I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 811

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

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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

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

5 Reauthorization Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FIVE-YEAR REAUTHORIZATION.

7 Section 599 of title 28, United States Code, is

8 amended by striking ‘‘1987’’ and inserting ‘‘1993’’.
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1 SEC. 3. ADDED CONTROLS.

2 (a) COST CONTROLS AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUP3 PORT.—Section 594 of title 28, United States Code, is

4 amended by adding at the end the following new sub5 section:

6 ‘‘(l) COST CONTROLS AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUP7 PORT.—

8 ‘‘(1) COST CONTROLS.—

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An independent coun10 sel shall—

11 ‘‘(i) conduct all activities with due re12 gard for expense;

13 ‘‘(ii) authorize only reasonable and

14 lawful expenditures; and

15 ‘‘(iii) promptly, upon taking office, as16 sign to a specific employee the duty of cer17 tifying that expenditures of the independ18 ent counsel are reasonable and made in ac19 cordance with law.

20 ‘‘(B) DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE POLI21 CIES.—An independent counsel shall comply

22 with the established policies of the Department

23 of Justice respecting expenditures of funds, ex24 cept to the extent that compliance would be in25 consistent with the purposes of this chapter.
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1 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT.—The Director

2 of the Administrative Office of the United States

3 Courts shall provide administrative support and

4 guidance to each independent counsel. No officer or

5 employee of the Administrative Office of the United

6 States Courts shall disclose information related to

7 an independent counsel’s expenditures, personnel, or

8 administrative acts or arrangements without the au9 thorization of the independent counsel.

10 ‘‘(3) OFFICE SPACE.—The Administrator of

11 General Services, in consultation with the Director

12 of the Administrative Office of the United States

13 Courts, shall promptly provide appropriate office

14 space for each independent counsel. Such office

15 space shall be within a Federal building unless the

16 Administrator of General Services determines that

17 other arrangements would cost less.’’.

18 (b) INDEPENDENT COUNSEL PER DIEM EX19 PENSES.— Section 594(b) of title 28, United States Code,

20 is amended—

21 (1) by striking ‘‘An independent counsel’’ and

22 inserting

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

24 and
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1 (2) by adding at the end the following new

2 paragraphs:

3 ‘‘(2) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—Except as provided

4 in paragraph (3), an independent counsel and per5 sons appointed under subsection (c) shall be entitled

6 to the payment of travel expenses as provided by

7 subchapter 1 of chapter 57 of title 5, including trav8 el or transportation expenses in accordance with sec9 tion 5703 of title 5.

10 ‘‘(3) TRAVEL TO PRIMARY OFFICE.—An inde11 pendent counsel and any person appointed under

12 subsection (c) shall not be entitled to the payment

13 of travel and subsistence expenses under subchapter

14 1 of chapter 57 of title 5 with respect to duties per15 formed in the city in which the primary office of

16 that independent counsel or person is located after

17 1 year of service by that independent counsel or per18 son (as the case may be) under this chapter unless

19 the employee assigned duties under subsection

20 (l)(1)(A)(iii) certifies that the payment is in the pub21 lic interest to carry out the purposes of this chapter.

22 Any such certification shall be effective for 6

23 months, but may be renewed for additional periods

24 of 6-months each if, for each such renewal, the em25 ployee assigned duties under subsection (l)(1)(A)(iii)
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1 makes a recertification with respect to the public in2 terest described in the preceding sentence. In mak3 ing any certification or recertification under this

4 paragraph with respect to travel and subsistence ex5 penses of an independent counsel or person ap6 pointed under subsection (c), such employee shall

7 consider, among other relevant factors—

8 ‘‘(A) the cost to the Government of reim9 bursing such travel and subsistence expenses;

10 ‘‘(B) the period of time for which the inde11 pendent counsel anticipates that the activities

12 of the independent counsel or person, as the

13 case may be, will continue;

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

15 the independent counsel or person, as the case

16 may be, of relocating so that such travel and

17 subsistence expenses would not be incurred; and

18 ‘‘(D) the burdens associated with appoint19 ing a new independent counsel, or appointing

20 another person under subsection (c), to replace

21 the individual involved who is unable or unwill22 ing to so relocate.’’.

23 (c) INDEPENDENT COUNSEL EMPLOYEE PAY COM24 PARABILITY.—Section 594(c) of title 28, United States

25 Code, is amended by striking the last sentence and insert-
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1 ing the following: ‘‘Such employees shall be compensated

2 at levels not to exceed those payable for comparable posi3 tions in the Office of United States Attorney for the Dis4 trict of Columbia under sections 548 and 550, but in no

5 event shall any such employee be compensated at a rate

6 greater than the rate of basic pay payable for level IV of

7 the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5.’’.

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

9 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end

10 the following new paragraph:

11 ‘‘(5) ENFORCEMENT.—The Attorney General

12 and the Director of the Office of Government Ethics

13 have authority to enforce compliance with this sub14 section.’’.

15 (e) COMPLIANCE WITH POLICIES OF THE DEPART16 MENT OF JUSTICE.—Section 594(f) is amended by strik17 ing ‘‘shall, except where not possible, comply’’ and insert18 ing ‘‘shall, except to the extent that to do so would be

19 inconsistent with the purposes of this chapter, comply’’.

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

21 title 28, United States Code, is amended—

22 (1) by adding at the end the following new

23 paragraph:

24 ‘‘(3) PUBLICATION OF REPORTS.—At the re25 quest of an independent counsel, the Public Printer
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1 shall cause to be printed any report previously re2 leased to the public under paragraph (2). The inde3 pendent counsel shall certify the number of copies

4 necessary for the public, and the Public Printer shall

5 place the cost of the required number to the debit

6 of such independent counsel. Additional copies shall

7 be made available to the public through the Super8 intendent of Documents sales program under section

9 1702 of title 44 and the depository library program

10 under section 1903 of such title.’’; and

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

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

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

14 maximizing public disclosure, ensuring a full expla15 nation of independent counsel activities and decision16 making, and facilitating the release of information

17 and materials which the independent counsel has de18 termined should be disclosed’’.

19 (g) ANNUAL REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Section

20 595(a)(2) of title 28, United States Code, is amended by

21 striking ‘‘such statements’’ and all that follows through

22 ‘‘appropriate’’ and inserting ‘‘annually a report on the ac23 tivities of the independent counsel, including a description

24 of the progress of any investigation or prosecution con25 ducted by the independent counsel. Such report may omit
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1 any matter that in the judgment of the independent coun2 sel should be kept confidential, but shall provide informa3 tion adequate to justify the expenditures that the office

4 of the independent counsel has made’’.

5 (h) PERIODIC REAPPOINTMENT OF INDEPENDENT

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

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

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

9 under this paragraph, the division of the court shall deter10 mine on its own motion whether termination is appro11 priate under this paragraph not later than 3 years after

12 the appointment of an independent counsel and at the end

13 of each succeeding 3-year period.’’.

14 (i) AUDITS BY THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—Sec15 tion 596(c) of title 28, United States Code, is amended

16 to read as follows:

17 ‘‘(c) AUDITS.—By December 31 of each year, an

18 independent counsel shall prepare a statement of expendi19 tures for the fiscal year that ended on the immediately

20 preceding September 30. An independent counsel whose

21 office is terminated prior to the end of the fiscal year shall

22 prepare a statement of expenditures by the date that is

23 90 days after the date on which the office is terminated.

24 The Comptroller General shall audit each such statement

25 and shall, not later than March 31 of the year following
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1 the submission of any such statement, report the results

2 of each audit to the Committee on the Judiciary and the

3 Committee on Government Operations of the House of

4 Representatives and to the Committee on Governmental

5 Affairs and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Sen6 ate.’’.

7 SEC. 4. MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

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

9 amended—

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

11 ems to the right and by redesignating such para12 graphs as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively;

13 (2) by striking ‘‘The Attorney’’ and all that fol14 lows through ‘‘if—’’ and inserting the following:

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may

16 conduct a preliminary investigation in accordance

17 with section 592 if—’’; and

18 (3) by adding at the end the following new

19 paragraph:

20 ‘‘(2) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.—When the At21 torney General determines that it would be in the

22 public interest, the Attorney General may conduct a

23 preliminary investigation in accordance with section

24 592 if the Attorney General receives information

25 sufficient to constitute grounds to investigate wheth-
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1 er a Member of Congress may have violated any

2 Federal criminal law other than a violation classified

3 as a Class B or C misdemeanor or an infraction.’’.

4 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

5 The amendments made by this Act shall become ef6 fective on the date of the enactment of this Act.

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