reports in one place, 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 ‘‘Access to Congression5 ally Mandated Reports Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF WEBSITE FOR CONGRESSION2 ALLY MANDATED REPORTS. 

3 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH WEBSITE.—Not 

4 later than one year after the date of the enactment of this 

5 Act, the Public Printer shall establish and maintain a 

6 website accessible by the public that allows the public to 

7 obtain electronic copies of all congressionally mandated re8 ports in one place. The Public Printer may publish other 

9 reports on such website. 

10 (b) CONTENT AND FUNCTION.—The Public Printer 

11 shall ensure that the website required under subsection (a) 

12 includes the following: 

13 (1) With respect to each congressionally man14 dated report, each of the following: 

15 (A) A citation to the statute or conference 

16 report requiring the report. 

17 (B) An electronic copy of the report, in18 cluding any transmittal letter associated with 

19 the report, in an open format that is platform 

20 independent and that is available to the public 

21 without restrictions, including restrictions that 

22 would impede the re-use of the information in 

23 the report. 

24 (C) The ability to retrieve a report, to the 

25 extent practicable, through searches based on 

26 each, and any combination, of the following: 


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1 (i) The title of the report. 

2 (ii) The reporting Federal agency. 

3 (iii) The date of publication. 

4 (iv) Each congressional committee re5 ceiving the report, if applicable. 

6 (v) Subject tags. 

7 (vi) The serial number, Super8 intendent of Documents number, or other 

9 identification number for the report, if ap10 plicable. 

11 (vii) The statute or conference report 

12 requiring the report. 

13 (viii) Key words. 

14 (ix) Full text search. 

15 (x) Any other relevant information 

16 specified by the Public Printer. 

17 (D) The time and date when the report 

18 was required to be submitted, and when the re19 port was submitted, to the website. 

20 (E) Access to the report not later than 30 

21 calendar days after its submission to Congress. 

22 (F) To the extent practicable, a permanent 

23 means of accessing the report electronically. 


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1 (2) A means for bulk download of all congres2 sionally mandated reports or a selection of reports 

3 retrieved using a search. 

4 (3) A means for the head of each Federal agen5 cy to publish on the website each congressionally 

6 mandated report of the agency, as required by sec7 tion 3. 

8 (4) A list form for all congressionally mandated 

9 reports that can be searched, sorted, and 

10 downloaded by— 

11 (A) reports submitted within the required 

12 time; 

13 (B) reports submitted after the date on 

14 which such reports were required to be sub15 mitted; and 

16 (C) reports not submitted. 

17 (c) FREE ACCESS.—The Public Printer may not 

18 charge a fee, require registration, or impose any other lim19 itation in exchange for access to the website required 

20 under subsection (a). 

21 (d) UPGRADE CAPABILITY.—The website required 

22 under subsection (a) shall be enhanced and updated as 

23 necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 3. FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES. 

2 (a) SUBMISSION OF ELECTRONIC COPIES OF RE3 PORTS.—The head of each Federal agency shall publish 

4 congressionally mandated reports of the agency on the 

5 website required under section 2(a)— 

6 (1) in an open format that is platform inde7 pendent, machine readable, and available to the pub8 lic without restrictions (except the redaction of infor9 mation described under section 5), including restric10 tions that would impede the re-use of the informa11 tion in the reports; and 

12 (2) in accordance with the guidance issued 

13 under subsection (c). 

14 (b) SUBMISSION OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.— 

15 The head of each Federal agency shall submit to the Pub16 lic Printer the information required under subparagraphs 

17 (A) through (D) of section 2(b)(1) with respect to each 

18 congressionally mandated report published pursuant to 

19 subsection (a). 

20 (c) GUIDANCE.—Not later than eight months after 

21 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the 

22 Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with 

23 the Public Printer, shall issue guidance to agencies on the 

24 implementation of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 4. RELATIONSHIP TO REQUIREMENTS TO SUBMIT RE2 PORTS TO CONGRESS. 

3 (a) COMPLIANCE WITH STATUTORY REQUIREMENT

4 TO SUBMIT REPORTS.—Notwithstanding any other provi5 sion of law, a Federal agency is deemed to have complied 

6 with a statutory requirement to submit a report to Con7 gress if the agency completes each of the following, with 

8 respect to such report: 

9 (1) Publishes a complete and unredacted copy 

10 on the website required under section 2(a). 

11 (2) Notifies the Clerk of the House of Rep12 resentatives, the Secretary of the Senate, and each 

13 congressional committee to which a report must be 

14 submitted of the report’s availability on the website. 

15 (b) REMOVING AND ALTERING REPORTS.—A report 

16 submitted to be published to the website required under 

17 section 2(a) may only be changed or removed, with the 

18 exception of technical changes, by the Federal agency with 

19 the express, written consent of each congressional com20 mittee to which the report must be submitted. 

21 SEC. 5. RELATIONSHIP TO FREEDOM OF INFORMATION 

22 ACT. 

23 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require the 

24 disclosure of information or records that are exempt from 

25 public disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United 

26 States Code. If any information in a congressionally manVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:11 Jul 25, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1411.IS S1411

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1 dated report may not be publicly released under section 

2 552(b) of title 5, United States Code, the Federal agency 

3 concerned shall redact from the report submitted to be 

4 published on the website established under section 2 only 

5 such information, shall indicate where such redactions 

6 were made in the report, and shall identify the exemption 

7 under which each such redaction is made. 

8 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED REPORT.— 

11 The term ‘‘congressionally mandated report’’ means 

12 a report that is required to be submitted to either 

13 House of Congress or any committee of Congress by 

14 statute or by a conference report that accompanies 

15 legislation enacted into law. 

16 (2) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 

17 agency’’ has the meaning given that term under sec18 tion 102 of title 40, United States Code, but does 

19 not include the Government Accountability Office. 

20 SEC. 7. IMPLEMENTATION. 

21 Except as provided in section 3(c), this Act shall be 

22 implemented not later than one year after the date of the 

23 enactment of this Act and shall apply with respect to con24 gressionally mandated reports submitted to Congress on 


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1 or after the date occurring one year after such date of 

2 enactment. 

Æ 


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