Union Calendar No. 125

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 811

[Report No. 103–224]

A BILL

To reauthorize the independent counsel law for an

additional 5 years, and for other purposes.

AUGUST 6, 1993

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
IB

Union Calendar No. 125

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 811

[Report No. 103–224]

To reauthorize the independent counsel law for an additional 5 years, and

for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 4, 1993

Mr. BROOKS (for himself, Mr. BRYANT, and Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the

Judiciary

AUGUST 6, 1993

Additional sponsors: Mrs. UNSOELD, Mr. HAMBURG, and Mr. CONYERS

AUGUST 6, 1993

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of the introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 4, 1993]

A BILL

To reauthorize the independent counsel law for an additional

5 years, 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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Independent Counsel

3 Reauthorization Act of 1993’’.

4 SEC. 2. FIVE-YEAR REAUTHORIZATION.

5 Section 599 of title 28, United States Code, is amended

6 by striking ‘‘1987’’ and inserting ‘‘1993’’.

7 SEC. 3. ADDED CONTROLS.

8 (a) COST CONTROLS AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUP9 PORT.—Section 594 of title 28, United States Code, is

10 amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

11 ‘‘(l) COST CONTROLS AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUP12 PORT.—

13 ‘‘(1) COST CONTROLS.—

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An independent counsel

15 shall—

16 ‘‘(i) conduct all activities with due re17 gard for expense;

18 ‘‘(ii) authorize only reasonable and

19 lawful expenditures; and

20 ‘‘(iii) promptly, upon taking office, as21 sign to a specific employee the duty of cer22 tifying that expenditures of the independent

23 counsel are reasonable and made in accord24 ance with law.

25 ‘‘(B) DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE POLICIES.—

26 An independent counsel shall comply with the es-
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1 tablished policies of the Department of Justice

2 respecting expenditures of funds, except to the ex3 tent that compliance would be inconsistent with

4 the purposes of this chapter.

5 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT.—The Director

6 of the Administrative Office of the United States

7 Courts shall provide administrative support and

8 guidance to each independent counsel. No officer or

9 employee of the Administrative Office of the United

10 States Courts shall disclose information related to an

11 independent counsel’s expenditures, personnel, or ad12 ministrative acts or arrangements without the author13 ization of the independent counsel.

14 ‘‘(3) OFFICE SPACE.—The Administrator of Gen15 eral Services, in consultation with the Director of the

16 Administrative Office of the United States Courts,

17 shall promptly provide appropriate office space for

18 each independent counsel. Such office space shall be

19 within a Federal building unless the Administrator of

20 General Services determines that other arrangements

21 would cost less.’’.

22 (b) INDEPENDENT COUNSEL PER DIEM EXPENSES.—

23 Section 594(b) of title 28, United States Code, is amend24 ed—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘An independent counsel’’ and

2 inserting

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An independent counsel’’;

4 and

5 (2) by adding at the end the following new para6 graphs:

7 ‘‘(2) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—Except as provided in

8 paragraph (3), an independent counsel and persons

9 appointed under subsection (c) shall be entitled to the

10 payment of travel expenses as provided by subchapter

11 1 of chapter 57 of title 5, including travel or trans12 portation expenses in accordance with section 5703 of

13 title 5.

14 ‘‘(3) TRAVEL TO PRIMARY OFFICE.—An inde15 pendent counsel and any person appointed under sub16 section (c) shall not be entitled to the payment of

17 travel and subsistence expenses under subchapter 1 of

18 chapter 57 of title 5 with respect to duties performed

19 in the city in which the primary office of that inde20 pendent counsel or person is located after 1 year of

21 service by that independent counsel or person (as the

22 case may be) under this chapter unless the employee

23 assigned duties under subsection (l)(1)(A)(iii) certifies

24 that the payment is in the public interest to carry out

25 the purposes of this chapter. Any such certification
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1 shall be effective for 6 months, but may be renewed for

2 additional periods of 6-months each if, for each such

3 renewal, the employee assigned duties under sub4 section (l)(1)(A)(iii) makes a recertification with re5 spect to the public interest described in the preceding

6 sentence. In making any certification or

7 recertification under this paragraph with respect to

8 travel and subsistence expenses of an independent

9 counsel or person appointed under subsection (c), such

10 employee shall consider, among other relevant fac11 tors—

12 ‘‘(A) the cost to the Government of reim13 bursing such travel and subsistence expenses;

14 ‘‘(B) the period of time for which the inde15 pendent counsel anticipates that the activities of

16 the independent counsel or person, as the case

17 may be, will continue;

18 ‘‘(C) the personal and financial burdens on

19 the independent counsel or person, as the case

20 may be, of relocating so that such travel and

21 subsistence expenses would not be incurred; and

22 ‘‘(D) the burdens associated with appoint23 ing a new independent counsel, or appointing

24 another person under subsection (c), to replace
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1 the individual involved who is unable or unwill2 ing to so relocate.

3 An employee making a certification or recertification

4 under this paragraph shall be liable for an invalid

5 certification or recertification to the same extent as a

6 certifying official certifying a voucher is liable under

7 section 3528 of title 31.’’.

8 (c) INDEPENDENT COUNSEL EMPLOYEE PAY COM9 PARABILITY.—Section 594(c) of title 28, United States

10 Code, is amended by striking the last sentence and inserting

11 the following: ‘‘Such employees shall be compensated at lev12 els not to exceed those payable for comparable positions in

13 the Office of United States Attorney for the District of Co14 lumbia under sections 548 and 550, but in no event shall

15 any such employee be compensated at a rate greater than

16 the rate of basic pay payable for level IV of the Executive

17 Schedule under section 5315 of title 5.’’.

18 (d) ETHICS ENFORCEMENT.—Section 594(j) of title

19 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end

20 the following new paragraph:

21 ‘‘(5) ENFORCEMENT.—The Attorney General and

22 the Director of the Office of Government Ethics have

23 authority to enforce compliance with this subsection.’’.

24 (e) COMPLIANCE WITH POLICIES OF THE DEPART25 MENT OF JUSTICE.—Section 594(f) of title 28, United
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1 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘shall, except where

2 not possible, comply’’ and inserting ‘‘shall, except to the ex3 tent that to do so would be inconsistent with the purposes

4 of this chapter, comply’’.

5 (f) PUBLICATION OF REPORTS.—Section 594(h) of title

6 28, United States Code, is amended—

7 (1) by adding at the end the following new para8 graph:

9 ‘‘(3) PUBLICATION OF REPORTS.—At the request

10 of an independent counsel, the Public Printer shall

11 cause to be printed any report previously released to

12 the public under paragraph (2). The independent

13 counsel shall certify the number of copies necessary

14 for the public, and the Public Printer shall place the

15 cost of the required number to the debit of such inde16 pendent counsel. Additional copies shall be made

17 available to the public through the Superintendent of

18 Documents sales program under section 1702 of title

19 44 and the depository library program under section

20 1903 of such title.’’; and

21 (2) in the first sentence of paragraph (2), by

22 striking ‘‘appropriate’’ the second place it appears

23 and inserting ‘‘in the public interest, consistent with

24 maximizing public disclosure, ensuring a full expla25 nation of independent counsel activities and decision-
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1 making, and facilitating the release of information

2 and materials which the independent counsel has de3 termined should be disclosed’’.

4 (g) ANNUAL REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Section

5 595(a)(2) of title 28, United States Code, is amended by

6 striking ‘‘such statements’’ and all that follows through ‘‘ap7 propriate’’ and inserting ‘‘annually a report on the activi8 ties of the independent counsel, including a description of

9 the progress of any investigation or prosecution conducted

10 by the independent counsel. Such report may omit any mat11 ter that in the judgment of the independent counsel should

12 be kept confidential, but shall provide information adequate

13 to justify the expenditures that the office of the independent

14 counsel has made’’.

15 (h) PERIODIC REAPPOINTMENT OF INDEPENDENT

16 COUNSEL.—Section 596(b)(2) of title 28, United States

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

18 sentence: ‘‘If the Attorney General has not made a request

19 under this paragraph, the division of the court shall deter20 mine on its own motion whether termination is appropriate

21 under this paragraph not later than 3 years after the ap22 pointment of an independent counsel and at the end of each

23 succeeding 3-year period.’’.
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1 (i) AUDITS BY THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—Sec2 tion 596(c) of title 28, United States Code, is amended to

3 read as follows:

4 ‘‘(c) AUDITS.—By December 31 of each year, an inde5 pendent counsel shall prepare a statement of expenditures

6 for the fiscal year that ended on the immediately preceding

7 September 30. An independent counsel whose office is termi8 nated prior to the end of the fiscal year shall prepare a

9 statement of expenditures by the date that is 90 days after

10 the date on which the office is terminated. The Comptroller

11 General shall audit each such statement and shall, not later

12 than March 31 of the year following the submission of any

13 such statement, report the results of each audit to the Com14 mittee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Government

15 Operations of the House of Representatives and to the Com16 mittee on Governmental Affairs and the Committee on the

17 Judiciary of the Senate.’’.

18 SEC. 4. MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

19 Section 591(c) of title 28, United States Code, is

20 amended—

21 (1) by indenting paragraphs (1) and (2) two

22 ems to the right and by redesignating such para23 graphs as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively;

24 (2) by striking ‘‘The Attorney’’ and all that fol25 lows through ‘‘if—’’ and inserting the following:
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may

2 conduct a preliminary investigation in accordance

3 with section 592 if—’’; and

4 (3) by adding at the end the following new para5 graph:

6 ‘‘(2) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.—When the Attor7 ney General determines that it would be in the public

8 interest, the Attorney General may conduct a prelimi9 nary investigation in accordance with section 592 if

10 the Attorney General receives information sufficient to

11 constitute grounds to investigate whether a Member of

12 Congress may have violated any Federal criminal law

13 other than a violation classified as a Class B or C

14 misdemeanor or an infraction.’’.

15 SEC. 5. GROUNDS FOR REMOVAL.

16 Section 596(a)(1) of title 28, United States Code, is

17 amended by striking ‘‘physical disability, mental incapac18 ity’’ and inserting ‘‘physical or mental disability (consist19 ent with prohibitions on discrimination otherwise imposed

20 by law)’’.

21 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

22 The amendments made by this Act shall become effec23 tive on the date of the enactment of this Act.