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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 611

To provide for greater disclosure of and accountability for Federal

Government travel.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 26, 1993

Mr. KANJORSKI (for himself and Mr. SHAYS) introduced the following bill;

which was referred jointly to the Committees on Government Operations,

House Administration, and the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide for greater disclosure of and accountability for

Federal Government travel.

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 ‘‘Federal Travel Disclo5 sure Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. APPROPRIATIONS FOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

7 TRAVEL.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi9 sion of law, no Federal funds may be obligated or ex10 pended for Federal Government travel, other than from
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1 amounts specifically appropriated by law for such purpose.

2 Except as provided in subsection (b), no Federal depart3 ment, agency, or entity may expend funds for the travel

4 expenses of any individual who is employed by any other

5 Federal department, agency, or entity.

6 (b) REIMBURSABLE TRAVEL.—A Federal depart7 ment, agency, or entity may expend funds for the travel

8 expenses of an individual who is employed by another Fed9 eral department, agency, or entity if it is reimbursed by

10 the individual or the travel account of the individual’s em11 ploying department, agency, or entity.

12 SEC. 3. TRAVEL SUPERVISORS.

13 (a) EXECUTIVE BRANCH AND INDEPENDENT AGEN14 CIES.—Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c), the

15 head of each department, agency, or entity of the Govern16 ment shall designate a travel supervisor for that depart17 ment, agency, or entity.

18 (b) LEGISLATIVE BRANCH.—Travel supervisors in

19 the legislative branch shall be—

20 (1) Senators, Representatives, Delegates, and

21 Resident Commissioners for their travel and travel

22 by members of their personal staffs;

23 (2) committee chairmen for travel by members

24 of their committees and committee staff;
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1 (3) the Speaker of the House of Representa2 tives and the minority leader of the House of Rep3 resentatives, or their designees, for other employees

4 of the House of Representatives or travel authorized

5 by the full House of Representatives;

6 (4) the majority and minority leaders of the

7 United States Senate, or their designees, for other

8 employees of the United States Senate or travel au9 thorized by the full United States Senate; and

10 (5) the head of each agency of the legislative

11 branch, or their designee, in the case of employees

12 of those agencies.

13 (c) JUDICIAL BRANCH.—Travel supervisors in the ju14 dicial branch shall be—

15 (1) the Chief Justice of the United States Su16 preme Court, or his designee, in the case of the Su17 preme Court and its employees;

18 (2) the chief judge of each United States Cir19 cuit Court of Appeals, or their designee, in the case

20 of each Circuit Court of Appeals and its employees;

21 (3) the chief judge of each United States dis22 trict or territorial court, or their designee, in the

23 case of each District or Territorial Court and its em24 ployees;
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1 (4) the chief judges of the United States Claims

2 Court, the United States Court of International

3 Trade, the United States Court of Military Appeals,

4 the United States Tax Court, the United States

5 Court of Veterans Appeals, the District of Columbia

6 Court of Appeals, and the District of Columbia Su7 perior Court, or their designees, in the case of each

8 of these courts and their employees; and

9 (5) the Director of the Administrative Office of

10 the United States Courts, or his designee, in the

11 case of all other employees of the judicial branch.

12 SEC. 4. RESTRICTIONS APPLICABLE TO FEDERAL GOVERN13 MENT TRAVEL.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsections

15 (b) and (c) all Federal Government travel shall be—

16 (1) approved in advance by the travel super17 visor of the department, agency, or entity involved;

18 (2) accomplished by the most economical means

19 conveniently possible; and

20 (3) accomplished by United States commercial

21 carrier wherever possible, unless, as determined by

22 the travel supervisor, an alternative means is more

23 economical or necessary to achieve the goal of the

24 mission.
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1 (b) ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS ON LEGISLATIVE

2 BRANCH FOREIGN TRAVEL.—All legislative branch for3 eign travel shall be—

4 (1) approved in advance by recorded vote of the

5 committee in the case of travel by a committee mem6 ber or committee staff, or approved in advance by

7 the appropriate travel supervisor in all other cases;

8 (2) accomplished by the most economical means

9 conveniently possible; and

10 (3) accomplished by United States commercial

11 carrier wherever possible, unless, as determined by

12 the travel supervisor, an alternative means is more

13 economical or necessary to achieve the goal of the

14 mission.

15 (c) EXEMPTION FROM ADVANCE APPROVAL RE16 QUIREMENT.—Except as otherwise provided by law or reg17 ulation, advance approval shall not be required for travel

18 which either—

19 (1) does not require an individual to spend the

20 night away from their principal residence or place of

21 employment; or

22 (2) is undertaken under emergency cir23 cumstances as defined in written guidelines estab24 lished by the appropriate travel supervisor.
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1 SEC. 5. GUIDELINES AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR

2 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TRAVEL.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each travel supervisor shall, with

4 respect to the department, agency, or entity involved—

5 (1) in order to prevent duplicative and unneces6 sary trips, establish written guidelines for Federal

7 Government travel; and

8 (2) not later than the end of each calendar

9 quarter, file a report with respect to such travel dur10 ing the preceding calendar quarter.

11 (b) REPORT CONTENTS.—Each report filed pursuant

12 to subsection (a) shall, with respect to each trip—

13 (1) specify the purpose and agenda of the trip,

14 including its duration and the places visited;

15 (2) provide the name and position of each em16 ployee and any other person who accompanies the

17 employee at Government expense;

18 (3) in the case of air transportation by other

19 than United States commercial carrier, describe any

20 determination under section 4(a)(3) or 4(b)(3);

21 (4) state the accomplishments of the trip; and

22 (5) state the amount of each category of ex23 penses incurred for the trip, including separate cat24 egories for travel, food, and lodging, or per diem for

25 food and lodging.
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1 (c) FILING.—Each report under this section shall be

2 filed with—

3 (1) the Administrator of General Services in the

4 case of executive branch or independent agency trav5 el;

6 (2) the Clerk of the United States House of

7 Representatives or the Secretary of the United

8 States Senate in the case of legislative branch travel;

9 and

10 (3) the Director of the Administrative Office of

11 the United States Courts in the case of judicial

12 branch travel.

13 SEC. 6. AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS.

14 Not later than fifteen days after a report is filed

15 under this Act, the Administrator of General Services, the

16 Director of the Administrative Office of the United States

17 Courts, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, or the

18 Secretary of the Senate, as applicable, shall—

19 (1) make the report available for public inspec20 tion; and

21 (2) provide copies of the report to any person,

22 either upon payment of a fee sufficient to cover the

23 expense of reproduction and mailing (other than any

24 salary expense) or at a lesser fee if, determined by

25 the Administrator, Director, Clerk, or Secretary, as
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1 applicable, such lesser fee is in the public interest.

2 At the end of the six-year period after the date of

3 filing, each report shall be destroyed unless such re4 port is required in an ongoing investigation.

5 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

6 As used in this Act—

7 (1) the term ‘‘Federal Government travel’’

8 means travel by any employee (including any elected

9 or appointed officer) of the United States;

10 (2) the term ‘‘legislative branch travel’’ means

11 travel by a Senator or Representative in, or a Dele12 gate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress or

13 by an employee (including an elected officer) of the

14 Senate or the House of Representatives or any agen15 cy of the legislative branch;

16 (3) the term ‘‘agency of the legislative branch’’

17 means the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, the

18 Botanic Garden, the General Accounting Office, the

19 Government Printing Office, the Library of Con20 gress, the Office of Technology Assessment, the

21 Congressional Budget Office, and any other entity in

22 the legislative branch;

23 (4) the term ‘‘foreign travel’’ means travel out24 side the United States; and
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1 (5) the term ‘‘United States’’, where used in a

2 geographical sense, means the States of the United

3 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth

4 of Puerto Rico, and the territories and possessions

5 of the United States.

6 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.

7 This Act shall take effect one hundred and eighty

8 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

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