I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 310 

To require a Federal agency to include language in certain educational and 

advertising materials indicating that such materials are produced and 

disseminated at taxpayer expense. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 13, 2015 

Mr. LONG (for himself and Mr. FARENTHOLD) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To require a Federal agency to include language in certain 

educational and advertising materials indicating that 

such materials are produced and disseminated at taxpayer expense. 

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 ‘‘Taxpayer Trans5 parency Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR PRINTED MATERIALS AND AD2 VERTISEMENTS BY FEDERAL AGENCIES. 

3 (a) REQUIREMENT TO IDENTIFY FUNDING SOURCE

4 FOR COMMUNICATION FUNDED BY FEDERAL AGENCY.— 

5 Each communication funded by a Federal agency that is 

6 an advertisement, or that provides information about any 

7 Federal Government program, benefit, or service, shall 

8 clearly state— 

9 (1) in the case of a printed communication, in10 cluding mass mailings, signs, and billboards, that 

11 the communication is printed or published at tax12 payer expense; and 

13 (2) in the case of a communication transmitted 

14 through radio, television, the Internet, or any means 

15 other than the means referred to in paragraph (1), 

16 that the communication is produced or disseminated 

17 at taxpayer expense. 

18 (b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.— 

19 (1) PRINTED COMMUNICATION.—Any printed 

20 communication described in subsection (a)(1) shall— 

21 (A) be of sufficient type size to be clearly 

22 readable by the recipient of the communication; 

23 (B) to the extent feasible, be contained in 

24 a printed box set apart from the other contents 

25 of the communication; and 


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1 (C) to the extent feasible, be printed with 

2 a reasonable degree of color contrast between 

3 the background and the printed statement. 

4 (2) RADIO, TELEVISION, AND INTERNET COM5 MUNICATION.— 

6 (A) AUDIO COMMUNICATION.—Any audio 

7 communication described in subsection (a)(2) 

8 shall include an audio statement that commu9 nicates the information required under that 

10 subsection in a clearly spoken manner. 

11 (B) VIDEO COMMUNICATION.—Any video 

12 communication described in subsection (a)(2) 

13 shall include a statement with the information 

14 referred to under that subsection— 

15 (i) that is conveyed in a clearly spo16 ken manner; 

17 (ii) that is conveyed by a voice-over or 

18 screen view of the person making the state19 ment; and 

20 (iii) to the extent feasible, that also 

21 appears in writing at the end of the com22 munication in a clearly readable manner 

23 with a reasonable degree of color contrast 

24 between the background and the printed 


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1 statement, for a period of at least 4 sec2 onds. 

3 (C) E-MAIL COMMUNICATION.—Any e-mail 

4 communication described in subsection (a)(2) 

5 shall include the information required under 

6 that subsection, displayed in a manner that— 

7 (i) is of sufficient type size to be 

8 clearly readable by the recipient of the 

9 communication; 

10 (ii) is set apart from the other con11 tents of the communication; and 

12 (iii) includes a reasonable degree of 

13 color contrast between the background and 

14 the printed statement. 

15 (c) IDENTIFICATION OF OTHER FUNDING SOURCE

16 FOR CERTAIN COMMUNICATIONS.—In the case of a com17 munication funded entirely by user fees, by any other 

18 source that does not include Federal funds, or by a com19 bination of such fees or other source, a Federal agency 

20 may apply the requirements of subsections (a) and (b) by 

21 substituting ‘‘by the United States Government’’ for ‘‘at 

22 taxpayer expense’’. 

23 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

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

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


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1 agency’’ in section 133 of title 41, United States 

2 Code. 

3 (2) MASS MAILING.—The term ‘‘mass mailing’’ 

4 means any mailing or distribution of 499 or more 

5 newsletters, pamphlets, or other printed matter with 

6 substantially identical content, whether such matter 

7 is deposited singly or in bulk, or at the same time 

8 or different times, except that such term does not 

9 include any mailing— 

10 (A) in direct response to a communication 

11 from a person to whom the matter is mailed; or 

12 (B) of a news release to the communica13 tions media. 

14 (e) SOURCE OF FUNDS.—The funds used by a Fed15 eral agency to carry out this Act shall be derived from 

16 amounts made available to the agency for advertising, or 

17 for providing information about any Federal Government 

18 program, benefit, or service. 

19 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply only 

20 to communications printed or otherwise produced after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act. 

22 SEC. 3. GUIDANCE FOR IMPLEMENTATION. 

23 Not later than 6 months after the date of the enact24 ment of this Act, the Director of the Office of ManageVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:06 Jan 21, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H310.IH H310

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1 ment and Budget shall develop and issue guidance on im2 plementing the requirements of this Act. 

3 SEC. 4. JUDICIAL REVIEW AND ENFORCEABILITY. 

4 (a) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—There shall be no judicial re5 view of compliance or noncompliance with any provision 

6 of this Act. 

7 (b) ENFORCEABILITY.—No provision of this Act shall 

8 be construed to create any right or benefit, substantive 

9 or procedural, enforceable by any administrative or judi10 cial action. 

Æ 


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