I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5116 

To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to permit a bipartisan majority 

of Commissioners to hold a meeting that is closed to the public to 

discuss official business. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 28, 2016 

Mr. OLSON (for himself, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. LANCE, and Mr. MULLIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 

and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to permit 

a bipartisan majority of Commissioners to hold a meeting 

that is closed to the public to discuss official business. 

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 ‘‘Freeing Responsible 

5 and Effective Exchanges Act’’ or the ‘‘FREE Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSIONS. 

7 The Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 

8 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 26 the fol9 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 27. NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSIONS. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 552b of 

3 title 5, United States Code, a bipartisan majority of Com4 missioners may hold a meeting that is closed to the public 

5 to discuss official business if— 

6 ‘‘(1) a vote or any other agency action is not 

7 taken at such meeting; 

8 ‘‘(2) each person present at such meeting is a 

9 Commissioner or an employee of the Commission; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(3) an attorney from the Office of General 

12 Counsel of the Commission is present at such meet13 ing. 

14 ‘‘(b) DISCLOSURE OF NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE

15 DISCUSSIONS.—Not later than 2 business days after the 

16 conclusion of a meeting held under subsection (a), the 

17 Commission shall publish on its Internet website a disclo18 sure of such meeting, including— 

19 ‘‘(1) a list of the persons who attended such 

20 meeting; and 

21 ‘‘(2) a summary of the matters discussed at 

22 such meeting, except for such matters as the Com23 mission determines may be withheld under section 

24 552b(c) of title 5, United States Code. 

25 ‘‘(c) PRESERVATION OF OPEN MEETINGS REQUIRE26 MENTS FOR AGENCY ACTION.—Nothing in this section 


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1 shall limit the applicability of section 552b of title 5, 

2 United States Code, with respect to a meeting of Commis3 sioners other than that described in subsection (a). 

4 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 ‘‘(1) AGENCY ACTION.—The term ‘agency ac6 tion’ has the meaning given such term in section 

7 551 of title 5, United States Code. 

8 ‘‘(2) BIPARTISAN MAJORITY.—The term ‘bipar9 tisan majority’ means, when used with respect to a 

10 group of Commissioners, that such group— 

11 ‘‘(A) is a group of 3 or more Commis12 sioners; and 

13 ‘‘(B) includes, for each political party of 

14 which any Commissioner is a member, at least 

15 1 Commissioner who is a member of such polit16 ical party, and, if any Commissioner has no po17 litical party affiliation, at least one unaffiliated 

18 Commissioner.’’. 

Æ 


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