II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1347 

To provide transparency, accountability, and limitations of Government 

sponsored conferences. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 23, 2013 

Mr. COBURN (for himself, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. CHIESA, Mr. ENZI, and Ms. 

AYOTTE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide transparency, accountability, and limitations of 

Government sponsored conferences. 

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 ‘‘Conference Account5 ability Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GOVERNMENT SPONSORED CONFERENCES. 

7 (a) TRAVEL EXPENSES OF FEDERAL AGENCIES RE8 LATING TO CONFERENCES.— 

9 (1) LIMITATIONS AND REPORTS ON TRAVEL EX10 PENSES TO CONFERENCES.—Chapter 57 of title 5, 


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1 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

2 end the following: 

3 ‘‘§ 5712. Limitations and reports on travel expenses to 

4 conferences 

5 ‘‘(a) In this section, the term— 

6 ‘‘(1) ‘conference’ means a meeting that— 

7 ‘‘(A) is held for consultation, education, or 

8 discussion; 

9 ‘‘(B) is not held entirely at an agency facil10 ity; 

11 ‘‘(C) involves costs associated with travel 

12 and lodging for some participants; and 

13 ‘‘(D) is sponsored by 1 or more agencies, 

14 1 or more organizations that are not agencies, 

15 or a combination of such agencies or organiza16 tions; and 

17 ‘‘(2) ‘international conference’ means a con18 ference attended by representatives of— 

19 ‘‘(A) the United States Government; and 

20 ‘‘(B) any foreign government, international 

21 organization, or foreign nongovernmental orga22 nization. 

23 ‘‘(b) No agency may pay the travel expenses for more 

24 than 50 employees of that agency who are stationed in 

25 the United States, for any international conference occurVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:37 Jul 25, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1347.IS S1347

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1 ring outside the United States, unless the Secretary of 

2 State submits to Congress before the conference a written 

3 certification that attendance for such employees is in the 

4 national interest. 

5 ‘‘(c) Not later than 30 days after the end of each 

6 quarter of each fiscal year, each agency shall post on the 

7 public Internet website of that agency a report on each 

8 conference for which the agency paid travel expenses dur9 ing the preceding 3 months that includes— 

10 ‘‘(1) the itemized expenses paid by the agency, 

11 including travel expenses, the cost of scouting for 

12 and selecting the location of the conference, and any 

13 agency expenditures to otherwise support the con14 ference; 

15 ‘‘(2) the primary sponsor of the conference; 

16 ‘‘(3) the location of the conference; 

17 ‘‘(4) in the case of a conference for which that 

18 agency was the primary sponsor, a statement that— 

19 ‘‘(A) justifies the location selected; 

20 ‘‘(B) demonstrates the cost efficiency of 

21 the location; and 

22 ‘‘(C) provides a cost benefit analysis of 

23 holding a conference rather than conducting a 

24 teleconference; 

25 ‘‘(5) the date of the conference; 


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1 ‘‘(6) an explanation how the conference ad2 vanced the mission of the agency; 

3 ‘‘(7) the title and pay grade of any Federal em4 ployee or any individual who is not a Federal em5 ployee whose travel expenses or other conference ex6 penses were paid by the agency; and 

7 ‘‘(8) the total number of individuals whose trav8 el expenses or other conference expenses were paid 

9 by the agency. 

10 ‘‘(d) Each report posted on the public Internet 

11 website under subsection (c) shall— 

12 ‘‘(1) be in a searchable electronic format; and 

13 ‘‘(2) remain on that website for at least 5 years 

14 after the date of posting.’’. 

15 (2) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND16 MENT.—The table of sections for chapter 57 of title 

17 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 

18 the item relating to section 5711 the following: 

‘‘5712. Limitations and reports on travel expenses to conferences.’’. 

19 (b) LIMITATIONS ON ANNUAL TRAVEL EXPENSES.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of each of fiscal 

21 years 2014 through 2018, an agency (as defined 

22 under section 5701(1) of title 5, United States 

23 Code) may not make, or obligate to make, expendi24 tures for travel expenses, in an aggregate amount 


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1 greater than 80 percent of the aggregate amount of 

2 such expenses for fiscal year 2010. 

3 (2) IDENTIFICATION OF TRAVEL EXPENSES.— 

4 Not later than September 1, 2013, and after con5 sultation with the Administrator of General Services 

6 and the Director of the Administrative Office of the 

7 United States Courts, the Director of the Office of 

8 Management and Budget shall establish guidelines 

9 for the determination of what expenses constitute 

10 travel expenses for purposes of this subsection. The 

11 guidelines shall identify specific expenses, and class12 es of expenses, that are to be treated as travel ex13 penses. 

14 (c) CONFERENCE TRANSPARENCY AND LIMITA15 TIONS.— 

16 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

17 (A) the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning 

18 given under section 5701(1) of title 5, United 

19 States Code; and 

20 (B) the term ‘‘conference’’ has the mean21 ing given under section 5712(a)(1) of title 5, 

22 United States Code (as added by subsection 

23 (a)). 

24 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF CONFERENCE MA25 TERIALS.—Each agency shall post on the public 


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1 Internet website of that agency detailed information 

2 on any presentation made by any employee of that 

3 agency at a conference, including— 

4 (A) any minutes relating to the presen5 tation; 

6 (B) any speech delivered; 

7 (C) any visual exhibit, including photo8 graphs or slides; 

9 (D) any video, digital, or audio recordings 

10 of the conference; and 

11 (E) information regarding any financial 

12 support or other assistance from a foundation 

13 or other non-Federal source used to pay or de14 fray the costs of the conference, which shall in15 clude a certification by the head of the agency 

16 that there is no conflict of interest resulting 

17 from the support received from each such 

18 source. 

19 (3) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT EXPENDED ON A

20 CONFERENCE.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—No agency may expend 

22 more than $500,000 to support a single con23 ference. 

24 (B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

25 this paragraph shall be construed to preclude 


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1 an agency from receiving financial support or 

2 other assistance from a foundation or other 

3 non-Federal source to pay or defray the costs of 

4 a conference the total cost of which exceeds 

5 $500,000. 

6 (4) LIMITATION ON THE ANNUAL NUMBER OF

7 CONFERENCES AN AGENCY MAY SUPPORT.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—An agency may expend 

9 funds on not more than 1 conference that is 

10 sponsored or organized by a particular organi11 zation during any fiscal year, unless the agency 

12 is the primary sponsor and organizer of the 

13 conference. 

14 (B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

15 this paragraph shall be construed to preclude 

16 an agency from paying travel expenses for an 

17 employee of that agency to attend a conference. 

18 (5) LIMITATION ON CONFERENCE POLICIES.— 

19 An agency may not establish or implement a policy 

20 that discourages or prohibits the selection of a loca21 tion for travel, an event, a meeting, or a conference 

22 because the location is perceived to be a resort or va23 cation destination. 

Æ 


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