IC 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1109 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 

Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

AN ACT 

To require adequate information regarding the tax treatment 

of payments under settlement agreements entered into 

by Federal agencies, 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 ‘‘Truth in Settlements 

3 Act of 2015’’. 

4 SEC. 2. INFORMATION REGARDING SETTLEMENT AGREE5 MENTS ENTERED INTO BY FEDERAL AGEN6 CIES. 

7 (a) REQUIREMENTS FOR SETTLEMENT AGREE8 MENTS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 3 of title 5, United 

10 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

11 following: 

12 ‘‘§ 307. Information regarding settlement agreements 

13 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

14 ‘‘(1) the term ‘covered settlement agreement’ 

15 means a settlement agreement (including a consent 

16 decree)— 

17 ‘‘(A) that is entered into by an Executive 

18 agency; and 

19 ‘‘(B)(i) that— 

20 ‘‘(I) relates to an alleged violation of 

21 Federal civil or criminal law; and 

22 ‘‘(II) requires the payment of a total 

23 of not less than $1,000,000 by 1 or more 

24 non-Federal persons; or 

25 ‘‘(ii) that— 


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1 ‘‘(I) relates to the rule making process 

2 of the Executive agency or an alleged fail3 ure by the Executive agency to engage in 

4 a rule making process; and 

5 ‘‘(II) requires the payment of a total 

6 of not less than $200,000 in attorney fees, 

7 costs, or expenses by the Executive agency 

8 or entity within the Federal Government to 

9 a non-Federal person; 

10 ‘‘(2) the term ‘entity within the Federal Gov11 ernment’ includes an officer or employee of the Fed12 eral Government acting in an official capacity; 

13 ‘‘(3) the term ‘non-Federal person’ means a 

14 person that is not an entity within the Federal Gov15 ernment; and 

16 ‘‘(4) the term ‘rule making’ has the meaning 

17 given that term under section 551(5). 

18 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION TO BE POSTED ONLINE.— 

19 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara21 graph (B), the head of each Executive agency 

22 shall make publicly available in a searchable 

23 format in a prominent location on the Web site 

24 of the Executive agency— 


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1 ‘‘(i) a list of each covered settlement 

2 agreement entered into by the Executive 

3 agency, which shall include, for each cov4 ered settlement agreement— 

5 ‘‘(I) the date on which the par6 ties entered into the covered settle7 ment agreement; 

8 ‘‘(II) the names of the parties 

9 that settled claims under the covered 

10 settlement agreement; 

11 ‘‘(III) a description of the claims 

12 each party settled under the covered 

13 settlement agreement; 

14 ‘‘(IV) the amount each party set15 tling a claim under the covered settle16 ment agreement is obligated to pay 

17 under the settlement agreement; 

18 ‘‘(V) the total amount the set19 tling parties are obligated to pay 

20 under the settlement agreement; 

21 ‘‘(VI) for each settling party— 

22 ‘‘(aa) the amount, if any, 

23 the settling party is obligated to 

24 pay that is expressly specified 

25 under the covered settlement 


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1 agreement as a civil or criminal 

2 penalty or fine; and 

3 ‘‘(bb) the amount, if any, 

4 that is expressly specified under 

5 the covered settlement agreement 

6 as not deductible for purposes of 

7 the Internal Revenue Code of 

8 1986; and 

9 ‘‘(VII) a description of where 

10 amounts collected under the covered 

11 settlement agreement will be depos12 ited, including, if applicable, the de13 posit of such amounts in an account 

14 available for use for 1 or more pro15 grams of the Federal Government; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(ii) a copy of each covered settlement 

18 agreement entered into by the Executive 

19 agency. 

20 ‘‘(B) CONFIDENTIALITY PROVISIONS.—The 

21 requirement to disclose information or a copy of 

22 a covered settlement agreement under subpara23 graph (A) shall apply to the extent that the in24 formation or copy (or portion thereof) is not 

25 subject to a confidentiality provision that proVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:53 Sep 23, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1109.RFH S1109

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1 hibits disclosure of the information or copy (or 

2 portion thereof). 

3 ‘‘(2) PERIOD.—The head of each Executive 

4 agency shall ensure that— 

5 ‘‘(A) information regarding a covered set6 tlement agreement is publicly available on the 

7 list described in paragraph (1)(A)(i) for a pe8 riod of not less than 5 years, beginning on the 

9 date of the covered settlement agreement; and 

10 ‘‘(B) a copy of a covered settlement agree11 ment made available under paragraph (1)(A)(ii) 

12 is publicly available— 

13 ‘‘(i) for a period of not less than 1 

14 year, beginning on the date of the covered 

15 settlement agreement; or 

16 ‘‘(ii) for a covered settlement agree17 ment under which a non-Federal person is 

18 required to pay not less than $50,000,000, 

19 for a period of not less than 5 years, be20 ginning on the date of the covered settle21 ment agreement. 

22 ‘‘(c) PUBLIC STATEMENT.—If the head of an Execu23 tive agency determines that a confidentiality provision in 

24 a covered settlement agreement, or the sealing of a covered 

25 settlement agreement, is required to protect the public inVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:53 Sep 23, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1109.RFH S1109

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1 terest of the United States, the head of the Executive 

2 agency shall issue a public statement stating why such ac3 tion is required to protect the public interest of the United 

4 States, which shall explain— 

5 ‘‘(1) what interests confidentiality protects; and 

6 ‘‘(2) why the interests protected by confiden7 tiality outweigh the public’s interest in knowing 

8 about the conduct of the Federal Government and 

9 the expenditure of Federal resources. 

10 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS FOR WRITTEN PUBLIC STATE11 MENTS.—Any written public statement issued by an Exec12 utive agency that refers to an amount to be paid by a 

13 non-Federal person under a covered settlement agreement 

14 shall— 

15 ‘‘(1) specify which portion, if any, of the 

16 amount to be paid under the covered settlement 

17 agreement by a non-Federal person— 

18 ‘‘(A) is expressly specified under the cov19 ered settlement agreement as a civil or criminal 

20 penalty or fine to be paid for a violation of Fed21 eral law; or 

22 ‘‘(B) is expressly specified under the cov23 ered settlement agreement as not deductible for 

24 purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; 


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1 ‘‘(2) if no portion of the amount to be paid 

2 under the covered settlement agreement by a non3 Federal person is expressly specified under the cov4 ered settlement agreement as a civil or criminal pen5 alty or fine, include a statement specifying that is 

6 the case; and 

7 ‘‘(3) describe in detail— 

8 ‘‘(A) any actions the non-Federal person 

9 shall take under the covered settlement agree10 ment in lieu of payment to the Federal Govern11 ment or a State or local government; and 

12 ‘‘(B) any payments or compensation the 

13 non-Federal person shall make to other non14 Federal persons under the covered settlement 

15 agreement. 

16 ‘‘(e) CONFIDENTIALITY.—The requirement to dis17 close information under subsection (d) shall apply to the 

18 extent that the information to be disclosed (or portion 

19 thereof) is not subject to a confidentiality provision that 

20 prohibits disclosure of the information (or portion there21 of). 

22 ‘‘(f) REPORTING.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than January 15 

24 of each year, the head of an Executive agency that 

25 entered into a covered settlement agreement or that 


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1 entered into a settlement agreement that involves 

2 regulatory action or regulatory changes during the 

3 previous fiscal year shall submit to each committee 

4 of Congress with jurisdiction over the activities of 

5 the Executive agency a report indicating— 

6 ‘‘(A) how many covered settlement agree7 ments the Executive agency entered into during 

8 that fiscal year; 

9 ‘‘(B) how many covered settlement agree10 ments the Executive agency entered into during 

11 that fiscal year that had any terms or condi12 tions that are required to be kept confidential; 

13 ‘‘(C) how many covered settlement agree14 ments the Executive agency entered into during 

15 that fiscal year for which all terms and condi16 tions are required to be kept confidential; 

17 ‘‘(D) the total amount of attorney fees, 

18 costs, and expenses paid to non-Federal persons 

19 under settlement agreements (including consent 

20 decrees) of the Executive agency during that 

21 fiscal year; and 

22 ‘‘(E) the number of settlement agreements 

23 (including consent decrees) between the Execu24 tive agency and non-Federal persons that in25 volve regulatory action or regulatory changes, 


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1 including the promulgation of new rules, during 

2 that fiscal year. 

3 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS.—The head of 

4 an Executive agency that is required to submit a re5 port under paragraph (1) shall make the report pub6 licly available in a searchable format in a prominent 

7 location on the Web site of the Executive agency.’’. 

8 (2) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND9 MENT.—The table of sections for chapter 3 of title 

10 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

11 end the following: 

‘‘307. Information regarding settlement agreements.’’. 

12 (b) REVIEW OF CONFIDENTIALITY OF SETTLEMENT

13 AGREEMENTS.—Not later than 6 months after the date 

14 of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 

15 United States shall submit to Congress a report regarding 

16 how Executive agencies (as defined under section 105 of 

17 title 5, United States Code) determine whether the terms 

18 of a settlement agreement or the existence of a settlement 

19 agreement will be treated as confidential, which shall in20 clude recommendations, if any, for legislative or adminis21 trative action to increase the transparency of Government 


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1 settlements while continuing to protect the legitimate in2 terests that confidentiality provisions serve. 

Passed the Senate September 21, 2015. 

Attest: JULIE E. ADAMS, 

Secretary. 


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