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Union Calendar No. 479 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4631 

[Report No. 112–664] 

To require quarterly reports on agency conferences and meetings, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 25, 2012 

Mr. WALSH of Illinois (for himself, Mr. LONG, Mr. MICHAUD, and Mr. PAUL) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Oversight and Government Reform 

SEPTEMBER 11, 2012 

Additional sponsors: Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. LANDRY, Mr. 

LUETKEMEYER, and Mr. KELLY

SEPTEMBER 11, 2012 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 


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A BILL 

To require quarterly reports on agency conferences and 

meetings, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Government Spending 

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

6 SEC. 2. AGENCY REPORTS ON CONFERENCES AND MEET7 INGS. 

8 (a) QUARTERLY REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not less fre9 quently than quarterly, the head of each agency shall sub10 mit a detailed, itemized report to the relevant committee 

11 of Congress on any conference or meeting that occurs at 

12 a location for which the agency must pay a fee or at a 

13 location not owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by the 

14 Federal Government and— 

15 (1) that is attended by 50 or more employees; 

16 or 

17 (2) for which the total cost is $100,000 or 

18 more. 

19 (b) EXCLUSIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply 

20 with respect to any conference or meeting that the head 

21 of an agency determines— 

22 (1) that reporting on such conference or meet23 ing would not be in the interest of national security; 

24 or 


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1 (2) is necessary because of an imminent threat 

2 to health or safety or other emergency. 

3 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

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

5 meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, 

6 United States Code. 

7 (2) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ has the 

8 meaning given that term in section 2105 of title 5, 

9 United States Code. 

10 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

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

13 SEC. 2. LIMITS AND TRANSPARENCY FOR TRAVEL AND CON14 FERENCE SPENDING. 

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

16 Code, is amended by inserting after section 5711 the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘§ 5712. Limits and transparency for travel and con19 ference spending 

20 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

21 ‘‘(1) CONFERENCE.—The term ‘conference’ means 

22 a meeting, retreat, seminar, symposium, or event to 

23 which an employee travels 25 miles or more to attend, 

24 that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) is held for consultation, education, dis2 cussion, or training; and 

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

4 facility. 

5 ‘‘(2) INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE.—The term 

6 ‘international conference’ means a conference occur7 ring outside the United States attended by representa8 tives of— 

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

10 and 

11 ‘‘(B) any foreign government, international 

12 organization, or foreign nongovernmental orga13 nization. 

14 ‘‘(b) INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE RULE.—An agency 

15 may not pay the travel expenses for more than 50 employees 

16 of that agency who are stationed in the United States, for 

17 any international conference, unless the Secretary of State 

18 determines that attendance for such employees is in the na19 tional interest. 

20 ‘‘(c) REPORT ON TRAVEL EXPENSES REQUIRED.—At 

21 the beginning of each quarter of each fiscal year, each agen22 cy shall post on the public website of that agency a report 

23 on each conference for which the agency paid travel expenses 

24 during the preceding 3 months that includes— 


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

2 including travel expenses, and any agency expendi3 tures to otherwise support the conference; 

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

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

6 ‘‘(4) in the case of a conference for which that 

7 agency was the primary sponsor, a statement that— 

8 ‘‘(A) describes the cost to the agency of se9 lecting the specific conference venue; 

10 ‘‘(B) describes why the location was selected, 

11 including a justification for such selection; 

12 ‘‘(C) demonstrates the cost efficiency of the 

13 location; 

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

15 holding a conference rather than conducting a 

16 teleconference; and 

17 ‘‘(E) describes any financial support or 

18 other assistance from a private entity used to 

19 pay or defray the costs of the conference, and for 

20 each case where such support or assistance was 

21 used, the head of the agency shall include a cer22 tification that there is no conflict of interest re23 sulting from such support or assistance; 

24 ‘‘(5) the date of the conference; 


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1 ‘‘(6) a brief explanation of how the participation 

2 of employees from such agency at the conference ad3 vanced the mission of the agency; 

4 ‘‘(7) the title of any employee, or any individual 

5 who is not a Federal employee, whose travel expenses 

6 or other conference expenses were paid by the agency; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(8) the total number of individuals whose travel 

9 expenses or other conference expenses were paid by the 

10 agency. 

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

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

13 shall— 

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

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

16 after the date of posting.’’. 

17 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The 

18 table of sections for chapter 57 of title 5, United States 

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

20 section 5711 the following: 

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

21 (c) ANNUAL TRAVEL EXPENSE LIMITS.— 

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

23 years 2013 through 2017, an agency (as defined 

24 under section 5701 of title 5, United States Code) 

25 may not make, or obligate to make, expenditures for 


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1 travel expenses, in an aggregate amount greater than 

2 70 percent of the aggregate amount of such expenses 

3 for fiscal year 2010. 

4 (2) IDENTIFICATION OF TRAVEL EXPENSES.— 

5 (A) RESPONSIBILITIES.—Not later than De6 cember 31, 2012, and after consultation with the 

7 Administrator of General Services and the Direc8 tor of the Administrative Office of the United 

9 States Courts, the Director of the Office of Man10 agement and Budget shall establish guidelines for 

11 the determination of what expenses constitute 

12 travel expenses for purposes of this subsection. 

13 The guidelines shall identify specific expenses, 

14 and classes of expenses, that are to be treated as 

15 travel expenses. 

16 (B) EXEMPTION FOR MILITARY TRAVEL.— 

17 The guidelines required under subparagraph (A) 

18 shall exclude military travel expenses in deter19 mining what expenses constitute travel expenses. 

20 Military travel expenses shall include travel ex21 penses involving military combat, the training 

22 or deployment of uniformed military personnel, 

23 and such other travel expenses as determined by 

24 the Director of the Office of Management and 

25 Budget, in consultation with the Administrator 


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1 of General Services and the Director of the Ad2 ministrative Office of the United States Courts. 

3 (d) CONFERENCE TRANSPARENCY AND SPENDING LIM4 ITS.— 

5 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

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

7 meaning given that term under section 5701 of 

8 title 5, United States Code. 

9 (B) CONFERENCE.—The term ‘‘conference’’ 

10 has the meaning given that term under section 

11 5712(a) of that title 5, United States Code (as 

12 added by subsection (a)). 

13 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF CONFERENCE MA14 TERIALS.—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 at 

17 a conference (except to the extent the head of an agen18 cy excludes such information for reasons of national 

19 security) including— 

20 (A) the prepared text of any verbal presen21 tation made; and 

22 (B) any visual, digital, video, or audio ma23 terials presented, including photographs, slides, 

24 and audio-visual recordings. 


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1 (3) LIMITS ON AMOUNT EXPENDED ON A CON2 FERENCE.— 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—An agency may not ex4 pend more than $500,000 to support a single 

5 conference. 

6 (B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

7 this paragraph shall be construed to preclude an 

8 agency from receiving financial support or other 

9 assistance from a private entity to pay or defray 

10 the costs of a conference the total cost of which 

11 exceeds $500,000. 


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Union Calendar No. 479 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4631 

[Report No. 112–664] 

A BILL 

To require quarterly reports on agency conferences 

and meetings, and for other purposes. 

SEPTEMBER 11, 2012 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS