I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1181 

To require certain individuals employed by the Federal Government to give 

30 days written notice to the Committees on Appropriations of the 

House of Representatives and the Senate for certain obligations or expenditures over $5,000 to furnish or redecorate the office of such individual, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2019 

Mrs. BUSTOS (for herself, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. COOPER, Mr. ROSE of New 

York, Mr. VAN DREW, Mr. HARDER of California, Ms. SHERRILL, Mrs. 

AXNE, Ms. WILD, Ms. HAALAND, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. CASTEN of Illinois, 

Mr. MALINOWSKI, Mrs. LEE of Nevada, Mr. STANTON, Ms. DAVIDS of 

Kansas, Ms. HILL of California, Ms. TORRES SMALL of New Mexico, 

Mrs. CRAIG, Mr. O’HALLERAN, and Mr. CROW) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform 

A BILL 

To require certain individuals employed by the Federal Government to give 30 days written notice to the Committees 

on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and 

the Senate for certain obligations or expenditures over 

$5,000 to furnish or redecorate the office of such individual, 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 ‘‘Reining in Irrespon3 sible Decorating Expenses Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. NOTICE REQUIREMENT FOR OBLIGATIONS AND EX5 PENDITURES TO FURNISH OR REDECORATE 

6 OFFICES IN EXCESS OF $5,000. 

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

8 (d) and (e), during the period in which an individual is 

9 the head of an agency or occupies a position in the Federal 

10 Government that requires confirmation by the Senate, 

11 funds may not be obligated or expended in excess of 

12 $5,000 to furnish or redecorate the office of such indi13 vidual, or to purchase furniture or make improvements for 

14 any such office, unless written notice of such furnishing 

15 or redecoration is transmitted to the Committees on Ap16 propriations of the House of Representatives and the Sen17 ate not later than 30 days before the date on which such 

18 obligation or expenditure occurs. 

19 (b) NOTICE REQUIREMENTS.—The written notice re20 quired under subsection (a) shall include— 

21 (1) a statement containing— 

22 (A) a justification for the obligation or ex23 pense that relates to health, safety, or 

24 accessability; or 


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1 (B) an explanation of how the obligation or 

2 expense aligns with and advances the mission of 

3 the agency; and 

4 (2) an overview of the current state of agency 

5 affairs, including— 

6 (A) whether a hiring freeze is in place at 

7 the agency at the time of the notice; 

8 (B) information on agency staffing levels, 

9 including a list of positions that have been va10 cant for longer than 120 days and an expla11 nation for why such positions have not been 

12 filled; 

13 (C) a list of delays longer than 30 days in 

14 the administration of grants with the potential 

15 to impact public health or safety; 

16 (D) the number of pending requests for in17 formation under section 552 of title 5, United 

18 States Code (commonly known as the Freedom 

19 of Information Act), including the number of 

20 requests that the agency failed to respond to 

21 within 20 days after the date on which the ini22 tial request is received; and 

23 (E) a list of any recommendation that has 

24 not been implemented from the Government Ac25 countability Office that relates to the agency. 


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1 (c) REPAYMENT FOR FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH

2 NOTICE REQUIREMENT.— 

3 (1) FINDING OF A FAILURE TO COMPLY.—If an 

4 inspector general of an agency finds that the indi5 vidual described in subsection (a) for that agency 

6 has failed to comply with the notice required under 

7 subsection (a), such individual shall make a payment 

8 to the Treasury of the United States in an amount 

9 equal to any obligation or expense in excess of the 

10 $5,000 limitation under that subsection, increased 

11 by an interest rate equal to the interest rate for a 

12 Federal Direct PLUS Loan on the date on which 

13 the purchase was made. 

14 (2) REPAYMENT TIMING.—Repayment, or an 

15 agreement on a payment plan with the Secretary of 

16 the Treasury, shall occur not later than 90 days 

17 after the date on which an inspector general finds a 

18 violation of the notice requirement under subsection 

19 (a). 

20 (d) EXCEPTION TO NOTICE RULE.—Notwithstanding 

21 subsection (a) and except as provided in subsection (e), 

22 an individual may not exceed the $5,000 limitation under 

23 subsection (a) in the following circumstances: 

24 (1) The individual is in violation of section 

25 1341 of title 31, United States Code, and, if applicaVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1181.IH H1181

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1 ble, the individual has not taken remedial action 

2 pursuant to an agreement with the Government Ac3 countability Office. 

4 (2) The individual is under investigation by the 

5 inspector general for an agency for corruption- or 

6 spending-related misconduct. 

7 (3) The individual is under investigation by the 

8 Office of Special Counsel for conduct including retal9 iation or harassment in the workplace. 

10 (4) The individual has outstanding amounts 

11 due under subsection (c) for previous furnishing or 

12 redecorating. 

13 (e) EXCEPTION FOR ACCOMMODATIONS FOR DIS14 ABILITIES AND HEALTH RISKS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (d) does not 

16 apply to expenses related to— 

17 (A) reasonable accommodations for individ18 uals with disabilities; and 

19 (B) the elimination of health risks. 

20 (2) NOTICE TIMING.—The 30-day notice re21 quirement under subsection (a) does not apply to ex22 penses related to reasonable accommodations for in23 dividuals with disabilities or the elimination of 

24 health risks, provided written notice is transmitted 

25 in advance of an obligation or expense. 


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1 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 

3 meaning given the term in section 105 of title 5, 

4 United States Code. 

5 (2) INSPECTOR GENERAL.—The term ‘‘inspec6 tor general’’ includes the head of the office that 

7 most closely resembles the audit and investigation 

8 functions of an inspector general, in the case that an 

9 agency does not have an inspector general. 

10 (3) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘office’’ includes the 

11 entire suite of Government offices assigned to the in12 dividual, as well as any other space used primarily 

13 by the individual or the use of which is directly con14 trolled by the individual. 

15 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply to 

16 any obligation or expenditure occurring after the date that 

17 is 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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