IIB 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4631 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 12, 2012 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to institute spending 

limits and transparency requirements for Federal conference and travel expenditures, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Government Spending 

3 Accountability Act of 2012’’ or the ‘‘GSA Act of 2012’’. 

4 SEC. 2. LIMITS AND TRANSPARENCY FOR CONFERENCE 

5 AND TRAVEL SPENDING. 

6 (a) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 57 of title 5, United 

7 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 5711 

8 the following: 

9 ‘‘§ 5712. Limits and transparency for conference and 

10 travel spending 

11 ‘‘(a) CONFERENCE TRANSPARENCY AND SPENDING

12 LIMITS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF CONFERENCE

14 MATERIALS.—Each agency shall post on the public 

15 website of that agency detailed information on any 

16 presentation made by any employee of that agency 

17 at a conference (except to the extent the head of an 

18 agency excludes such information for reasons of na19 tional security) including— 

20 ‘‘(A) the prepared text of any verbal pres21 entation made; and 

22 ‘‘(B) any visual, digital, video, or audio 

23 materials presented, including photographs, 

24 slides, and audio-visual recordings. 

25 ‘‘(2) LIMITS ON AMOUNT EXPENDED ON A CON26 FERENCE.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

2 subparagraph (B), an agency may not expend 

3 more than $500,000 to support a single con4 ference. 

5 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The head of an agency 

6 may waive the limitation in subparagraph (A) 

7 for a specific conference after making a deter8 mination that the expenditure is justified as the 

9 most cost-effective option to achieve a compel10 ling purpose. The head of an agency shall sub11 mit to the appropriate congressional committees 

12 a report on any waiver granted under this sub13 paragraph, including the justification for such 

14 waiver. 

15 ‘‘(C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 

16 in this paragraph shall be construed to preclude 

17 an agency from receiving financial support or 

18 other assistance from a private entity to pay or 

19 defray the costs of a conference the total cost 

20 of which exceeds $500,000. 

21 ‘‘(b) INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE RULE.—An 

22 agency may not pay the travel expenses for more than 50 

23 employees of that agency who are stationed in the United 

24 States, for any international conference, unless the SecVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:17 Sep 13, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4631.RFS H4631

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1 retary of State determines that attendance for such em2 ployees is in the national interest. 

3 ‘‘(c) REPORT ON TRAVEL EXPENSES REQUIRED.— 

4 At the beginning of each quarter of each fiscal year, each 

5 agency shall post on the public website of that agency a 

6 report on each conference for which the agency paid travel 

7 expenses during the preceding 3 months that includes— 

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

9 including travel expenses, and any agency expendi10 tures to otherwise support the conference; 

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

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

13 ‘‘(4) the date of the conference; 

14 ‘‘(5) a brief explanation of how the participa15 tion of employees from such agency at the con16 ference advanced the mission of the agency; 

17 ‘‘(6) the title of any employee, or any individual 

18 who is not a Federal employee, whose travel ex19 penses or other conference expenses were paid by the 

20 agency; 

21 ‘‘(7) the total number of individuals whose trav22 el expenses or other conference expenses were paid 

23 by the agency; and 

24 ‘‘(8) in the case of a conference for which that 

25 agency was the primary sponsor, a statement that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) describes the cost to the agency of se2 lecting the specific conference venue; 

3 ‘‘(B) describes why the location was se4 lected, including a justification for such selec5 tion; 

6 ‘‘(C) demonstrates the cost efficiency of 

7 the location; 

8 ‘‘(D) provides a cost benefit analysis of 

9 holding a conference rather than conducting a 

10 teleconference; and 

11 ‘‘(E) describes any financial support or 

12 other assistance from a private entity used to 

13 pay or defray the costs of the conference, and 

14 for each case where such support or assistance 

15 was used, the head of the agency shall include 

16 a certification that there is no conflict of inter17 est resulting from such support or assistance. 

18 ‘‘(d) FORMAT AND PUBLICATION OF REPORT.—Each 

19 report posted on the public website under subsection (c) 

20 shall— 

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

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

23 after the date of posting. 

24 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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

2 meaning given that term under section 5701, but 

3 does not include the government of the District of 

4 Columbia. 

5 ‘‘(2) CONFERENCE.—The term ‘conference’ 

6 means a meeting, retreat, seminar, symposium, or 

7 event to which an employee travels 25 miles or more 

8 to attend, that— 

9 ‘‘(A) is held for consultation, education, 

10 discussion, or training; and 

11 ‘‘(B) is not held entirely at a Government 

12 facility. 

13 ‘‘(3) INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE.—The term 

14 ‘international conference’ means a conference occur15 ring outside the United States attended by rep16 resentatives of— 

17 ‘‘(A) the Government of the United States; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(B) any foreign government, international 

20 organization, or foreign nongovernmental orga21 nization.’’. 

22 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

23 The table of sections for chapter 57 of title 5, United 

24 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat25 ing to section 5711 the following: 

‘‘5712. Limits and transparency for conference and travel spending.’’. 


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1 (c) ANNUAL TRAVEL EXPENSE LIMITS.— 

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

3 years 2013 through 2017, an agency (as defined 

4 under section 5712(e) of title 5, United States Code, 

5 as added by subsection (a)) may not make, or obli6 gate to make, expenditures for travel expenses, in an 

7 aggregate amount greater than 70 percent of the ag8 gregate amount of such expenses for fiscal year 

9 2010. 

10 (2) IDENTIFICATION OF TRAVEL EXPENSES.— 

11 (A) RESPONSIBILITIES.—Not later than 

12 December 31, 2012, and after consultation with 

13 the Administrator of General Services and the 

14 Director of the Administrative Office of the 

15 United States Courts, the Director of the Office 

16 of Management and Budget shall establish 

17 guidelines for the determination of what ex18 penses constitute travel expenses for purposes 

19 of this subsection. The guidelines shall identify 

20 specific expenses, and classes of expenses, that 

21 are to be treated as travel expenses. 

22 (B) EXEMPTION FOR MILITARY TRAVEL.— 

23 The guidelines required under subparagraph 

24 (A) shall exclude military travel expenses in de25 termining what expenses constitute travel exVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:17 Sep 13, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4631.RFS H4631

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1 penses. Military travel expenses shall include 

2 travel expenses involving military combat, the 

3 training or deployment of uniformed military 

4 personnel, and such other travel expenses as de5 termined by the Director of the Office of Man6 agement and Budget, in consultation with the 

7 Administrator of General Services and the Di8 rector of the Administrative Office of the 

9 United States Courts. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 11, 

2012. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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