I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4504 

To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Rules of the House 

of Representatives, the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, the Legislative 

Reorganization Act of 1946, the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009, the Internal Revenue Code of 

1986, the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, the Financial Stability Act of 2010, and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to improve access to information in the legislative 

and executive branches of the Government, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 30, 2017 

Mr. QUIGLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the 

Committees on Rules, House Administration, the Judiciary, Ethics, Ways 

and Means, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Rules 

of the House of Representatives, the Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995, the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, 

the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act 

for Fiscal Year 2009, the Internal Revenue Code of 

1986, the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, the 

Financial Stability Act of 2010, and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to 

improve access to information in the legislative and execVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:04 Dec 05, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H4504.IH H4504

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utive branches of the Government, 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 ‘‘Transparency in Gov5 ernment Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

7 The table of contents is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title. 

Sec. 2. Table of contents. 

TITLE I—IMPROVING ACCESS TO INFORMATION ABOUT 

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES 

Sec. 101. Greater disclosure and electronic filing of personal financial information. 

Sec. 102. Greater disclosure of travel reports. 

Sec. 103. Greater disclosure of gift reports. 

Sec. 104. Greater disclosure of earmarks. 

Sec. 105. GAO study and report on effects of written requests by Members of 

Congress for funding of projects. 

TITLE II—ENHANCING PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE WORK OF 

CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES, LEGISLATION, AND VOTES 

Subtitle A—Access to Legislation, Votes, and Related Information 

Sec. 201. Increased transparency of committee work. 

Sec. 202. Increased transparency of committee schedules through the Clerk. 

Sec. 203. Increased transparency of recorded votes. 

Sec. 204. Electronic format. 

Sec. 205. Congressional Data Task Force. 

Sec. 206. Use of data standards by congressional support offices. 

Sec. 207. Inclusion of digital version of funding tables in reports accompanying 

appropriations bills. 

Subtitle B—Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports 

Sec. 211. Short title. 

Sec. 212. Definitions. 

Sec. 213. Establishment of website for congressionally mandated reports. 

Sec. 214. Federal agency responsibilities. 

Sec. 215. Removing and altering reports. 

Sec. 216. Relationship to the Freedom of Information Act. 

Sec. 217. Funding. 


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Sec. 218. Implementation. 

TITLE III—EQUAL ACCESS TO CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH 

SERVICE REPORTS 

Sec. 301. Short title. 

Sec. 302. Definitions. 

Sec. 303. Availability of CRS reports through GPO website. 

Sec. 304. Website contents. 

Sec. 305. Conforming amendment to duties of CRS. 

Sec. 306. Rules of construction. 

Sec. 307. Effective date. 

TITLE IV—LOBBYING DISCLOSURE 

Sec. 401. Short title. 

Sec. 402. Modifications to enforcement. 

Sec. 403. Definition of lobbyist. 

Sec. 404. Expedited online registration of lobbyists; expansion of registrants. 

Sec. 405. Disclosure of political contributions. 

Sec. 406. Identification numbers for lobbyists. 

Sec. 407. Ethics training for lobbyists. 

Sec. 408. Estimates based on tax reporting system. 

Sec. 409. Effective date. 

TITLE V—TRANSPARENCY IN FEDERAL CONTRACTING 

Sec. 501. Improving application programming interface and website data elements. 

Sec. 502. Improving data quality. 

Sec. 503. Requirements relating to reporting of award data. 

Sec. 504. Recipient performance transparency. 

Sec. 505. Improvement of Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System Database. 

Sec. 506. Federal contractor compliance. 

Sec. 507. Improving access to information disclosed on lobbying activities. 

Sec. 508. Inclusion of narratives on USAspending.gov. 

TITLE VI—EXECUTIVE BRANCH TRANSPARENCY 

Sec. 601. Requirement for disclosure of Federal sponsorship of all Federal advertising or other communications. 

Sec. 602. Improving access to influential executive branch official’s visitor access records. 

Sec. 603. Improving access to budget justifications by the Office of Management and Budget. 

Sec. 604. Improving rulemaking disclosure for the Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs. 

Sec. 605. Improving E-filing data collection and distribution for non-profits. 

Sec. 606. Improving registration information from agents of foreign principals. 

Sec. 607. Agency defined. 

Sec. 608. Government-wide entity identifier. 

Sec. 609. Grants transparency requirements. 

Sec. 610. Availability of opinions of the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice. 


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TITLE VII—STRENGTHENING THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION 

ACT 

Sec. 701. Agency defined. 

Sec. 702. Digital access to completed responses to the Freedom of Information 

Act. 

Sec. 703. FOIAonline for agencies. 

Sec. 704. Freedom of Information Act amendments. 

TITLE VIII—IMPROVING TRANSPARENCY WITHIN THE JUDICIAL 

SYSTEM 

Sec. 801. Televising Supreme Court proceedings. 

Sec. 802. Audio recording of Supreme Court proceedings. 

Sec. 803. Availability on the Internet of financial disclosure reports of judicial 

officers. 

Sec. 804. GAO audit of PACER. 

TITLE IX—ENFORCEMENT 

Sec. 901. Audits by the Government Accountability Office. 

TITLE X—MISCELLANEOUS 

Sec. 1001. Transfer of certain records to Archivist of United States. 

Sec. 1002. Data standards. 

1 TITLE I—IMPROVING ACCESS TO 

2 INFORMATION ABOUT MEM3 BERS OF CONGRESS AND 

4 CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES 

5 SEC. 101. GREATER DISCLOSURE AND ELECTRONIC FILING 

6 OF PERSONAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION. 

7 (a) ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REQUIRE8 MENTS.—(1) Section 102(a)(1)(B) of the Ethics in Gov9 ernment Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App. 102(a)(1)(B)) is 

10 amended in clause (iv) by striking ‘‘$15,000’’ and insert11 ing ‘‘$25,000’’ and by striking clauses (v) through (ix) and 

12 inserting the following new clauses: 


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1 ‘‘(v) greater than $25,000 but not 

2 more than $100,000, rounded to the near3 est $10,000, 

4 ‘‘(vi) greater than $100,000 but not 

5 more than $1,000,000, rounded to the 

6 nearest $100,000, or 

7 ‘‘(vii) greater than $1,000,000, round8 ed to the nearest $1,000,000.’’. 

9 (2) Section 102(d)(1) of such Act (5 U.S.C. App. 

10 102(d)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘(3), (4), (5), and (8)’’ 

11 and inserting ‘‘(5) and (8)’’. 

12 (3) Section 102(d) of such Act (5 U.S.C. App. 

13 102(d)) is amended by redesignating paragraph (2) as 

14 paragraph (3) and by inserting after paragraph (1) the 

15 following new paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(3) The categories for reporting the amount or value 

17 of the items covered in paragraphs (3) or (4) of subsection 

18 (a) are as follows: 

19 ‘‘(A) Not more than $15,000. 

20 ‘‘(B) Greater than $15,000 but not more than 

21 $25,000. 

22 ‘‘(C) Greater than $25,000 but not more than 

23 $100,000, rounded to the nearest $10,000. 

24 ‘‘(D) Greater than $100,000 but not more than 

25 $1,000,000, rounded to the nearest $100,000. 


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1 ‘‘(E) Greater than $1,000,000, rounded to the 

2 nearest $1,000,000.’’. 

3 (b) MORE FREQUENT DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL

4 TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING LARGE SUMS OF MONEY.— 

5 (1) Section 101 of such Act (5 U.S.C. App. 101) is amend6 ed by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

7 ‘‘(j) In addition to any other report required to be 

8 filed by a Member of Congress or officer or employee of 

9 the Congress, each such individual is required to file a 

10 quarterly report on April 30, July 30, October 30, and 

11 January 30 of each year covering the preceding calendar 

12 quarter if that individual (or the spouse or any dependent 

13 child of that individual) purchased, sold, or exchanged any 

14 property described in subsection (a)(5) valued at not less 

15 than $250,000 during that calendar quarter. For any such 

16 transaction of not less than $250,000, such report shall 

17 contain all of the information required under subsection 

18 (a)(5).’’. 

19 (2)(A) Clause 1 of rule XXVI of the Rules of the 

20 House of Representatives is amended by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ 

21 after ‘‘1.’’ and by adding at the end the following new 

22 paragraphs: 

23 ‘‘(b) If any report is filed with the Clerk for a 

24 calendar quarter pursuant to section 101(i) of the 

25 Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Clerk shall 


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1 compile all such reports sent to the Clerk by Mem2 bers and have them printed as a House document, 

3 which shall be made available to the public, as soon 

4 as practicable. 

5 ‘‘(c) Each individual required to file a report 

6 with the Clerk under title I under the Ethics in Gov7 ernment Act of 1978 shall file and maintain such re8 port in electronic form.’’. 

9 (B) Comparable language to be added by the Senate. 

10 (c) AVAILABILITY ON THE INTERNET OF REPORTS

11 FILED UNDER THIS TITLE WITH THE CLERK OF THE

12 HOUSE OR THE SECRETARY OF THE SENATE.—Section 

13 103 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. 

14 App. 103) is amended by adding at the end the following 

15 new subsection: 

16 ‘‘(m) The Clerk of the House of Representatives and 

17 the Secretary of the Senate shall each make available any 

18 report filed with them under this title (whether the report 

19 is filed in paper or electronic form) within 48 hours of 

20 the applicable submission deadline on the website of the 

21 Clerk or the Secretary, as applicable, in a searchable, sort22 able, downloadable, machine-readable format.’’. 

23 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

24 this section shall apply to reports filed for calendar years 


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1 or calendar quarters beginning after the date of enactment 

2 of this Act. 

3 SEC. 102. GREATER DISCLOSURE OF TRAVEL REPORTS. 

4 (a) FOREIGN TRAVEL.—Clause 8(b)(3) of rule X of 

5 the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by 

6 adding at the end the following new sentence: ‘‘Within 48 

7 hours after any such report is filed with the chair of a 

8 committee, the chair shall post the report on the Internet 

9 site of the committee in a searchable, sortable, 

10 downloadable, machine-readable format.’’. 

11 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

12 subsection (a) shall apply to travel commencing after the 

13 date of enactment of this Act. 

14 SEC. 103. GREATER DISCLOSURE OF GIFT REPORTS. 

15 (a) REQUIRING CLERK OF THE HOUSE TO POST RE16 PORTS ON INTERNET NOT LATER THAN 48 HOURS

17 AFTER RECEIPT.—(1) Clause 5(b)(5) of rule XXV of the 

18 Rules of the House of Representatives is amended— 

19 (A) by striking ‘‘shall make available’’ and 

20 inserting ‘‘shall post on the public Internet site 

21 of the Clerk and otherwise make available’’; and 

22 (B) by striking ‘‘as possible’’ and inserting 

23 the following: ‘‘as possible, but in no event later 

24 than 48 hours,’’. 

25 (2) Comparable language to be added by the Senate. 


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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

2 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to reports filed on 

3 or after the date of the adoption of this resolution. 

4 SEC. 104. GREATER DISCLOSURE OF EARMARKS. 

5 (a) ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE BY MEMBERS.—(1) 

6 Rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives 

7 is amended by redesignating clause 18 as clause 19 and 

8 by inserting after clause 17 the following: 

9 ‘‘18. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner 

10 who requests a congressional earmark, a limited tax ben11 efit, or a limited tariff benefit shall, within 24 hours after 

12 making such request— 

13 ‘‘(1) post on his or her public website for the 

14 remainder of the Congress the following— 

15 ‘‘(A) the name and address of the intended 

16 recipient; 

17 ‘‘(B) whether the intended recipient is a 

18 for-profit or not-for-profit entity; 

19 ‘‘(C) the requested amount (only in the 

20 case of congressional earmarks); and 

21 ‘‘(D) an explanation of the request, includ22 ing the purpose, and why it is a valuable use 

23 of taxpayer funds; 


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1 ‘‘(2) electronically submit to the committee of 

2 subject-matter jurisdiction the webpage address 

3 where such information is posted; 

4 ‘‘(3) identify each request as having been sub5 mitted to the committee of subject-matter jurisdic6 tion; and 

7 ‘‘(4) display on the homepage of such website a 

8 hypertext link that contains the words ‘Earmarks’, 

9 ‘Appropriations Requests’, ‘Limited Tax Benefits’, 

10 or ‘Limited Tariff Benefits’ and that directs to such 

11 webpage address, and maintain that link for at least 

12 30 calendar days after the last such request is made 

13 during the Congress.’’. 

14 (2) The last sentence of clause 16 of rule XXIII of 

15 the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by 

16 striking ‘‘and clause 17’’ and inserting ‘‘, clause 17, and 

17 clause 18’’. 

18 (b) ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE BY COMMITTEES.— 

19 Rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives is 

20 amended by adding at the end the following new clause: 

21 ‘‘Earmark disclosure websites 

22 ‘‘(s)(1) Any committee that accepts any request of 

23 a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner for a con24 gressional earmark, a limited tax benefit, or a limited tar25 iff benefit shall maintain a public website with an earmark 


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1 disclosure webpage that contains the following for each 

2 such request— 

3 ‘‘(A) the bill name; 

4 ‘‘(B) the name, State, and district of that indi5 vidual; 

6 ‘‘(C) the name and address of the intended re7 cipient; 

8 ‘‘(D) whether the intended recipient is a for9 profit or not-for-profit entity; 

10 ‘‘(E) the requested amount (only in the case of 

11 congressional earmarks); 

12 ‘‘(F) a brief description; and 

13 ‘‘(G) the applicable department or agency of the 

14 Government, and the account or program (if pro15 vided to the committee in the request); 

16 and is in a downloadable format that is searchable and 

17 sortable by such characteristics. 

18 ‘‘(2) Any written statement received by a committee 

19 under clause 17(a) of rule XXIII shall be posted on the 

20 earmark disclosure webpage of the committee. 

21 ‘‘(3) The earmark disclosure webpage of a committee 

22 shall list the names of any Member, Delegate, and Resi23 dent Commissioner who requests a congressional earmark, 

24 a limited tax benefit, or a limited tariff benefit and link 


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1 directly to their webpage addresses referred to in clause 

2 18(2) of rule XXIII. 

3 ‘‘(4) The earmark disclosure webpage of a committee 

4 shall post the information required under subparagraphs 

5 (1) through (3) within one week of receipt, and shall main6 tain that information on that webpage for the remainder 

7 of the Congress. 

8 ‘‘(5) For purposes of this paragraph, the terms ‘con9 gressional earmark’, ‘limited tax benefit’, and ‘limited tar10 iff benefit’ shall have the meaning given them in clause 

11 9 of rule XXI.’’. 

12 (c) POINT OF ORDER.—Clause 9 of rule XXI of the 

13 Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by re14 designating paragraphs (e), (f), and (g) as paragraphs (f), 

15 (g), and (h), respectively, and by inserting after paragraph 

16 (d) the following: 

17 ‘‘(e) It shall not be in order to consider any bill or 

18 joint resolution, or an amendment thereto or conference 

19 report thereon, that carries a congressional earmark, lim20 ited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit for which a Mem21 ber, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner failed to comply 

22 with any applicable requirement of clause 18 of rule 

23 XXIII.’’. 

24 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

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1 marks, limited tax benefits, and limited tariff benefits 

2 made after the date this resolution is agreed to. 

3 (e) CENTRALIZED DATABASE FOR EARMARKS, LIM4 ITED TAX BENEFITS, AND LIMITED TARIFF BENEFITS.— 

5 (1) The Clerk of the House of Representatives, the Sec6 retary of the Senate, and the chairs of the Committee on 

7 Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the 

8 Senate shall collaborate to create one centralized database 

9 where all requests for earmark, limited tax benefits, and 

10 limited tariff benefits are available on the Internet in a 

11 searchable, sortable, downloadable format to the public. 

12 The data available to the public for each earmark should 

13 include— 

14 (A) an identification of the bill into which the 

15 earmark is to be inserted; 

16 (B) the name, State, and district of the Mem17 ber of Congress requesting the earmark; 

18 (C) the name and address of the intended re19 cipient; 

20 (D) whether the intended recipient is a for-prof21 it or not-for-profit entity; 

22 (E) the requested amount (only in the case of 

23 congressional earmarks); 

24 (F) a brief description of the earmark; and 


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1 (G) the applicable department or agency of the 

2 Government, and the account or program (if pro3 vided to the committee in the request). 

4 (2) The centralized database for earmarks referred 

5 to in paragraph (1) shall be implemented within six 

6 months after the date of enactment of this Act. 

7 SEC. 105. GAO STUDY AND REPORT ON EFFECTS OF WRIT8 TEN REQUESTS BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 

9 FOR FUNDING OF PROJECTS. 

10 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

11 States shall conduct a study of the effect of written re12 quests to carry out and provide funding for projects and 

13 activities which are submitted to offices of the executive 

14 branch by Members of Congress on the decisions made 

15 by such offices regarding the funding of those projects and 

16 activities. 

17 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

18 of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 

19 submit to Congress a report on the study conducted under 

20 subsection (a). 


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1 TITLE II—ENHANCING PUBLIC 

2 ACCESS TO THE WORK OF 

3 CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT4 TEES, LEGISLATION, AND 

5 VOTES 

6 Subtitle A—Access to Legislation, 

7 Votes, and Related Information 

8 SEC. 201. INCREASED TRANSPARENCY OF COMMITTEE 

9 WORK. 

10 (a) IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—Clause 

11 1 of rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives 

12 is amended by adding at the end the following new para13 graph: 

14 ‘‘(e)(1) Each committee shall post on its Internet 

15 website the public hearings and markup schedules of the 

16 committee and each of its subcommittees at the same time 

17 that information is made available to members of the com18 mittee. 

19 ‘‘(2) For each hearing and markup for which infor20 mation is posted under subparagraph (1), the committee 

21 shall post on its Internet website within 45 days the fol22 lowing: the topic, related legislation, testimony of wit23 nesses, opening statements of the chair and ranking mi24 nority member, transcripts, and audio and video record25 ings. 


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1 ‘‘(3) Within 24 hours after a committee or sub2 committee orders any bill or resolution to be reported, the 

3 committee or subcommittee, as applicable, shall post on 

4 its Internet website all amendments that were agreed to, 

5 except for technical and conforming changes authorized by 

6 the committee or subcommittee, as well as all votes taken 

7 on the bill or resolution and on any amendment offered 

8 to the bill or resolution.’’. 

9 (b) IN THE SENATE.—Comparable language to be 

10 added by the Senate. 

11 SEC. 202. INCREASED TRANSPARENCY OF COMMITTEE 

12 SCHEDULES THROUGH THE CLERK. 

13 Clause 2 of rule II of the Rules of the House of Rep14 resentatives is amended by adding at the end the following 

15 new paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(l) The House Committees shall provide to the 

17 Clerk, in a structured data format, a complete list 

18 of all public hearing and markup schedules of com19 mittees and subcommittees as soon as publically 

20 available; and the Clerk shall post this information 

21 on its Web site, including links to committee 

22 websites.’’. 


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1 SEC. 203. INCREASED TRANSPARENCY OF RECORDED 

2 VOTES. 

3 (a) ADDITIONAL DUTIES OF THE CLERK OF THE

4 HOUSE AND THE SECRETARY OF THE SENATE.—The 

5 Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary 

6 of the Senate shall post on the public Internet site of the 

7 Office of the Clerk or of the Secretary, respectively, a 

8 record, organized by the name of each Member or Senator, 

9 in a structured data format, of the recorded votes of that 

10 Member or Senator, including the roll, date, issue, ques11 tion, result, and title or description of the vote, and any 

12 cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office related 

13 to the vote. 

14 (b) WEB LINK.—Each Member shall provide a link 

15 to the Clerk of the House of Representatives of a list of 

16 recorded votes from that Member’s website, and each Sen17 ator shall provide a link to the Secretary of the Senate 

18 of a list of recorded votes from that Senator’s website. 

19 (c) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term 

20 ‘‘Member’’ means a Representative in Congress, a delegate 

21 to Congress, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto 

22 Rico. 

23 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply to 

24 recorded votes occurring after the date of enactment of 

25 this Act. 


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1 SEC. 204. ELECTRONIC FORMAT. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 2 of title 1 of the United 

3 States Code is amended by adding, after section 107, the 

4 following new section: 

5 ‘‘§ 107a. Electronic format 

6 ‘‘To the extent practicable, all bills, resolutions, or7 ders, and votes shall be created, exchanged, and published 

8 in searchable electronic formats, consistent with data 

9 standards recommended by such advisory bodies as Con10 gress may establish.’’. 

11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec12 tions at the beginning of chapter 2 of title 1 of the United 

13 States Code is amended by adding after the item relating 

14 to section 107 the following new item: 

‘‘107a. Electronic format.’’. 

15 SEC. 205. CONGRESSIONAL DATA TASK FORCE. 

16 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Clerk of the House and 

17 the Secretary of the Senate shall establish an advisory 

18 Congressional Data Task Force to recommend data stand19 ards for the creation, exchange, and publication of con20 gressional information. 

21 (b) COMPOSITION.—The Congressional Data Task 

22 Force shall be composed of staff representatives of the 

23 Clerk of the House, the Secretary of the Senate, the Li24 brary of Congress, the Congressional Research Service, 

25 the Government Printing Office, the Center for Legislative 


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1 Archives, such other congressional offices and agencies 

2 may be necessary, and representatives of the public. 

3 (c) DATA STANDARDS.—All data standards rec4 ommended by the Congressional Data Task Force shall 

5 be nonproprietary and machine-readable. 

6 (d) SCOPE.—The Congressional Data Task Force 

7 shall recommend data standards for congressional infor8 mation, including all bills, amendments, Acts, reports, 

9 committee hearing/meeting notices, the United States 

10 Code, and other legislative documents and records. 

11 SEC. 206. USE OF DATA STANDARDS BY CONGRESSIONAL 

12 SUPPORT OFFICES. 

13 All congressional support offices shall, to the extent 

14 practicable, use the data standards recommended by the 

15 Congressional Data Task Force for the congressional in16 formation that they create, exchange, and/or publish. 

17 SEC. 207. INCLUSION OF DIGITAL VERSION OF FUNDING 

18 TABLES IN REPORTS ACCOMPANYING APPRO19 PRIATIONS BILLS. 

20 (a) INCLUSION.—The Clerk of the House of Rep21 resentatives and the Secretary of the Senate shall ensure 

22 that each report accompanying any appropriations bill re23 ported by the Committees on Appropriations of the House 

24 or Senate (as the case may be) includes a formatted 

25 spreadsheet showing the amounts made available by the 


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1 bill, in a tabular, digital format that shows separate en2 tries for each fiscal year covered by the bill. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall apply 

4 with respect to any appropriations bill making funds avail5 able for fiscal year 2019 or any succeeding fiscal year. 

6 Subtitle B—Access to 

7 Congressionally Mandated Reports 

8 SEC. 211. SHORT TITLE. 

9 This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘Access to Congres10 sionally Mandated Reports Act’’. 

11 SEC. 212. DEFINITIONS. 

12 In this subtitle: 

13 (1) CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED REPORT.— 

14 The term ‘‘congressionally mandated report’’— 

15 (A) means a report that is required to be 

16 submitted to either House of Congress or any 

17 committee of Congress, or subcommittee there18 of, by a statute, resolution, or conference report 

19 that accompanies legislation enacted into law; 

20 and 

21 (B) does not include a report required 

22 under part B of subtitle II of title 36, United 

23 States Code. 

24 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

25 the Director of the Government Publishing Office. 


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1 (3) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 

2 agency’’ has the meaning given that term under sec3 tion 102 of title 40, United States Code, but does 

4 not include the Government Accountability Office. 

5 (4) OPEN FORMAT.—The term ‘‘open format’’ 

6 means a file format for storing digital data based on 

7 an underlying open standard that— 

8 (A) is not encumbered by any restrictions 

9 that would impede reuse; and 

10 (B) is based on an underlying open data 

11 standard that is maintained by a standards or12 ganization. 

13 (5) REPORTS WEBSITE.—The term ‘‘reports 

14 website’’ means the website established under section 

15 213(a). 

16 SEC. 213. ESTABLISHMENT OF WEBSITE FOR CONGRES17 SIONALLY MANDATED REPORTS. 

18 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH WEBSITE.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

20 the date of enactment of this subtitle, the Director 

21 shall establish and maintain a website accessible by 

22 the public that allows the public to obtain electronic 

23 copies of all congressionally mandated reports in one 

24 place. The Director may publish other reports on the 

25 website. 


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1 (2) EXISTING FUNCTIONALITY.—To the extent 

2 possible, the Director shall meet the requirements 

3 under paragraph (1) by using existing websites and 

4 functionality under the authority of the Director. 

5 (3) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this sub6 title, the Director shall consult with the Clerk of the 

7 House of Representatives and the Secretary of the 

8 Senate regarding the requirements for and mainte9 nance of congressionally mandated reports on the re10 ports website. 

11 (b) CONTENT AND FUNCTION.—The Director shall 

12 ensure that the reports website includes the following: 

13 (1) Subject to subsection (c), with respect to 

14 each congressionally mandated report, each of the 

15 following: 

16 (A) A citation to the statute or conference 

17 report requiring the report. 

18 (B) An electronic copy of the report, in19 cluding any transmittal letter associated with 

20 the report, in an open format that is platform 

21 independent and that is available to the public 

22 without restrictions, including restrictions that 

23 would impede the re-use of the information in 

24 the report. 


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1 (C) The ability to retrieve a report, to the 

2 extent practicable, through searches based on 

3 each, and any combination, of the following: 

4 (i) The title of the report. 

5 (ii) The reporting Federal agency. 

6 (iii) The date of publication. 

7 (iv) Each congressional committee re8 ceiving the report, if applicable. 

9 (v) The statute, resolution, or con10 ference report requiring the report. 

11 (vi) Subject tags. 

12 (vii) The serial number, Super13 intendent of Documents number, or other 

14 identification number for the report, if ap15 plicable. 

16 (viii) Key words. 

17 (ix) Full text search. 

18 (x) Any other relevant information 

19 specified by the Director. 

20 (D) The time and date when the report 

21 was required to be submitted, and when the re22 port was submitted, to the reports website. 

23 (E) Access to the report not later than 30 

24 calendar days after the date of submission to 

25 Congress. 


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1 (F) To the extent practicable, a permanent 

2 means of accessing the report electronically. 

3 (2) A means for bulk download of all congres4 sionally mandated reports or a selection of reports 

5 retrieved using a search. 

6 (3) An electronic means for the head of each 

7 Federal agency to submit to the reports website each 

8 congressionally mandated report of the agency, as 

9 required by section 214. 

10 (4) A list form for all congressionally mandated 

11 reports that can be searched, sorted, and 

12 downloaded by— 

13 (A) reports submitted within the required 

14 time; 

15 (B) reports submitted after the date on 

16 which such reports were required to be sub17 mitted; and 

18 (C) reports not submitted. 

19 (c) FEDERAL AGENCY ACTION.— 

20 (1) REPORTS NOT SUBMITTED.—If a Federal 

21 agency does not submit a congressionally mandated 

22 report to the Director, the Director shall— 

23 (A) include on the reports website the in24 formation required under clauses (i) through 

25 (v) of subsection (b)(1)(C); and 


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1 (B) include the congressionally mandated 

2 report on the list described in subsection 

3 (b)(4)(C). 

4 (2) REPORTS NOT IN OPEN FORMAT.—If a Fed5 eral agency submits a congressionally mandated re6 port that is not in an open format, the Director shall 

7 include the congressionally mandated report in an8 other format on the reports website. 

9 (d) FREE ACCESS.—The Director may not charge a 

10 fee, require registration, or impose any other limitation 

11 in exchange for access to the reports website. 

12 (e) UPGRADE CAPABILITY.—The reports website 

13 shall be enhanced and updated as necessary to carry out 

14 the purposes of this subtitle. 

15 SEC. 214. FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES. 

16 (a) SUBMISSION OF ELECTRONIC COPIES OF RE17 PORTS.—The head of each Federal agency shall submit 

18 to the Director the information required under subpara19 graphs (A) through (D) of section 213(b)(1) with respect 

20 to each congressionally mandated report that the Federal 

21 agency is responsible for creating. Nothing in this sub22 section shall relieve a Federal agency of any other require23 ment to publish the congressionally mandated report on 

24 the website of the Federal agency or otherwise submit the 


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1 congressionally mandated report to Congress or specific 

2 committees of Congress, or subcommittees thereof. 

3 (b) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 8 months after the 

4 date of enactment of this subtitle, the Director of the Of5 fice of Management and Budget, in consultation with the 

6 Director, shall issue guidance to agencies on the imple7 mentation of this subtitle. 

8 (c) STRUCTURE OF SUBMITTED REPORT DATA.— 

9 The head of each Federal agency shall ensure that each 

10 congressionally mandated report submitted to the Director 

11 complies with the open format criteria established by the 

12 Director in the guidance issued under subsection (b). 

13 (d) POINT OF CONTACT.—The head of each Federal 

14 agency shall designate a point of contact for congression15 ally mandated reports. 

16 SEC. 215. REMOVING AND ALTERING REPORTS. 

17 A report submitted to be published to the reports 

18 website may only be changed or removed, with the excep19 tion of technical changes, by the head of the Federal agen20 cy concerned if— 

21 (1) the head of the Federal agency consults 

22 with each congressional committee to which the re23 port is submitted; and 

24 (2) Congress enacts a joint resolution author25 izing the changing or removal of the report. 


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1 SEC. 216. RELATIONSHIP TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMA2 TION ACT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this subtitle shall be 

4 construed to require the disclosure of information or 

5 records that are exempt from public disclosure under sec6 tion 552 of title 5, United States Code, or to impose any 

7 affirmative duty on the Director to review congressionally 

8 mandated reports submitted for publication to the reports 

9 website for the purpose of identifying and redacting such 

10 information or records. 

11 (b) REDACTION OF REPORT.—With respect to each 

12 congressionally mandated report, the head of each relevant 

13 Federal agency shall redact any information that may not 

14 be publicly released under section 552(b) of title 5, United 

15 States Code, before submission for publication on the re16 ports website, and shall— 

17 (1) redact only such information from the re18 port; 

19 (2) identify where any such redaction is made 

20 in the report; and 

21 (3) identify the exemption under which each 

22 such redaction is made. 

23 (c) WITHHOLDING INFORMATION.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—A Federal agency— 


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1 (A) may withhold information otherwise re2 quired to be disclosed under this subtitle only 

3 if— 

4 (i) the Federal agency reasonably 

5 foresees that disclosure would harm an in6 terest protected by an exemption described 

7 in section 552(b) of title 5, United States 

8 Code; or 

9 (ii) disclosure is prohibited by law; 

10 and 

11 (B) shall— 

12 (i) consider whether partial disclosure 

13 of information otherwise required to be dis14 closed under this subtitle is possible when15 ever the Federal agency determines that a 

16 full disclosure of the information is not 

17 possible; and 

18 (ii) take reasonable steps necessary to 

19 segregate and release nonexempt informa20 tion. 

21 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

22 subsection requires disclosure of information that is 

23 otherwise prohibited from disclosure by law, or oth24 erwise exempted from disclosure under section 

25 552(b)(3) of title 5, United States Code. 


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1 SEC. 217. FUNDING. 

2 (a) RESTRICTIONS ON DISTRIBUTION OF FREE

3 PRINTED COPIES OF FEDERAL REGISTER TO MEMBERS

4 OF CONGRESS AND FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.—Section 1506 

5 of title 44, United States Code, is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘The Administrative Com7 mittee’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) COMPOSITION; DUTIES.— 

8 The Administrative Committee’’; 

9 (2) in subsection (a)(4), by striking ‘‘the num10 ber of copies’’ and inserting ‘‘subject to subsection 

11 (b), the number of copies’’; and 

12 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(b) RESTRICTIONS ON DISTRIBUTION OF FREE

14 PRINTED COPIES TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND OFFI15 CERS AND EMPLOYEES OF THE UNITED STATES.—Under 

16 the regulations prescribed to carry out subsection (a)(4), 

17 the Director of the Government Publishing Office may not 

18 provide a printed copy of the Federal Register without 

19 charge to any Member of Congress or any other office of 

20 the United States during a year unless— 

21 ‘‘(1) the Member or office requests a printed 

22 copy of a specific issue of the Federal Register; or 

23 ‘‘(2) during that year or during the previous 

24 year, the Member or office requested a subscription 

25 to printed copies of the Federal Register for that 

26 year.’’. 


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1 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS ON USE OF SAVINGS.—It 

2 is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) the savings attributable to the amendments 

4 made by subsection (a) are not less than the amount 

5 that will be required to carry out the other provi6 sions of this subtitle; and 

7 (2) the amount of such savings should be made 

8 available to the Director to carry out this subtitle. 

9 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

10 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of enactment 

11 of this subtitle and apply on and after the date on which 

12 the Director prescribes regulations to carry out section 

13 1506(b) of title 44, United States Code. 

14 SEC. 218. IMPLEMENTATION. 

15 Except as provided in sections 214(b) and 217(c), 

16 this subtitle shall— 

17 (1) be implemented not later than 1 year after 

18 the date of enactment of this subtitle; and 

19 (2) apply with respect to congressionally man20 dated reports submitted to Congress on or after the 

21 date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of 

22 this subtitle. 


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1 TITLE III—EQUAL ACCESS TO 

2 CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH 

3 SERVICE REPORTS 

4 SEC. 301. SHORT TITLE. 

5 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Equal Access to Con6 gressional Research Service Reports Act of 2017’’. 

7 SEC. 302. DEFINITIONS. 

8 (a) CRS PRODUCT.—In this title, the term ‘‘CRS 

9 product’’ means any final work product of CRS in any 

10 format. 

11 (b) CRS REPORT.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—In this title, the term ‘‘CRS 

13 Report’’ means any written CRS product, including 

14 an update to a previous written CRS product, con15 sisting of— 

16 (A) a Congressional Research Service Re17 port; 

18 (B) a Congressional Research Service Au19 thorization of Appropriations Product and Ap20 propriations Product; or 

21 (C) subject to paragraph (2)(C), any other 

22 written CRS product containing CRS research 

23 or CRS analysis which is available for general 

24 congressional access on the CRS Congressional 

25 Intranet. 


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1 (2) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘CRS Report’’ 

2 does not include— 

3 (A) any CRS product that is determined 

4 by the CRS Director to be a custom product or 

5 service because it was prepared in direct re6 sponse to a request for custom analysis or re7 search and is not available for general congres8 sional access on the CRS Congressional 

9 Intranet; 

10 (B) any Congressional Research Service 

11 Report or any Congressional Research Service 

12 Authorization of Appropriations Product and 

13 Appropriations Product which, as of the effec14 tive date of this title, is not available for gen15 eral congressional access on the CRS Congres16 sional Intranet; or 

17 (C) a written CRS product that has been 

18 made available by CRS for publication on a 

19 public website maintained by the GPO Director 

20 (other than the Website) or the Library of Con21 gress. 

22 (c) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—In this title— 

23 (1) the term ‘‘CRS’’ means the Congressional 

24 Research Service; 


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1 (2) the term ‘‘CRS Congressional Intranet’’ 

2 means any of the websites maintained by CRS for 

3 the purpose of providing to Members and employees 

4 of Congress access to information from CRS; 

5 (3) the term ‘‘CRS Director’’ means the Direc6 tor of CRS; 

7 (4) the term ‘‘GPO Director’’ means the Direc8 tor of the Government Publishing Office; 

9 (5) the term ‘‘Member of Congress’’ includes a 

10 Delegate or Resident Commissioner to Congress; and 

11 (6) the term ‘‘Website’’ means the website es12 tablished and maintained under section 303. 

13 SEC. 303. AVAILABILITY OF CRS REPORTS THROUGH GPO 

14 WEBSITE. 

15 (a) WEBSITE.— 

16 (1) ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE.—The 

17 GPO Director, in consultation with the CRS Direc18 tor, shall establish and maintain a public website 

19 containing CRS Reports and an index of all CRS 

20 Reports contained on the website, in accordance with 

21 this section. 

22 (2) FORMAT.—On the Website, CRS Reports 

23 shall be searchable, sortable, and downloadable, in24 cluding downloadable in bulk. 


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1 (3) FREE ACCESS.—Notwithstanding section 

2 4102 of title 44, United States Code, the GPO Di3 rector may not charge a fee for access to the 

4 Website. 

5 (b) UPDATES; DISCLAIMER.—The GPO Director, in 

6 consultation with the CRS Director, shall ensure that the 

7 Website— 

8 (1) is updated contemporaneously, automati9 cally, and electronically to include each new or up10 dated CRS Report released on or after the effective 

11 date of this title; 

12 (2) shows the status of each CRS Report as 

13 new, updated, or withdrawn; and 

14 (3) displays the following statement in reference 

15 to the CRS Reports included on the Website: ‘‘These 

16 documents were prepared by the Congressional Re17 search Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan 

18 shared staff to congressional committees and Mem19 bers of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of 

20 and under the direction of Congress. Information in 

21 a CRS Report should not be relied upon for pur22 poses other than public understanding of informa23 tion that has been provided by CRS to Members of 

24 Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. 

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1 ernment, are not subject to copyright protection in 

2 the United States. Any CRS Report may be repro3 duced and distributed in its entirety without permis4 sion from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may in5 clude copyrighted images or material from a third 

6 party, you may need to obtain the permission of the 

7 copyright holder if you wish to copy or otherwise use 

8 copyrighted material.’’. 

9 (c) FURNISHING OF NECESSARY INFORMATION AND

10 TECHNOLOGY.—The CRS Director shall consult with and 

11 provide assistance to the GPO Director to ensure— 

12 (1) that the GPO Director is provided with all 

13 of the information necessary to carry out this title, 

14 including all of the information described in sub15 paragraphs (A) through (E) of section 304(a)(1), in 

16 such format and manner as the GPO Director con17 siders appropriate; and 

18 (2) that CRS makes available and implements 

19 such technology as may be necessary to facilitate the 

20 contemporaneous, automatic, and electronic provi21 sion of CRS Reports to the GPO Director as re22 quired under this title. 

23 (d) NONEXCLUSIVITY.—The GPO Director may pub24 lish other information on the Website. 


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1 (e) ADDITIONAL TECHNIQUES.—The GPO Director 

2 and the CRS Director may use additional techniques to 

3 make CRS Reports available to the public, if such tech4 niques are consistent with this title and any other applica5 ble laws. 

6 (f) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—The CRS Director 

7 is encouraged to make additional CRS products that are 

8 not custom products or services available to the GPO Di9 rector for publication on the Website, and the GPO Direc10 tor is encouraged to publish such CRS products on the 

11 Website. 

12 (g) EXPANSION OF CONTENTS OF ANNUAL REPORT

13 TO CONGRESS TO INCLUDE INFORMATION ON EFFORTS

14 TO MAKE ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS AVAILABLE ON

15 WEBSITE.—Section 203(i) of the Legislative Reorganiza16 tion Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 166(i)) is amended by striking 

17 the period at the end and inserting the following: ‘‘, and 

18 shall include in the report a description of the efforts made 

19 by the Director to make additional Congressional Re20 search Service products that are not custom products or 

21 services available to the Director of the Government Pub22 lishing Office for publication on the website established 

23 and maintained under the Equal Access to Congressional 

24 Research Service Reports Act of 2017.’’. 


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1 SEC. 304. WEBSITE CONTENTS. 

2 (a) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS FOR REPORTS POSTED

3 ON WEBSITE.— 

4 (1) RESPONSIBILITIES OF GPO DIRECTOR.— 

5 With respect to each CRS Report included on the 

6 Website, the GPO Director shall include— 

7 (A) the name and identification number of 

8 the CRS Report; 

9 (B) an indication as to whether the CRS 

10 Report is new, updated, or withdrawn; 

11 (C) the date of release of the CRS Report; 

12 (D) the division or divisions of CRS that 

13 were responsible for the production of the CRS 

14 Report; and 

15 (E) any other information the GPO Direc16 tor, in consultation with the CRS Director, con17 siders appropriate. 

18 (2) RESPONSIBILITIES OF CRS DIRECTOR.— 

19 With respect to each CRS Report included on the 

20 Website, the CRS Director shall, prior to transmit21 ting the Report to the GPO Director— 

22 (A) at the discretion of the CRS Director, 

23 remove the name of and any contact informa24 tion for any employee of CRS; and 

25 (B) include in the CRS Report the fol26 lowing written statement: ‘‘This document was 


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1 prepared by the Congressional Research Service 

2 (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff 

3 to congressional committees and Members of 

4 Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and 

5 under the direction of Congress. Information in 

6 a CRS Report should not be relied upon for 

7 purposes other than public understanding of in8 formation that has been provided by CRS to 

9 Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s 

10 institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of 

11 the United States Government, are not subject 

12 to copyright protection in the United States. 

13 Any CRS Report may be reproduced and dis14 tributed in its entirety without permission from 

15 CRS. However, as this CRS Report may in16 clude copyrighted images or material from a 

17 third party, you may need to obtain the permis18 sion of the copyright holder if you wish to copy 

19 or otherwise use copyrighted material.’’. 

20 (b) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS FOR INDEX ON

21 WEBSITE.—The GPO Director shall ensure that the index 

22 of all CRS Reports published on the Website is— 

23 (1) comprehensive; 

24 (2) contemporaneously updated; 

25 (3) searchable; 


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1 (4) sortable; 

2 (5) maintained in a human-readable format; 

3 (6) maintained in a structured data format; 

4 (7) downloadable; and 

5 (8) inclusive of each item of information de6 scribed in subsection (a)(1) with respect to each 

7 CRS Report. 

8 SEC. 305. CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO DUTIES OF CRS. 

9 Section 203(d) of the Legislative Reorganization Act 

10 of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 166(d)) is amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

12 (7); 

13 (2) by striking the period at the end of para14 graph (8) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

16 paragraph: 

17 ‘‘(9) to comply with the requirements of, and 

18 provide information and technological assistance 

19 consistent with, the Equal Access to Congressional 

20 Research Service Reports Act of 2017.’’. 

21 SEC. 306. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 

22 (a) NO EFFECT ON SPEECH OR DEBATE CLAUSE.— 

23 Nothing in this title may be construed to diminish, qualify, 

24 condition, waive, or otherwise affect the applicability of 

25 clause 1 of section 6 of article I of the Constitution of 


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1 the United States (commonly known as the ‘‘Speech or 

2 Debate Clause’’) or any other privilege available to Con3 gress or Members, offices, or employees of Congress with 

4 respect to any CRS Report made available online under 

5 this title. 

6 (b) CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS.—Nothing in 

7 this title may be construed to waive the requirement that 

8 any confidential communication by CRS to a Member, of9 fice, or committee of Congress shall remain under the cus10 tody and control of Congress and may be released only 

11 by Congress and its Houses, Members, offices, and com12 mittees, in accordance with the rules and privileges of each 

13 House and the requirements of this title. 

14 (c) DISSEMINATION OF CRS PRODUCTS.—Nothing in 

15 this title may be construed to limit or otherwise affect the 

16 ability of a Member, office, or committee of Congress to 

17 disseminate CRS products on a website of the Member, 

18 office, or committee or to otherwise provide CRS products 

19 to the public, including as part of constituent service ac20 tivities. 

21 SEC. 307. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

23 (b), this title and the amendments made by this title shall 

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1 rector submits the certification described in subsection 

2 (b)(2). 

3 (b) PROVISION OF INFORMATION AND TECH4 NOLOGY.— 

5 (1) CRS DEADLINE.—Not later than 90 days 

6 after the date of enactment of this Act, the CRS Di7 rector shall provide the GPO Director with the infor8 mation and technology necessary for the GPO Direc9 tor to begin the initial operation of the Website. 

10 (2) CERTIFICATION.—Upon provision of the in11 formation and technology described in paragraph 

12 (1), the GPO Director shall submit to Congress a 

13 certification that the CRS Director has provided the 

14 information and technology necessary for the GPO 

15 Director to begin the initial operation of the 

16 Website. 

17 TITLE IV—LOBBYING 

18 DISCLOSURE 

19 SEC. 401. SHORT TITLE. 

20 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Lobbyist Disclosure 

21 Enhancement Act’’. 

22 SEC. 402. MODIFICATIONS TO ENFORCEMENT. 

23 (a) LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT TASK FORCE.— 

24 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Attorney General 

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1 ment Task Force (in this subsection referred to as 

2 the ‘‘Task Force’’). 

3 (2) FUNCTIONS.—The Task Force— 

4 (A) shall have primary responsibility for 

5 investigating and prosecuting each case referred 

6 to the Attorney General under section 6(a)(8) 

7 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 

8 U.S.C. 1605(a)(8)); 

9 (B) shall collect and disseminate informa10 tion with respect to the enforcement of the Lob11 bying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601 et 

12 seq.); 

13 (C) shall audit, at a minimum on an an14 nual basis, and as frequently as deemed nec15 essary by the Task Force, the extent of compli16 ance or noncompliance with the requirements of 

17 the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 by lobby18 ists, lobbying firms, and registrants under that 

19 Act through a random sampling of lobbying 

20 registrations and reports filed under that Act 

21 during each calendar year; and 

22 (D) shall establish, publicize, and operate a 

23 toll-free telephone number to serve as a hotline 

24 for members of the public to report noncompli25 ance with lobbyist disclosure requirements 


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1 under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, 

2 and shall develop a mechanism to allow mem3 bers of the public to report such noncompliance 

4 online. 

5 (b) REFERRAL OF CASES TO THE ATTORNEY GEN6 ERAL.—Section 6(a) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 

7 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1605(a)) is amended— 

8 (1) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘United 

9 States Attorney for the District of Columbia’’ and 

10 inserting ‘‘Attorney General’’; and 

11 (2) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘United 

12 States Attorney for the District of Columbia’’ and 

13 inserting ‘‘Attorney General’’. 

14 (c) RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVED ENFORCE15 MENT.—The Attorney General may make recommenda16 tions to Congress with respect to— 

17 (1) the enforcement of and compliance with the 

18 Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995; and 

19 (2) the need for resources available for the en20 hanced enforcement of the Lobbying Disclosure Act 

21 of 1995. 

22 (d) INFORMATION IN ENFORCEMENT REPORTS.— 

23 Section 6(b)(1) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

24 (2 U.S.C. 1605(b)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘by case’’ 

25 and all that follows through ‘‘public record’’ and inserting 


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1 ‘‘by case and name of the individual lobbyists or lobbying 

2 firms involved, any sentences imposed’’. 

3 SEC. 403. DEFINITION OF LOBBYIST. 

4 Section 3(10) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

5 (2 U.S.C. 1602(10)) is amended by striking ‘‘, other than 

6 an individual’’ and all that follows through ‘‘period’’. 

7 SEC. 404. EXPEDITED ONLINE REGISTRATION OF LOBBY8 ISTS; EXPANSION OF REGISTRANTS. 

9 Section 4(a) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

10 (2 U.S.C. 1603(a)) is amended— 

11 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

12 (A) by striking ‘‘45 days’’ and inserting 

13 ‘‘10 days’’; 

14 (B) by striking ‘‘, or on the first business 

15 day after such 45th day if such 45th day is not 

16 a business day,’’ and inserting ‘‘, or on the first 

17 business day occurring after such 10th day if 

18 such 10th day does not occur on a business 

19 day,’’; and 

20 (C) by inserting ‘‘online’’ after ‘‘shall reg21 ister’’; and 

22 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘Any organization’’ and in24 serting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara2 graph (B), any organization’’; and 

3 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(B) THRESHOLD FOR CERTAIN ORGANI5 ZATIONS.—In the case of an organization whose 

6 employees who are lobbyists engage in lobbying 

7 activities only on behalf of the organization, the 

8 organization is required to register under this 

9 subsection only if the lobbying activities of each 

10 such employee includes or is expected to include 

11 more than one lobbying contact.’’. 

12 SEC. 405. DISCLOSURE OF POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS. 

13 Section 5(d)(1) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 

14 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604(d)(1)) is amended— 

15 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 

16 by striking ‘‘30 days after’’ and all that follows 

17 through ‘‘30th day is not’’ and inserting ‘‘20 days 

18 after the end of the quarterly period beginning on 

19 the first day of January, April, July, and October of 

20 each year, or on the first business day after such 

21 20th day if such 20th day is not’’; and 

22 (2) by striking ‘‘semiannual period’’ each place 

23 it appears and inserting ‘‘quarterly period’’. 


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1 SEC. 406. IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS FOR LOBBYISTS. 

2 Section 6(a)(3) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 

3 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1605(a)(3)) is amended— 

4 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara5 graph (A); 

6 (2) by adding ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon the 

7 end of subparagraph (B); and 

8 (3) by adding after subparagraph (B) the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(C) a system that assigns an identifica11 tion number for each lobbyist for whom a reg12 istration or report is filed under this Act;’’. 

13 SEC. 407. ETHICS TRAINING FOR LOBBYISTS. 

14 (a) REQUIRED ETHICS TRAINING.—Any individual 

15 who is a lobbyist registered or required to register under 

16 section 4 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 

17 U.S.C. 1603) shall— 

18 (1) complete ethics training described in sub19 section (b)— 

20 (A) not later than 6 months after the indi21 vidual is first employed or retained for services 

22 that include one or more lobbying contacts; and 

23 (B) at least once in each 5-year period 

24 during which the individual is registered or re25 quired to register under section 4; and 


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1 (2) submit to the Clerk of the House of Rep2 resentatives and the Secretary of the Senate certifi3 cation of the training completed under paragraph 

4 (1). 

5 (b) QUALIFIED TRAINING.—The Ethics Committee 

6 of the House of Representatives and the Select Committee 

7 on Ethics of the Senate shall jointly— 

8 (1) determine the curriculum and certification 

9 requirements for the ethics training for individuals 

10 described in subsection (a); 

11 (2) approve those educational institutions, pro12 fessional associations, or other persons who are 

13 qualified to provide such ethics training; 

14 (3) determine the maximum fee that may be 

15 charged for the ethics training; and 

16 (4) provide oversight of the ethics training pro17 gram established under this section in order to de18 termine the quality of instruction in, and the admin19 istration of, the training program. 

20 (c) RESPONSIBILITIES OF CLERK AND SEC21 RETARY.—The Clerk of the House of Representatives and 

22 the Secretary of the Senate shall— 

23 (1) collect and review for completion and accu24 racy the certifications of ethics training submitted 

25 under subsection (a)(2); and 


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1 (2) post on the websites of the Clerk and the 

2 Secretary, with respect to each individual required to 

3 complete ethics training under this section— 

4 (A) whether the individual has complied 

5 with such requirement; and 

6 (B) the certifications submitted by the in7 dividual under subsection (a)(2). 

8 SEC. 408. ESTIMATES BASED ON TAX REPORTING SYSTEM. 

9 Section 15 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

10 (2 U.S.C. 1610) is repealed. 

11 SEC. 409. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

12 (a) SECTION 402.—Section 402 and the amendments 

13 made by that section take effect upon the expiration of 

14 the 90-day period beginning on the date of the enactment 

15 of this Act. 

16 (b) SECTIONS 403, 404, AND 405.—The amendments 

17 made by sections 403, 404, and 405 shall take effect on 

18 the first day of the first quarterly period described in sec19 tion 5(a) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 

20 U.S.C. 1604(a)) that begins after the end of the 90-day 

21 period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

22 (c) SECTION 406.—The amendments made by section 

23 406 shall apply to any registration or report that is filed 

24 under section 4 or 5 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 

25 1995— 


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1 (1) on or after the 90th day after the date of 

2 the enactment of this Act; or 

3 (2) before such 90th day, if such registration or 

4 report is, as of such 90th day, being retained under 

5 section 6(a)(5) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 

6 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1605(a)(5)). 

7 (d) SECTION 407.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 407 shall take effect 

9 upon the expiration of the 1-year period beginning 

10 on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

11 (2) CURRENT LOBBYISTS.—In the case of indi12 viduals who are registered under section 4 of the 

13 Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603) as 

14 of the effective date under paragraph (1), the ethics 

15 training required under section 407(a)(1) shall be 

16 completed not later than the end of the 6-month pe17 riod beginning on the effective date under paragraph 

18 (1) of this subsection, in lieu of the date specified 

19 in section 407(a)(1). 


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1 TITLE V—TRANSPARENCY IN 

2 FEDERAL CONTRACTING 

3 SEC. 501. IMPROVING APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTER4 FACE AND WEBSITE DATA ELEMENTS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2 of the Federal Funding 

6 Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Public Law 

7 109–282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note) is amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (a)— 

9 (A) in paragraph (4)(A)(ii), by striking 

10 ‘‘and delivery orders’’ and inserting ‘‘lease 

11 agreements and assignments, and delivery or12 ders’’; 

13 (B) in paragraph (7)— 

14 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

15 ‘‘paragraph (2)(A)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘para16 graph (5)(A)(i)’’; 

17 (ii) in subparagraph (C)— 

18 (I) by striking ‘‘paragraph 

19 (2)(A)(ii)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

20 (5)(A)(ii)’’; and 

21 (II) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the 

22 semicolon; 

23 (iii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

24 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

25 and’’; and 


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1 (iv) by adding at the end the following 

2 new subparagraph: 

3 ‘‘(E) programmatically search and access 

4 all data in a serialized machine-readable format 

5 (such as XML) via a web-services application 

6 programming interface.’’; 

7 (C) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 

8 through (8) as paragraphs (2) through (9), re9 spectively; and 

10 (D) by inserting before paragraph (2) the 

11 following new paragraph: 

12 ‘‘(1) CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

13 ITEM.—The term ‘congressionally directed spending 

14 item’ means a provision or report language included 

15 primarily at the request of a Member of Congress 

16 providing, authorizing, or recommending a specific 

17 amount of discretionary budget authority, credit au18 thority, or other spending authority for a contract, 

19 loan, loan guarantee, grant, loan authority, or other 

20 expenditure with or to an entity, or targeted to a 

21 specific State, locality, or congressional district, 

22 other than through a statutory or administrative for23 mula-driven or competitive award process.’’; 

24 (2) in subsection (b)(1)— 


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1 (A) in subparagraph (F), by striking the 

2 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

3 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (G) as 

4 subparagraph (J); and 

5 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (F) 

6 the following new subparagraphs: 

7 ‘‘(G) to the extent possible, the Federal 

8 agency, including the bureau, office, or subdivi9 sion, that authorized the Federal award; 

10 ‘‘(H) after January 1, 2018, for each con11 tract, subcontract, purchase order, task order, 

12 lease agreement and assignment, and delivery 

13 order— 

14 ‘‘(i) information about the extent of 

15 competition in awarding the contract, in16 cluding the number of bids or proposals 

17 determined to be responsive during the 

18 competitive process, and if the award was 

19 not competitive, the legal authority and 

20 specific rationale for awarding the contract 

21 without full and open competition; 

22 ‘‘(ii) the full amount awarded under 

23 the contract or, in the case of lease agree24 ments or assignments, the amount paid to 

25 the Government, and the full amount of 


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1 any options to expand or extend under the 

2 contract; 

3 ‘‘(iii) the amount of the profit incen4 tive, such as award fees; 

5 ‘‘(iv) the type of contract, such as 

6 fixed price, cost plus pricing, labor hour 

7 contracts, and time and materials con8 tracts; 

9 ‘‘(v) a permanent link to the original 

10 solicitation or notice and the solicitation 

11 ID; 

12 ‘‘(vi) an indication if the contract is 

13 the result of legislative mandates, set14 asides, preference program requirements, 

15 or other criteria, and whether the contract 

16 is multi-year, consolidated, or performance17 based; and 

18 ‘‘(vii) an indication if the contract is 

19 a congressionally directed spending item; 

20 ‘‘(I) after January 1, 2018, for all grants, 

21 subgrants, loans, awards, cooperative agree22 ments, and other forms of financial assistance, 

23 an indication if the funding is a congressionally 

24 directed spending item; and’’; and 

25 (3) in subsection (c)(5)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(2)(A)(i)’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(5)(A)(i)’’; and 

3 (B) by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(2)(A)(ii)’’ 

4 and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(5)(A)(ii)’’. 

5 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as otherwise pro6 vided, the amendments made by subsection (a) shall be 

7 implemented not later than 6 months after the date of 

8 the enactment of this Act. 

9 SEC. 502. IMPROVING DATA QUALITY. 

10 The Federal Funding Accountability and Trans11 parency Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–282; 31 U.S.C. 

12 6101 note) is amended by adding at the end the following 

13 new section: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 9. IMPROVING DATA QUALITY. 

15 ‘‘(a) INSPECTOR GENERAL DATA AUDIT.—Each In16 spector General shall annually audit for the previous fiscal 

17 year the data used on the website established under sec18 tion 2 for the relevant Federal agency of the Inspector 

19 General, in compliance with generally accepted Govern20 ment auditing standards, and submit a report on such 

21 audit to the Director of the Office of Management and 

22 Budget that includes at least the following: 

23 ‘‘(1) A review of data used for the website to 

24 verify accuracy of the data and assess the process 

25 used for improving data quality. 


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1 ‘‘(2) A review of a statistically representative 

2 sample of Federal awards to determine whether the 

3 Federal agency of the Inspector General has appro4 priate measures in place to review data submissions 

5 under this Act for accuracy and completeness. 

6 ‘‘(3) An identification of and report on new 

7 standards that the Inspector General recommends 

8 for implementation by the Federal agency of the In9 spector General to improve data quality. 

10 ‘‘(b) OMB REPORT.—Not later than April 1 of each 

11 year, the Director of the Office of Management and Budg12 et shall make each report submitted under subsection (a) 

13 for the previous fiscal year available to the public, includ14 ing a review of the findings of the audit and recommenda15 tions to improve data quality, through the website estab16 lished under section 2.’’. 

17 SEC. 503. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO REPORTING OF 

18 AWARD DATA. 

19 (a) REVISION OF GUIDANCE.—The Director of the 

20 Office of Management and Budget shall revise the Office’s 

21 guidance to Federal agencies on reporting Federal awards 

22 to clarify— 

23 (1) the requirement for award titles to describe 

24 the award’s purpose; and 


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1 (2) requirements for validating and docu2 menting agency award data submitted by Federal 

3 agencies. 

4 (b) INCLUSION OF CITY INFORMATION.—The Direc5 tor of the Office of Management and Budget shall include 

6 information on the city in which work is performed in the 

7 Office’s public reporting of the completeness of agency 

8 data submissions. 

9 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘Fed10 eral agency’’ and ‘‘Federal award’’ have the meanings 

11 given those terms in section 2(a) of the Federal Funding 

12 Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Public Law 

13 109–282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note). 

14 SEC. 504. RECIPIENT PERFORMANCE TRANSPARENCY. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Funding Account16 ability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Public Law 109– 

17 282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note), as amended by the preceding 

18 provisions of this Act, is further amended by adding at 

19 the end the following new section: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 10. RECIPIENT PERFORMANCE TRANSPARENCY AND 

21 PAST PERFORMANCE. 

22 ‘‘The Director of the Office of Management and 

23 Budget shall ensure that the unique identifier required in 

24 section 2(b)(1)(E), which is used to link information about 

25 an entity receiving an award on the website established 


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1 under such section, is also used to link information about 

2 such entity on the Federal Awardee Performance Integrity 

3 Information System.’’. 

4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

5 subsection (a) shall be implemented not later than June 

6 30, 2018. 

7 SEC. 505. IMPROVEMENT OF FEDERAL AWARDEE PER8 FORMANCE AND INTEGRITY INFORMATION 

9 SYSTEM DATABASE. 

10 Section 872(c) of the Duncan Hunter National De11 fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Public Law 

12 110–417; 122 Stat. 4556) is amended— 

13 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

14 striking ‘‘5-year period’’ and inserting ‘‘10-year pe15 riod’’; and 

16 (2) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end the 

17 following new subparagraphs: 

18 ‘‘(E) In an administrative proceeding, any 

19 administrative judgment that does not contain 

20 an explicit finding or acknowledgment of fault. 

21 ‘‘(F) In a civil proceeding, any settlement 

22 that does not contain an explicit finding or ac23 knowledgment of fault.’’. 


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1 SEC. 506. FEDERAL CONTRACTOR COMPLIANCE. 

2 (a) PERIODIC INSPECTION OR REVIEW OF CONTRACT

3 FILES.—Section 2313(e)(2) of title 41, United States 

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

5 subparagraph: 

6 ‘‘(C) PERIODIC INSPECTION OR REVIEW.— 

7 The Inspector General of each Federal agency 

8 shall periodically— 

9 ‘‘(i) conduct an inspection or review of 

10 each contract file described in subpara11 graph (B) to determine if the agency is 

12 providing appropriate consideration of the 

13 information included in the database estab14 lished under subsection (a); and 

15 ‘‘(ii) submit a report containing the 

16 results of the inspection or review con17 ducted under clause (i) to the Committee 

18 on Homeland Security and Governmental 

19 Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 

20 on Oversight and Government Reform of 

21 the House of Representatives.’’. 

22 (b) SELF-REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Subsection 

23 (f) of section 2313 of such title is amended to read as 

24 follows: 

25 ‘‘(f) SELF-REPORTING REQUIREMENT.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) CONTRACTS IN EXCESS OF SIMPLIFIED AC2 QUISITION THRESHOLD.—No funds appropriated or 

3 otherwise made available by any Act may be used for 

4 any Federal contract for the procurement of prop5 erty or services in excess of the simplified acquisition 

6 threshold unless the contractor has first made the 

7 certifications set forth in section 52.209–5 of the 

8 Federal Acquisition Regulation. 

9 ‘‘(2) CONTRACTS IN EXCESS OF $500,000.—No 

10 funds appropriated or otherwise made available by 

11 any Act may be used for any Federal contract for 

12 the procurement of property or services in excess of 

13 $500,000 unless the contractor— 

14 ‘‘(A) certifies that the contractor has sub15 mitted to the Administrator of General Services 

16 the information required under subsection (c) 

17 and that such information is current as of the 

18 date of such certification; or 

19 ‘‘(B) certifies that the contractor has cu20 mulative active Federal contracts and grants 

21 with a total value of less than $10,000,000.’’. 

22 (c) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Comptroller General of 

23 the United States shall annually submit a report to the 

24 appropriate congressional committees describing the exVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Dec 05, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00059 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4504.IH H4504

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1 tent to which suspended or debarred contractors on the 

2 Excluded Parties List System— 

3 (1) are identified as having received Federal 

4 contracts on USAspending.gov; or 

5 (2) were granted waivers from Federal agencies 

6 from suspension or debarment for purposes of enter7 ing into Federal contracts. 

8 SEC. 507. IMPROVING ACCESS TO INFORMATION DIS9 CLOSED ON LOBBYING ACTIVITIES. 

10 (a) INFORMATION FILED WITH THE ADMINISTRATOR

11 OF GENERAL SERVICES.—Section 1352(b) of title 31, 

12 United States Code, is amended— 

13 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘file with that 

14 agency’’ and inserting ‘‘file electronically with the 

15 Administrator of General Services’’; and 

16 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

17 paragraph: 

18 ‘‘(7) DATABASE REQUIRED.—The Adminis19 trator of General Services shall establish and main20 tain an online database that— 

21 ‘‘(A) is available to each agency and the 

22 public; 

23 ‘‘(B) contains information disclosed pursu24 ant to this subsection; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) is searchable, sortable, machine-read2 able, and downloadable.’’. 

3 (b) DEADLINE FOR DATABASE.—Not later than 180 

4 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad5 ministrator of General Services shall establish the data6 base required by paragraph (7) of section 1352(b) of title 

7 31, United States Code, as added by subsection (a). 

8 SEC. 508. INCLUSION OF NARRATIVES ON 

9 USASPENDING.GOV. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

11 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Of12 fice of Management and Budget shall allow any agency, 

13 in reporting an award to USAspending.gov (or a successor 

14 website), to upload a narrative for such award. 

15 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘agen16 cy’’ and ‘‘award’’ have the meanings given those terms on 

17 USAspending.gov (or a successor website). 

18 TITLE VI—EXECUTIVE BRANCH 

19 TRANSPARENCY 

20 SEC. 601. REQUIREMENT FOR DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL 

21 SPONSORSHIP OF ALL FEDERAL ADVER22 TISING OR OTHER COMMUNICATIONS. 

23 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Except as provided for in sub24 section (b), each advertisement or other communication 

25 paid for by an agency, either directly or through a contract 


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1 awarded by the agency, shall include a prominent notice 

2 informing the target audience that the advertisement or 

3 other communication is paid for by that agency. 

4 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—The requirement in subsection (a) 

5 shall not apply to an advertisement or other communica6 tion— 

7 (1) that is 200 characters or less; or 

8 (2) that is distributed through a short message 

9 service. 

10 (c) ADVERTISEMENT OR OTHER COMMUNICATIONS

11 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘advertisement or 

12 other communication’’ includes— 

13 (1) an advertisement disseminated in any form, 

14 including print or by any electronic means; and 

15 (2) a communication by an individual in any 

16 form, including speech, print, or by any electronic 

17 means. 

18 SEC. 602. IMPROVING ACCESS TO INFLUENTIAL EXECUTIVE 

19 BRANCH OFFICIAL’S VISITOR ACCESS 

20 RECORDS. 

21 (a) DISCLOSURE OF WHITE HOUSE VISITOR ACCESS

22 RECORDS.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the 

23 enactment of this Act, and monthly thereafter, the Presi24 dent shall disclose to the public all White House visitor 


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1 access records for the previous month that are redacted 

2 in accordance with subsection (c). 

3 (b) DISCLOSURE OF AGENCY VISITOR ACCESS

4 RECORDS.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the 

5 enactment of this Act, and monthly thereafter, the head 

6 of each agency shall disclose to the public all visitor access 

7 records for the previous month for such agency head that 

8 are redacted in accordance with subsection (c). 

9 (c) INFORMATION NOT DISCLOSED.—The President 

10 under subsection (a), and the head of the relevant agency 

11 under subsection (b), as the case may be, may determine 

12 to not disclose the following information pursuant to this 

13 section: 

14 (1) Any information— 

15 (A) that implicates personal privacy or law 

16 enforcement concerns (such as date of birth, so17 cial security number, and contact phone num18 ber); 

19 (B) that implicates the personal safety of 

20 White House staff (including daily arrival and 

21 departure); or 

22 (C) whose release would so threaten na23 tional security interests that it outweighs a 

24 strong presumption in favor of the public’s in25 terest in disclosure. 


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1 (2) For a non-renewable period of up to a year, 

2 any information related to purely personal guests of 

3 the first and second families, but only if the execu4 tive branch’s interest in protecting an unfettered 

5 consultation conducted in secret strongly outweighs 

6 the public’s interest in an accountable Government 

7 free of corruption and political influence. 

8 (3) Any information related to a small group of 

9 particularly sensitive meetings (such as visits of po10 tential Supreme Court nominees). 

11 SEC. 603. IMPROVING ACCESS TO BUDGET JUSTIFICATIONS 

12 BY THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDG13 ET. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning with the budget for fis15 cal year 2019, not later than 24 hours after the date on 

16 which the President submits the budget under section 

17 1105 of title 31, United States Code, the Director of the 

18 Office of Management and Budget shall make all budget 

19 justifications available online in a searchable, sortable, 

20 machine readable, and downloadable format and any elec21 tronic version of the budget shall provide a link to each 

22 budget justification by the Office of Management and 

23 Budget. 

24 (b) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term 

25 ‘‘budget justifications’’ refers to the documents an agency 


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1 submits to the Committees on Appropriations of the 

2 House of Representatives and Senate in support of its 

3 budget request. The Office of Management and Budget 

4 prescribes justification materials, which typically explain 

5 changes between the current appropriations and the 

6 amounts requested for the next fiscal year and may be 

7 referred to in the budget submission of the President 

8 under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code. 

9 SEC. 604. IMPROVING RULEMAKING DISCLOSURE FOR THE 

10 OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY 

11 AFFAIRS. 

12 (a) INCLUSION IN THE RULEMAKING DOCKET OF

13 DOCUMENTS AND COMMUNICATIONS RELATED TO THE

14 IMPLEMENTATION OF CENTRALIZED REGULATORY RE15 VIEW.—As soon as practicable, and not later than 15 days 

16 after the conclusion of centralized regulatory review for 

17 a draft proposed or draft final rule, the Administrator of 

18 the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs shall in19 clude in the rulemaking docket the following: 

20 (1) A copy of the draft proposed or draft final 

21 rule and supporting analyses submitted to the Office 

22 of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review. 

23 (2) A copy of the draft proposed or draft final 

24 rule that incorporates substantive changes, if any, 


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1 made to the rule as part of implementing centralized 

2 regulatory review. 

3 (3) A document describing in a complete, clear, 

4 and simple manner all substantive changes made by 

5 the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to 

6 the draft proposed or draft final rule submitted by 

7 the agency to Office for review. 

8 (4) A copy of all documents and written com9 munications (including all electronic mail and elec10 tronic mail file attachments), and a summary of all 

11 oral communications (including phone calls, phone 

12 conferences, and meetings), exchanged as part of the 

13 implementation of the centralized regulatory review 

14 between or among any of the following: 

15 (A) The agency responsible for the rule. 

16 (B) The Office of Information and Regu17 latory Affairs. 

18 (C) Any other office or entity within the 

19 Executive Office of the President. 

20 (D) An agency that is not the agency re21 sponsible for the rule. 

22 (E) An individual who is not employed 

23 by— 

24 (i) the executive branch of the Federal 

25 Government; or 


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1 (ii) an agency that is not the agency 

2 responsible for the rule. 

3 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) CENTRALIZED REGULATORY REVIEW.—The 

5 term ‘‘centralized regulatory review’’ means the in6 stitutional process of Presidential oversight of indi7 vidual agency rules governed by Executive Order 

8 12866 (58 Fed. Reg. 51735; relating to regulatory 

9 planning and review), or any successor to such Exec10 utive order. 

11 (2) RULE.—The term ‘‘rule’’ has the meaning 

12 given that term in section 551 of title 5, United 

13 States Code. 

14 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec15 tion shall be construed to preempt or displace the disclo16 sure requirements under any other provision of law affect17 ing administrative procedure, if such requirements are not 

18 inconsistent with the requirements of this section. 

19 SEC. 605. IMPROVING E-FILING DATA COLLECTION AND 

20 DISTRIBUTION FOR NON-PROFITS. 

21 (a) MANDATORY ELECTRONIC FILING.—Section 

22 6033 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 

23 by redesignating subsection (n) as subsection (o) and by 

24 inserting after subsection (m) the following new sub25 section: 


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1 ‘‘(n) MANDATORY ELECTRONIC FILING.—Any orga2 nization required to file a return under this section shall 

3 file such return in electronic form, using a nonproprietary 

4 machine-readable data format.’’. 

5 (b) INSPECTION OF ELECTRONICALLY FILED AN6 NUAL RETURNS.—Subsection (b) of section 6104 of such 

7 Code is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Any 

8 annual return required to be filed electronically under sec9 tion 6033(n) shall be made available by the Secretary to 

10 the public, in a nonproprietary machine-readable data for11 mat, in a database that is searchable, sortable, and 

12 downloadable.’’. 

13 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

14 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

15 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

16 SEC. 606. IMPROVING REGISTRATION INFORMATION FROM 

17 AGENTS OF FOREIGN PRINCIPALS. 

18 (a) IMPROVING ONLINE ACCESS TO REGISTRATION

19 INFORMATION.—Section 6(d)(1) of the Foreign Agents 

20 Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 616(d)(1)) is amend21 ed by striking ‘‘in a searchable, sortable, and 

22 downloadable manner’’ and inserting ‘‘in a format which 

23 is directly searchable, sortable, downloadable, and ma24 chine-readable’’. 


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1 (b) REPEALING EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION

2 UNDER FOREIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT OF 1938 

3 FOR PERSONS FILING DISCLOSURE REPORTS UNDER

4 LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT OF 1995.— 

5 (1) REPEAL OF EXEMPTION.—Section 3 of the 

6 Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 

7 613) is amended by striking subsection (h). 

8 (2) TIMING OF FILING OF REGISTRATION

9 STATEMENTS.—Section 2 of the Foreign Agents 

10 Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 612) is amend11 ed— 

12 (A) in subsection (a), in the matter pre13 ceding paragraph (1), in the fourth sentence, by 

14 striking ‘‘The registration statement shall in15 clude’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in 

16 subsection (h), the registration statement shall 

17 include’’; and 

18 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(h) TIMING FOR FILING OF STATEMENTS BY PER20 SONS REGISTERED UNDER LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT

21 OF 1995.—In the case of an agent of a person described 

22 in section 1(b)(2) or an entity described in section 1(b)(3) 

23 who has registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 

24 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), after the agent files the 

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1 tion with the agent’s representation of such person or enti2 ty, the agent shall file all subsequent statements required 

3 under this section at the same time, and in the same fre4 quency, as the reports filed with the Clerk of the House 

5 of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate (as the 

6 case may be) under section 5 of the Lobbying Disclosure 

7 Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604) in connection with the 

8 agent’s representation of such person or entity.’’. 

9 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

10 this section shall take effect upon the expiration of the 

11 30-day period which begins on the date of the enactment 

12 of this Act. 

13 SEC. 607. AGENCY DEFINED. 

14 In this title (except for section 608), the term ‘‘agen15 cy’’ has the meaning given that term under section 551 

16 of title 5, United States Code. 

17 SEC. 608. GOVERNMENT-WIDE ENTITY IDENTIFIER. 

18 (a) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term 

19 ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘Executive 

20 agency’’ under section 105 of title 5, United States Code. 

21 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR ALL AGENCIES TO USE A

22 GOVERNMENT-WIDE ENTITY IDENTIFIER.—(1) Each 

23 agency shall, to the extent practicable, require all private 

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1 ings, forms, disclosures or other regularized information 

2 to obtain a unique entity identifier. 

3 (2) The unique entity identifier required under this 

4 section shall allow private sector entities to be identified 

5 uniquely across all Federal regulatory, procurement, as6 sistance, and other reporting regimes. 

7 (c) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION CATEGORIZED

8 USING GOVERNMENT-WIDE ENTITY IDENTIFIER.—Each 

9 agency shall, to the extent practicable, publish all public 

10 regulatory, procurement, assistance, and other reported 

11 information categorized using the unique entity identifier 

12 required under this section. 

13 (d) GOVERNANCE.—The unique entity identifier re14 quired under this section shall be based on the global enti15 ty identifier issued by— 

16 (1) utilities endorsed by the Regulatory Over17 sight Committee, whose charter was set forth by the 

18 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of 

19 the Group of Twenty and the Financial Stability 

20 Board; or 

21 (2) utilities endorsed or otherwise governed by 

22 the Global LEI Foundation so long as that Founda23 tion remains recognized by the Regulatory Oversight 

24 Committee or any successor global public oversight 

25 body. 


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1 SEC. 609. GRANTS TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle V of title 31, United 

3 States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 73 the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘CHAPTER 74—GRANTS TRANSPARENCY 

6 REQUIREMENTS 

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘7401. Definitions. 

‘‘7402. Pre-award evaluation requirements. 

‘‘7403. Website relating to Federal grants. 

‘‘7404. Postdecision explanation for failed applicants. 

‘‘7405. Inspector General review of peer review process. 

7 ‘‘§ 7401. Definitions 

8 ‘‘In this chapter: 

9 ‘‘(1) APPLICANT.—The term ‘applicant’ means 

10 an entity that submits a proposal or application for 

11 a grant. 

12 ‘‘(2) COMPETITIVE GRANT.—The term ‘com13 petitive grant’ means a discretionary grant entered 

14 into through the use of merit-based selection proce15 dures for the purpose of allocating funds authorized 

16 under a grant program of an Executive agency. 

17 ‘‘(3) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘Execu18 tive agency’ has the meaning given the term in sec19 tion 105 of title 5, except the term does not include 

20 the Government Accountability Office. 

21 ‘‘(4) GRANT.—The term ‘grant’ means an 

22 award of Federal financial assistance through a 


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1 grant agreement or cooperative agreement making 

2 payment in cash or in kind to a recipient to carry 

3 out a public purpose authorized by law. 

4 ‘‘(5) GRANT REVIEWER.—The term ‘grant re5 viewer’, with respect to a grant— 

6 ‘‘(A) means any individual who reviews, 

7 evaluates, or participates in the decision to se8 lect an applicant for award of the grant; and 

9 ‘‘(B) includes— 

10 ‘‘(i) a peer reviewer; 

11 ‘‘(ii) a merit reviewer; and 

12 ‘‘(iii) a member of a technical evalua13 tion panel or board or a special emphasis 

14 panel. 

15 ‘‘§ 7402. Pre-award evaluation requirements 

16 ‘‘(a) EVALUATION REQUIRED.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Before awarding a competi18 tive grant and after determining eligibility and con19 ducting a merit-based review, an Executive agency 

20 shall conduct an evaluation of the risk posed by an 

21 applicant to successfully carry out the grant in ac22 cordance with section 200.205 of title 2, Code of 

23 Federal regulations (or any successor thereto). 

24 ‘‘(2) REVIEW OF INTERAGENCY DUPLICA25 TION.—To the extent practicable, each evaluation 


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1 conducted under paragraph (1) shall include a re2 view of any interagency duplication of efforts for re3 search grants, which may be completed through a 

4 text-similarity detection process. 

5 ‘‘(b) SIMPLIFIED EVALUATION PROCEDURE FOR

6 CERTAIN APPLICANTS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

8 ‘covered applicant’ means an applicant that, based 

9 on a risk assessment conducted by the Executive 

10 agency, is determined to pose a relatively low risk of 

11 failing to execute the grant successfully and prop12 erly. 

13 ‘‘(2) PROCEDURE.—In conducting the evalua14 tion required under subsection (a) with respect to a 

15 covered applicant, an Executive agency shall— 

16 ‘‘(A) minimize the burden on the covered 

17 applicant; and 

18 ‘‘(B) consider any existing findings with 

19 respect to the covered applicant under the sin20 gle audit process under chapter 75 of this title 

21 related to the matters described in subsection 

22 (b). 

23 ‘‘§ 7403. Website relating to Federal grants 

24 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—The Director of the Office of 

25 Management and Budget shall consult with Executive 


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1 agencies to upgrade grants.gov or any proposed successor 

2 public website for finding Federal grant opportunities and 

3 applying for those grants so that the website— 

4 ‘‘(1) may serve as a central point of informa5 tion and provide full access for applicants for com6 petitive grants; and 

7 ‘‘(2) shall capture in 1 site, or provide elec8 tronic links to, other relevant databases. 

9 ‘‘(b) NOTICE OF COMPETITIVE GRANT FUNDS

10 AVAILABILITY.—At the time an Executive agency issues 

11 a solicitation or otherwise announces the availability of 

12 funds for a competitive grant, the Executive agency shall 

13 post on the grants website maintained under this section, 

14 in a searchable electronic format, relevant information 

15 about the grant opportunity, including— 

16 ‘‘(1) the grant announcement and purpose of 

17 the grant; 

18 ‘‘(2) the anticipated period of performance for 

19 new awards and whether the Executive agency an20 ticipates that the grant will be continued; 

21 ‘‘(3) in the case of an announcement with re22 spect to which a specific sum is reserved, the 

23 amount of funds available for the grant; 

24 ‘‘(4) a statement of eligibility requirements for 

25 the grant; 


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1 ‘‘(5) contact information for the Executive 

2 agency, including the name, telephone number, and 

3 electronic mail address of a specific person or per4 sons responsible for answering questions about the 

5 grant and the application process for the grant; 

6 ‘‘(6) a clear statement of the evaluation factors 

7 or criteria that the Executive agency intends to use 

8 to evaluate and rank grant applications or proposals 

9 submitted, including the weight to be applied to each 

10 factor or criterion; 

11 ‘‘(7) a description of the process and standards 

12 to be used by the Executive agency to determine 

13 that each grant reviewer does not have a prohibited 

14 conflict of interest, as defined by applicable statute 

15 or regulation, with respect to the evaluation or re16 view of a grant application or proposal, or the deci17 sion to award a grant; 

18 ‘‘(8) the anticipated deadline for submission of 

19 grant applications or proposals; and 

20 ‘‘(9) a set of sample winning grant proposals 

21 awarded under the same or similar program within 

22 the last 3 years. 

23 ‘‘(c) USE BY APPLICANTS.—The grants website 

24 maintained under this section shall, to the greatest extent 

25 practicable, allow applicants to— 


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1 ‘‘(1) use the website with any widely used com2 puter platform; 

3 ‘‘(2) search the website for all competitive 

4 grants by purpose, funding agency, program source, 

5 and other relevant criteria; and 

6 ‘‘(3) apply for a competitive grant using the 

7 website. 

8 ‘‘(d) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR GRANTEES.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each Executive agency 

10 shall make available on the grants website main11 tained under this section detailed grant guidance 

12 and written technical assistance for applicants. 

13 ‘‘(2) GRANT AWARD PROCESS INFORMATION

14 POSTED.—With respect to each grant awarded by an 

15 Executive agency, the Executive agency shall, not 

16 later than 30 days after the date on which the grant 

17 is awarded, post on the grants website maintained 

18 under this section— 

19 ‘‘(A) documentation explaining the basis 

20 for the selection decision for the grant, the 

21 number of proposals received for the grant, 

22 and, with respect to the proposal that resulted 

23 in the grant award, whether the grant was 

24 awarded consistent with a numerical ranking or 

25 other recommendations by grant reviewers; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) in any case in which the award of the 

2 grant is not consistent with the numerical 

3 rankings or any other recommendations made 

4 by grant reviewers, a written justification ex5 plaining the rationale for the decision not to fol6 low the rankings or recommendations. 

7 ‘‘(3) SENSITIVE INFORMATION.— 

8 ‘‘(A) PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFOR9 MATION.—Each Executive agency may redact 

10 any personally identifiable information from a 

11 post on the grants website maintained under 

12 this section. 

13 ‘‘(B) ADVERSE INFORMATION.—An Execu14 tive agency may not post on the grants website 

15 maintained under this section any sensitive in16 formation that the Executive agency determines 

17 would adversely affect an applicant. 

18 ‘‘(e) SUBMISSION AND PUBLICATION OF GRANT SO19 LICITATION FORECAST ON THE GRANTS WEBSITE.— 

20 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than November 

21 30 of each fiscal year or not later than 60 days after 

22 the date on which amounts are appropriated to an 

23 Executive agency for a fiscal year, whichever is later, 

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1 emergency grant solicitations that the Executive 

2 agency expects to issue for the following calendar 

3 year, which— 

4 ‘‘(A) shall be based on the best informa5 tion available; and 

6 ‘‘(B) shall not be binding on the Executive 

7 agency. 

8 ‘‘(2) MATTERS INCLUDED.—The forecast re9 quired under paragraph (1) shall include, to the ex10 tent practicable, for each expected grant solicitation 

11 in a machine-readable format— 

12 ‘‘(A) a brief description of the subject and 

13 purpose of the grant, organized by the organi14 zational unit of the Executive agency; 

15 ‘‘(B) contact information for the organiza16 tional unit or individual responsible for the 

17 grant, if known, including name, telephone 

18 number, and electronic mail address; 

19 ‘‘(C) the expected or actual dates for the 

20 issuance of the grant solicitation and applica21 tion and the grant application submission dead22 line; 

23 ‘‘(D) the estimated amount of the average 

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1 ble, and the estimated total number of grant 

2 awards to be made; and 

3 ‘‘(E) a description of the total amount 

4 available to be awarded. 

5 ‘‘(f) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para7 graph (2), nothing in this section shall be construed 

8 to require the publication of information otherwise 

9 exempt from disclosure under section 552 of title 5 

10 (commonly referred to as the ‘Freedom of Informa11 tion Act’). 

12 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The exemption under sec13 tion 552(b)(5) of title 5 shall not exempt from publi14 cation predecisional documents required to be posted 

15 pursuant to the requirements under subsection 

16 (d)(2). 

17 ‘‘(g) TRANSPARENCY OF INFORMATION.—To the ex18 tent practicable, the grants website maintained under this 

19 section shall— 

20 ‘‘(1) make the information described in this sec21 tion available in its original format; 

22 ‘‘(2) make the information described in this sec23 tion available without charge, license, or registration 

24 requirement; 


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1 ‘‘(3) permit the information described in this 

2 section to be searched; 

3 ‘‘(4) permit the information described in this 

4 section to be downloaded in bulk; 

5 ‘‘(5) permit the information described in this 

6 section to be disseminated via automatic electronic 

7 means; 

8 ‘‘(6) permit the information described in this 

9 section to be freely shared by the public, such as by 

10 social media; 

11 ‘‘(7) use permanent uniform resource locators 

12 for the information described in this section; and 

13 ‘‘(8) provide an opportunity for the public to 

14 provide input about the usefulness of the site and 

15 recommendations for improvements. 

16 ‘‘§ 7404. Postdecision explanation for failed appli17 cants 

18 ‘‘If requested by an applicant for a competitive grant, 

19 for each grant award made in an amount in excess of 

20 $100,000 pursuant to a merit-based selection procedure, 

21 an Executive agency shall provide the applicant with a 

22 timely direct interaction describing the basis for the award 

23 decision of the Executive agency, including, if applicable, 

24 the decision not to award a grant to the applicant. 


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1 ‘‘§ 7405. Inspector General review of peer review 

2 process 

3 ‘‘Not later than 18 months after the date of enact4 ment of the Grant Reform and New Transparency Act of 

5 2016, the Inspector General of each Executive agency that 

6 awards competitive grants shall conduct a review of the 

7 effectiveness of the conflicts of interest policy of the Exec8 utive agency, including a review of a random selection of 

9 peer review processes, with respect to the peer review proc10 ess for competitive grants in order to detect favoritism.’’. 

11 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of chapters 

12 at the beginning of subtitle V of title 31, United States 

13 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

14 chapter 73 the following: 

‘‘74. Grant transparency requirements .................................... 7401’’. 

15 (c) GRANTS WORKFORCE REPORT.— 

16 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

17 (A) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Ex18 ecutive agency’’ has the meaning given the term 

19 in section 105 of title 5, United States Code, 

20 except the term does not include the Govern21 ment Accountability Office. 

22 (B) FEDERAL GRANTS WORKFORCE.—The 

23 term ‘‘Federal grants workforce’’, with respect 

24 to an Executive agency, means all employees of 


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1 the Executive agency who spend some or all of 

2 their time engaged in— 

3 (i) grant planning, including pro4 grammatic activities; 

5 (ii) preparing grant solicitations, No6 tices of Funding Opportunity, Notices In7 viting Applications, or other requests for 

8 grant proposals; 

9 (iii) evaluating or reviewing grant ap10 plications, including serving on a peer re11 view board; 

12 (iv) monitoring or administering grant 

13 performance by grantees; 

14 (v) preparing the Notice of Award and 

15 negotiating terms and conditions; or 

16 (vi) post-award closeout activities, in17 cluding final technical and financial re18 ports. 

19 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

20 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

21 General of the United States shall submit to the 

22 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

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1 resentatives a report on the Federal grants work2 force, which shall address— 

3 (A) the size of the Federal grants work4 force and expected trends in Federal employ5 ment for the Federal grants workforce; 

6 (B) the adequacy of training opportunities 

7 for the Federal grants workforce; 

8 (C) whether the Federal Acquisition Insti9 tute or any other existing entity engaged in ac10 quisition workforce training should be made 

11 available for grant training; 

12 (D) whether a warrant system similar to 

13 that used in the Federal acquisition system 

14 should be established for Federal officials au15 thorized to award grants; 

16 (E) the use by Executive agencies of sus17 pension and debarment actions taken against 

18 grantees during the 3-year period preceding the 

19 date on which the report is submitted, and the 

20 level of agency resources assigned to the sus21 pension and debarment functions; and 

22 (F) any recommendations for improving 

23 the Federal grants workforce. 


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1 SEC. 610. AVAILABILITY OF OPINIONS OF THE OFFICE OF 

2 LEGAL COUNSEL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 

3 JUSTICE. 

4 (a) INDEX OF OPINIONS PROVIDED TO CONGRESS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

6 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant 

7 Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel 

8 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Assistant Attor9 ney General’’) shall submit to Congress an index 

10 which contains, for each opinion of the Office of 

11 Legal Counsel which has been published prior to the 

12 date of the enactment of this Act and except as pro13 vided in paragraph (3), the following information: 

14 (A) The title of the opinion. 

15 (B) The date on which the opinion was 

16 issued, and any date on which the opinion was 

17 updated, if applicable. 

18 (C) The name of the author and the recipi19 ent of the opinion. 

20 (D) The unique identifier assigned to the 

21 opinion, including such an identifier for any up22 date to the opinion, if applicable. 

23 (E) Whether an opinion has been with24 drawn. 

25 (F) Whether the opinion has been released 

26 to the public (in whole or in part), and a 


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1 hyperlink to where it can be found, if applica2 ble. 

3 (2) UPDATES.—The Assistant Attorney General 

4 shall provide an update of the index described in 

5 paragraph (1) to any Member of Congress who re6 quests such an update, not later than 90 days after 

7 receiving such a request. 

8 (3) EXCEPTION.—The Assistant Attorney Gen9 eral may withhold the information described in sub10 paragraphs (A) and (C) of paragraph (1) in the case 

11 of an opinion for which the President has deter12 mined that it is essential to limit access to a covert 

13 action finding under section 503(c)(2) of the Na14 tional Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3093(c)(2)), 

15 except that such information shall be provided to 

16 any Member of Congress who has been granted ac17 cess to such findings under such section. 

18 (b) INDEX OF OPINIONS MADE PUBLICLY AVAIL19 ABLE.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

21 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Assistant 

22 Attorney General shall make publicly available on23 line, for each opinion of the Office of Legal Counsel 

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1 graph (3), the information described in subpara2 graphs (A) through (F) of subsection (a)(1). 

3 (2) UPDATES.—Not later than 5 days after the 

4 issuance of an opinion of the Office of Legal Counsel 

5 of the Department of Justice, the Assistant Attorney 

6 General shall make publicly available the informa7 tion described in subparagraphs (A) through (F) of 

8 subsection (a)(1), except as provided in paragraph 

9 (3). 

10 (3) EXCEPTION.—The Assistant Attorney Gen11 eral may withhold the information described in sub12 paragraphs (A) and (C) of subsection (a)(1) when 

13 the agency interest in protecting such record or in14 formation is outweighed by public interest in disclo15 sure, but only to the extent that one of the following 

16 applies to the information to be withheld: 

17 (A) The withholding of such information is 

18 authorized under criteria established by an Ex19 ecutive order in the interest of national defense 

20 or foreign policy, and the Assistant Attorney 

21 General has determined that such information 

22 meets the criteria established pursuant to the 

23 Executive order. 

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1 ment, except in the case of an opinion that is 

2 cited in another opinion which is not excepted 

3 from disclosure under this paragraph. 

4 (C) The information is specifically exempt5 ed from disclosure by statute (other than sec6 tions 552 and 552b of title 5, United States 

7 Code). 

8 (D) The information includes trade secrets, 

9 or commercial or financial information obtained 

10 from a person, which is privileged or confiden11 tial. 

12 (E) The information includes personnel, 

13 medical, or similar files, the disclosure of which 

14 would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion 

15 of personal privacy. 

16 (F) The President has determined it is es17 sential to limit access to a covert action finding 

18 under section 503(c)(2) of the National Secu19 rity Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3093(c)(2)). 

20 (4) NO FEE FOR ACCESS.—The Assistant At21 torney General may not charge a fee for access to 

22 the information required to be made publicly avail23 able under this subsection. 

24 (c) SUMMARY OF OPINIONS PROVIDED TO CON25 GRESS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 10 days after 

2 receiving a request from a Member of Congress or 

3 an officer or employee of the Legislative Branch for 

4 a summary of an opinion, the Assistant Attorney 

5 General shall provide such a summary, which shall 

6 include legal analysis related to the opinion, except 

7 as provided in paragraph (3). 

8 (2) CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.—The summary 

9 provided under paragraph (1) may only include clas10 sified information which the requesting individual is 

11 authorized, pursuant to a security clearance, to re12 ceive. 

13 (3) EXCEPTION.—The Assistant Attorney Gen14 eral may refrain from providing a summary de15 scribed in paragraph (1) in the case of an opinion 

16 for which the President has determined that it is es17 sential to limit access to a covert action finding 

18 under section 503(c)(2) of the National Security Act 

19 of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3093(c)(2)), except that such in20 formation shall be provided to any Member of Con21 gress who has been granted access to such findings 

22 under such section. 

23 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—To the extent other24 wise permitted by law, this section does not preclude the 

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1 formation relating to opinions, to any person, in addition 

2 to the requirements of this section. 

3 TITLE VII—STRENGTHENING 

4 THE FREEDOM OF INFORMA5 TION ACT 

6 SEC. 701. AGENCY DEFINED. 

7 In this title, the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning 

8 given that term under section 551 of title 5, United States 

9 Code. 

10 SEC. 702. DIGITAL ACCESS TO COMPLETED RESPONSES TO 

11 THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. 

12 (a) REQUIREMENT.— 

13 (1) DATABASE OF COMPLETED FOIA RE14 QUESTS.—Each agency shall make available all ma15 terials contained in the agency’s completed response 

16 to a request under section 552 of title 5, United 

17 States Code (in this section referred to as a ‘‘FOIA 

18 request’’), in a structured database or in a search19 able, sortable, downloadable, machine-readable data20 base not later than two months after the date on 

21 which the FOIA request was completed. 

22 (2) ELECTRONIC FORMAT.—All information is 

23 presumed to be available in an electronic format as 

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1 onstrates that excessive cost would place an undue 

2 burden on the agency. 

3 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—All information included 

4 in the agency’s completed response to a FOIA request 

5 shall be made available to the public electronically and 

6 without cost through each agency’s website. 

7 SEC. 703. FOIAONLINE FOR AGENCIES. 

8 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact9 ment of this Act, the head of each agency shall use 

10 FOIAonline to log, track, and publish all requests received 

11 under section 552 of title 5, United States Code. 

12 SEC. 704. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT AMENDMENTS. 

13 (a) JUDICIAL REVIEW OF COMPLAINTS.—Section 

14 552(a)(4)(B) of title 5, United States Code, is amended 

15 by inserting after ‘‘withheld from the complainant’’ the 

16 following: ‘‘or the public’’. 

17 (b) PRESUMPTION OF OPENNESS.— 

18 (1) AMENDMENTS.—Section 552(b) of title 5, 

19 United States Code, is amended— 

20 (A) in paragraph (3)(B), by inserting 

21 ‘‘with an explanation for the exemption’’ after 

22 ‘‘specifically cites to this paragraph’’; 

23 (B) in paragraph (5), by inserting before 

24 the semicolon at the end the following: ‘‘and ex25 cluding— 


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1 ‘‘(A) opinions that are controlling interpre2 tations of law; 

3 ‘‘(B) final reports or memoranda created 

4 by an entity other than the agency, including 

5 other Governmental entities, at the request of 

6 the agency and used to make a final policy deci7 sion; and 

8 ‘‘(C) guidance documents used by the 

9 agency to respond to the public;’’; 

10 (C) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘similar 

11 files’’ and inserting ‘‘personal information such 

12 as contact information or financial informa13 tion’’; and 

14 (D) in the matter following paragraph 

15 (9)— 

16 (i) by inserting before ‘‘Any reason17 ably segregable portion’’ the following: ‘‘An 

18 agency may not withhold information 

19 under this subsection unless such agency 

20 reasonably foresees that disclosure would 

21 cause specific identifiable harm to an inter22 est protected by an exemption, or if disclo23 sure is prohibited by law.’’; and 

24 (ii) by inserting before ‘‘If technically 

25 feasible,’’ the following: ‘‘For each record 


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1 withheld in whole or in part under para2 graph (3), the agency shall identify the 

3 statute that exempts the record from dis4 closure.’’. 

5 (2) EXEMPTION DECISION TRANSPARENCY.— 

6 Section 552(a)(6)(C)(i) of title 5, United States 

7 Code, is amended by striking the fourth sentence 

8 and inserting at the end the following: ‘‘Any notifi9 cation of denial or partial denial of any request for 

10 records under this subsection shall set forth each 

11 name and title or position of each person responsible 

12 for the denial or partial denial or any decision to 

13 withhold a responsive record under subsection (b).’’. 

14 (c) GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE.—Sub15 section (i) of section 552 of title 5, United States Code, 

16 is amended to read as follows: 

17 ‘‘(i) The Government Accountability Office shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) conduct audits of administrative agencies 

19 on compliance with and implementation of the re20 quirements of this section and issue reports detailing 

21 the results of such audits; 

22 ‘‘(2) catalog the number of exemptions under 

23 subsection (b)(3) and agency use of such exemp24 tions; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) review and prepare a report on the proc2 essing of requests by agencies for information per3 taining to an entity that has received assistance 

4 under title I of the Emergency Economic Stabiliza5 tion Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5211 et seq.) during 

6 any period in which the Government owns or owned 

7 more than 50 percent of the stock of such entity.’’. 

8 (d) ANNUAL REPORT BY CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH

9 SERVICE.—Section 552 of title 5, United States Code, is 

10 amended by adding at the end the following new sub11 section: 

12 ‘‘(n) The Congressional Research Service shall, on an 

13 annual basis, provide the Committee on Oversight and 

14 Government Reform of the House of Representatives and 

15 the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

16 Affairs of the Senate with a list of statutes described in 

17 subsection (b)(3). Each such list shall be made publicly 

18 available.’’. 

19 TITLE VIII—IMPROVING TRANS20 PARENCY WITHIN THE JUDI21 CIAL SYSTEM 

22 SEC. 801. TELEVISING SUPREME COURT PROCEEDINGS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 45 of title 28, United 

24 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘§ 678. Televising Supreme Court proceedings 

2 ‘‘The Supreme Court shall permit television coverage 

3 of all open sessions of the Court unless the Court decides, 

4 by a vote of the majority of justices, that allowing such 

5 coverage in a particular case would constitute a violation 

6 of the due process rights of one or more of the parties 

7 before the Court.’’. 

8 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The chapter analysis 

9 for chapter 45 of title 28, United States Code, is amended 

10 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘678. Televising Supreme Court proceedings.’’. 

11 SEC. 802. AUDIO RECORDING OF SUPREME COURT PRO12 CEEDINGS. 

13 The Chief Justice of the United States shall ensure 

14 that the audio of an oral argument before the Supreme 

15 Court of the United States is recorded and is made pub16 licly available on the Internet website of the Supreme 

17 Court at the same time that it is recorded. 

18 SEC. 803. AVAILABILITY ON THE INTERNET OF FINANCIAL 

19 DISCLOSURE REPORTS OF JUDICIAL OFFI20 CERS. 

21 Section 103 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 

22 (5 U.S.C. App. 103), as amended by this Act, is further 

23 amended by inserting at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(n) The Judicial Conference shall make available 

25 any report filed with it under this title by a judicial officer 


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1 within 48 hours of the applicable submission deadline on 

2 the website of the Judicial Conference in a searchable, 

3 sortable, downloadable, machine-readable format.’’. 

4 SEC. 804. GAO AUDIT OF PACER. 

5 Not later than one year after the date of the enact6 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

7 States shall conduct an audit of the public access to court 

8 electronic records system maintained by the Administra9 tive Office of the United States Courts, and shall submit 

10 to Congress, the Administrative Office of the United 

11 States Courts, and any other appropriate Federal agency 

12 or office, a report that contains the results of the audit, 

13 along with any recommendations for improving the public 

14 access to court electronic records system. 

15 TITLE IX—ENFORCEMENT 

16 SEC. 901. AUDITS BY THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY 

17 OFFICE. 

18 (a) AUDIT REQUIREMENT.—The Comptroller Gen19 eral shall conduct annual audits of the implementation of 

20 the provisions in this Act, and shall submit annually to 

21 the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of 

22 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

23 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen24 ate a report on the results of the audits. 


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1 (b) MATTERS COVERED BY AUDITS.—Audits con2 ducted under this section shall address whether the con3 gressional and executive branch data that is required to 

4 be provided to the public through the Internet is each of 

5 the following: 

6 (1) COMPLETE.—Made available, except for 

7 data that is subject to privacy, security, or privilege 

8 exemptions. 

9 (2) PRIMARY.—Collected at the source, with the 

10 highest possible level of granularity, not in aggregate 

11 or modified forms. 

12 (3) TIMELY.—Made available as quickly as nec13 essary to preserve the value of the data. 

14 (4) ACCESSIBLE.—Available to the widest range 

15 of users for the widest range of purposes. 

16 (5) MACHINE PROCESSABLE.—Reasonably 

17 structured to allow automated processing. 

18 (6) NON-DISCRIMINATORY.—Available to any19 one, with no registration requirement. 

20 (7) NON-PROPRIETARY.—Available in a format 

21 over which no entity has exclusive control. 

22 (8) LICENSE-FREE.—Not subject to any copy23 right, patent, trademark, or trade secret regulation 

24 (with reasonable privacy, security, and privilege re25 strictions). 


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1 (c) CURRENT STANDARDS.—Audits conducted under 

2 this section shall also address whether the data provided 

3 to the public under this Act is produced and maintained 

4 using current standards for data publication. 

5 TITLE X—MISCELLANEOUS 

6 SEC. 1001. TRANSFER OF CERTAIN RECORDS TO ARCHIVIST 

7 OF UNITED STATES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), not 

9 later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 

10 Act, the Attorney General of the United States shall trans11 fer to the Archivist of the United States each record— 

12 (1) created during the period beginning on Jan13 uary 1, 1981, and ending December 31, 1986; and 

14 (2) subject to Item 7 of Records Schedule N1– 

15 60–10–31 of the National Archives and Records Ad16 ministration. 

17 (b) RETENTION.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 

19 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney 

20 General of the United States may submit to the Ar21 chivist of the United States a written request to re22 tain any record described in subsection (a), in ac23 cordance with section 1235.14 of title 36, Code of 

24 Federal Regulations. The Archivist shall approve or 


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1 deny each such request not later than 60 days after 

2 receiving the request. 

3 (2) TRANSFER OF RECORDS AFTER DENIAL.— 

4 Not later than 30 days after the Archivist of the 

5 United States denies a request under paragraph (1), 

6 the Attorney General shall transfer to the Archivist 

7 each record for which the request for retention has 

8 been denied. 

9 (c) ENFORCEMENT.—If the Attorney General fails to 

10 comply with the requirements of this section, the Archivist 

11 of the United States may bring an action in the proper 

12 district court of the United States to enforce compliance 

13 with this section. 

14 SEC. 1002. DATA STANDARDS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title I of the Finan16 cial Stability Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5311 et seq.) is 

17 amended by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 124. DATA STANDARDS. 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury 

20 shall, by rule, promulgate data standards for the informa21 tion reported to member agencies by financial entities 

22 under the jurisdiction of the member agency and the data 

23 collected from member agencies on behalf of the Council. 

24 ‘‘(b) STANDARDIZATION.—Member agencies, in con25 sultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall impleVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Dec 05, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00099 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4504.IH H4504

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1 ment regulations promulgated by the Secretary of the 

2 Treasury under subsection (a) to standardize the types 

3 and formats of data reported to member agencies or col4 lected on behalf of the Council, as described under sub5 section (a). If a member agency fails to implement such 

6 regulations prior to the expiration of the 3-year period fol7 lowing the date of publication of final regulations, the Sec8 retary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Chair9 person, may implement such regulations with respect to 

10 the financial entities under the jurisdiction of the member 

11 agency. 

12 ‘‘(c) DATA STANDARDS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) COMMON IDENTIFIERS AND DATA FOR14 MATS.—The data standards promulgated under sub15 section (a) shall include— 

16 ‘‘(A) common identifiers for information 

17 reported to member agencies or collected on be18 half of the Council, including a common legal 

19 entity identifier for all entities required to re20 port to member agencies; and 

21 ‘‘(B) common data formats for information 

22 reported to member agencies or collected on be23 half of the Council. 


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1 ‘‘(2) DATA STANDARD REQUIREMENTS.—The 

2 data standards promulgated under subsection (a) 

3 shall, to the extent practicable— 

4 ‘‘(A) render information fully searchable 

5 and machine-readable; 

6 ‘‘(B) be nonproprietary; 

7 ‘‘(C) incorporate standards developed and 

8 maintained by voluntary consensus standards 

9 bodies; and 

10 ‘‘(D) be consistent with and implement ap11 plicable accounting and reporting principles. 

12 ‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—In promulgating data 

13 standards under subsection (a), the Secretary of the 

14 Treasury shall consult with other Federal depart15 ments and agencies and multi-agency initiatives re16 sponsible for Federal data standards. 

17 ‘‘(4) INTEROPERABILITY OF DATA.—In promul18 gating data standards under subsection (a), the Sec19 retary of the Treasury shall seek to promote inter20 operability of financial regulatory data across mem21 bers of the Council.’’. 

22 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

23 under section 1(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform 


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1 and Consumer Protection Act is amended by inserting 

2 after the item relating to section 123 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 124. Data standards.’’. 

Æ 


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