II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3415 

To require the disclosure of all payments made under the Equal Access 

to Justice Act. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 19, 2012 

Mr. INHOFE (for himself and Mr. VITTER) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require the disclosure of all payments made under the 

Equal Access to Justice Act. 

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 Trans5 parency and Recordkeeping Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF PAYMENTS. 

7 Section 1304 of title 31, United States Code, is 

8 amended by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(d) DISCLOSURE OF PAYMENTS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 3415 IS

1 ‘‘(A) PAST PAYMENTS.—Except as pro2 vided in paragraph (3), not later than 90 days 

3 after the date of enactment of the Government 

4 Transparency and Recordkeeping Act of 2012, 

5 the Secretary of the Treasury shall make all 

6 records of individual payments made under this 

7 section since January 1, 2003, available to Con8 gress and the public in accordance with para9 graph (2). 

10 ‘‘(B) ANNUAL UPDATE.—Beginning 1 year 

11 after the date on which the Secretary of the 

12 Treasury makes the records available under 

13 subparagraph (A), and each year thereafter, the 

14 Secretary of the Treasury shall make all 

15 records of individual payments made under this 

16 section during the previous year available to 

17 Congress and the public in accordance with 

18 paragraph (2). 

19 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—In making records 

20 available under paragraph (1), the Secretary of the 

21 Treasury shall ensure that— 

22 ‘‘(A) the records are made available on a 

23 publicly accessible Internet website; and 

24 ‘‘(B) each record contains— 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 3415 IS

1 ‘‘(i) information that clearly identifies 

2 the entity receiving the payment; 

3 ‘‘(ii) a copy of the settlement or judg4 ment under which the payment was made; 

5 ‘‘(iii) the amount of the total payment 

6 to each entity; and 

7 ‘‘(iv) a breakdown of the payment 

8 showing the specific amount of the dam9 ages, interest, and attorneys’ fees. 

10 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITION.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the 

12 Treasury may not make a record of individual 

13 payment available under this subsection if— 

14 ‘‘(i) the payment was not the result of 

15 any executive branch, Federal department, 

16 agency, or instrumentality statutory or 

17 regulatory approval or permit related case, 

18 court order, consent decree, or Federal de19 partment, agency, or instrumentality set20 tlement; or 

21 ‘‘(ii) the disclosure of the information 

22 is otherwise prohibited by law or court 

23 order, or is not in the best interest of na24 tional security. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 3415 IS

1 ‘‘(B) RATIONALE.—For each record of in2 dividual payment not disclosed under subpara3 graph (A), the Secretary of the Treasury shall 

4 submit to Congress a statement explaining the 

5 rationale for not disclosing the record.’’. 

Æ 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS