I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4826 

To amend the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 to require the development 

of ethics plans for certain transition teams, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 18, 2018 

Mr. CUMMINGS (for himself, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. 

NORTON, Mr. CLAY, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. COOPER, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. 

KELLY of Illinois, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. 

KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. DESAULNIER, and Mr. 

GOMEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To amend the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 to require 

the development of ethics plans for certain transition 

teams, 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 ‘‘Transition Team Eth5 ics Improvement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION ETHICS PROGRAMS. 

7 The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 (3 U.S.C. 

8 102 note) is amended— 


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1 (1) in section 3(f), by adding at the end the fol2 lowing new paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(3) The President-elect shall submit to the Com4 mittee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House 

5 of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Secu6 rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report with 

7 a list of— 

8 ‘‘(A) any individual for whom an application for 

9 a security clearance was submitted, not later than 

10 10 days after the date on which the application was 

11 submitted; and 

12 ‘‘(B) any individual provided a security clear13 ance, not later than 10 days after the date on which 

14 the security clearance was provided.’’; 

15 (2) in section 4— 

16 (A) in subsection (a)— 

17 (i) in paragraph (3), by striking 

18 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

19 (ii) by redesignating paragraph (4) as 

20 paragraph (5); and 

21 (iii) by inserting after paragraph (3) 

22 the following: 

23 ‘‘(4) the term ‘nonpublic information’— 

24 ‘‘(A) means information from the Federal 

25 Government that a transition team member obVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jan 20, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4826.IH H4826

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1 tains as part of the employment of such mem2 ber that the member knows or reasonably 

3 should know has not been made available to the 

4 general public; and 

5 ‘‘(B) includes information that a transition 

6 team member knows or reasonably should 

7 know— 

8 ‘‘(i) is exempt from disclosure under 

9 section 552 of title 5, United States Code, 

10 or otherwise protected from disclosure by 

11 law; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) is not authorized by the appro13 priate agency or official to be released to 

14 the public; and’’; and 

15 (B) in subsection (g)— 

16 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘No17 vember’’ and inserting ‘‘October’’; and 

18 (ii) by adding at the end the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(3) ETHICS PLAN.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each memorandum of 

22 understanding under paragraph (1) shall in23 clude an agreement that the eligible candidate 

24 will implement and enforce an ethics plan to 

25 guide the conduct of the transition beginning on 


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1 the date on which the eligible candidate be2 comes the President-elect. 

3 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—The ethics plan shall 

4 include, at a minimum— 

5 ‘‘(i) a description of the ethics re6 quirements that will apply to all transition 

7 team members, including specific require8 ments for transition team members who 

9 will have access to nonpublic or classified 

10 information; 

11 ‘‘(ii) a description of how the transi12 tion team will— 

13 ‘‘(I) address the role on the tran14 sition team of— 

15 ‘‘(aa) registered lobbyists 

16 under the Lobbying Disclosure 

17 Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601 et 

18 seq.) and individuals who were 

19 formerly registered lobbyists 

20 under that Act; 

21 ‘‘(bb) persons registered 

22 under the Foreign Agents Reg23 istration Act, as amended (22 

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1 tionals, and other foreign agents; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(cc) transition team mem4 bers with sources of income or 

5 clients that are not disclosed to 

6 the public; 

7 ‘‘(II) prohibit a transition team 

8 member with conflicts of interest, in9 cluding conflicts described in section 

10 2635.402(a) and section 2635.502(a) 

11 of title 5, Code of Federal Regula12 tions, related to current or former em13 ployment, affiliations, clients, or in14 vestments, from working on particular 

15 matters involving specific parties that 

16 affect the interests of such member; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(III) address how the covered 

19 eligible candidate will address their 

20 own conflicts of interest during a 

21 Presidential term if the covered eligi22 ble candidate becomes the President23 elect; 

24 ‘‘(iii) a Code of Ethical Conduct, to 

25 which each transition team member will 


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1 sign and be subject to, that reflects the 

2 content of the ethics plans under this para3 graph and at a minimum requires each 

4 transition team member to— 

5 ‘‘(I) seek authorization from 

6 transition team leaders or their des7 ignees before seeking, on behalf of the 

8 transition, access to any nonpublic in9 formation; 

10 ‘‘(II) keep confidential any non11 public information provided in the 

12 course of the duties of the member 

13 with the transition and exclusively use 

14 such information for the purposes of 

15 the transition; and 

16 ‘‘(III) not use any nonpublic in17 formation provided in the course of 

18 transition duties, in any manner, for 

19 personal or private gain for the mem20 ber or any other party at any time 

21 during or after the transition; and 

22 ‘‘(iv) a description of how the transi23 tion team will enforce the Code of Ethical 

24 Conduct, including the names of the tranVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jan 20, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4826.IH H4826

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1 sition team members responsible for en2 forcement, oversight, and compliance. 

3 ‘‘(C) PUBLICLY AVAILABLE.—The transi4 tion team shall make the ethics plan described 

5 in this paragraph publicly available on the 

6 Internet website of the General Services Admin7 istration the earlier of— 

8 ‘‘(i) the day on which the memo9 randum of understanding is completed; or 

10 ‘‘(ii) October 1.’’; and 

11 (3) in section 6(b)— 

12 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

13 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

14 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

15 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

16 the period at the end and inserting a semi17 colon; and 

18 (iii) by adding at the end the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(C) a list of all positions each transition team 

21 member has held outside the Federal Government 

22 for the previous 12-month period, including paid, 

23 unpaid, and uncompensated positions; 


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1 ‘‘(D) sources of compensation of each transition 

2 team member exceeding $5,000 a year for the pre3 vious 12-month period; 

4 ‘‘(E) a description of the role of each transition 

5 team member, including a list of any policy issues 

6 that the member expects to work on, and a list of 

7 agencies the member expects to interact with, while 

8 serving on the transition team; 

9 ‘‘(F) a list of any issues from which each tran10 sition team member will be recused while serving as 

11 a member of the transition team pursuant to the 

12 transition team ethics plan outlined in section 

13 4(g)(3); and 

14 ‘‘(G) an affirmation that no transition team 

15 member has a financial conflict of interest that pre16 cludes the member from working on the matters de17 scribed in subparagraph (E).’’; 

18 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘not 

19 later than 2 business days’’ after ‘‘public’’; and 

20 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(3) The head of a Federal department or agency, 

22 or their designee, shall not permit access to the Federal 

23 department or agency, or employees of such department 

24 or agency, that would not be provided to a member of the 


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1 public for any transition team member who does not make 

2 the disclosures listed under paragraph (1).’’. 

Æ 


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