I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5775 

To require the establishment of a commission on earmark reform, to consolidate and streamline the grants management structure of the Federal 

Government, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 19, 2010 

Mr. SESTAK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the 

Committees on the Budget and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require the establishment of a commission on earmark 

reform, to consolidate and streamline the grants management structure of the Federal Government, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Grant Accessibility and 

5 Transparency Enhancement Act of 2010’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL COMMISSION ON EARMARK REFORM. 

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President shall establish 

3 a commission to be known as the ‘‘National Commission 

4 on Earmark Reform’’ (in this section referred to as the 

5 ‘‘Commission’’. 

6 (b) DUTIES OF COMMISSION.—The duties of the 

7 Commission are— 

8 (1) to study the laws and practices related to 

9 replacing earmarks with a full grant-making process; 

10 and 

11 (2) to develop a proposed plan that includes ob12 jectives, priorities, policies, and long-term plans to 

13 transition from congressional member-directed ear14 marks to a grant-making process. 

15 (c) MEMBERSHIP.—The Commission shall be com16 posed of— 

17 (1) the Director of the Office of Management 

18 and Budget, who shall be the chairman of the Com19 mission; and 

20 (2) such other members as the President may 

21 appoint, after consultation with the majority and mi22 nority leadership of the Senate and the House of 

23 Representatives. 

24 (d) EXPERT GRANT AWARD PANELS.—In carrying 

25 out its duties, the Commission shall propose legislative or 

26 regulatory changes to implement a grant-making applicaVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:46 Jul 20, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5775.IH H5775

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1 tion and review process modeled after the Assistance to 

2 Firefighters Grant Program of the Federal Emergency 

3 Management Agency, under which a panel of subject area 

4 experts (including representatives of the Federal agency 

5 with appropriate jurisdiction) receives, reviews, and 

6 awards grant funding on a merit-based system. At a min7 imum, the Commission shall propose changes that estab8 lish rules for— 

9 (1) the review and reporting of grant applica10 tions and awards; 

11 (2) hardship exemptions from specific reporting 

12 or application requirements; and 

13 (3) recommended changes in law to support the 

14 implementation of expert grant award panels. 

15 (e) CONSOLIDATION AND STREAMLINING OF GRANTS

16 MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE.—In carrying out its duties, 

17 the Commission shall propose legislative or regulatory 

18 changes to implement a specific governance structure for 

19 all grant functions, including grants management, within 

20 the Federal Government. At a minimum, the Commission 

21 shall propose changes for ensuring that the activities at 

22 Grants.gov and the policy recommendations of the Grants 

23 Policy Committee (of the Chief Financial Officers Council) 

24 are connected, by proposing the establishment of an Office 

25 of Grant Making within the Office of Management and 


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1 Budget to cover all grants activity of the Federal Govern2 ment, including the management of Grants.gov. The Com3 mission shall include, at a minimum, in its recommenda4 tions regarding the Office of Grant Making, the following: 

5 (1) The Office should have an advisory com6 mittee that includes representation from elected 

7 local, State, Federal and tribal governments, institu8 tions of higher education, vendors, and non-profits. 

9 (2) The meetings of the advisory committee 

10 should be conducted in an open and transparent 

11 way. 

12 (3) The Office should review all grant pro13 grams, including the implementation of the expert 

14 grant award panels, and ensure the consistency of 

15 audits of grant programs. 

16 (f) INVOLVEMENT OF STAKEHOLDERS.—In carrying 

17 out its duties, the Commission shall propose legislative or 

18 regulatory changes to involve non-Federal participants in 

19 the grant-making process, including involvement 

20 through— 

21 (1) consultation with representatives of elected 

22 local, State, and tribal governments, institutions of 

23 higher education, vendors, non-profits, and other 

24 non-Federal participants as early as possible to get 

25 their input on any effort by the Federal Government 


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1 to change or improve proposed grant products, in2 cluding new forms and formats, and or to change or 

3 improve the tracking and reporting of Federal fund 

4 data; and 

5 (2) participation and collaboration in the devel6 opment of a training and certification program for 

7 grants management professionals. 

8 (g) OPERATIONS OF COMMISSION.—In carrying out 

9 its duties, the Commission shall— 

10 (1) operate a publicly accessible Web site and 

11 make available information about the Commission, 

12 including its membership and the report required 

13 under subsection (h); 

14 (2) hold 8 public hearings before publication of 

15 the report required under subsection (h); and 

16 (3) provide for a period of 45 days immediately 

17 before publication of the report required under sub18 section (h) for submission of comments and rec19 ommendations from private and public groups and 

20 individuals. 

21 (h) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

22 of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall— 

23 (1) submit to Congress a report containing the 

24 plan developed under subsection (b) and its findings 

25 and recommendations; and 


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1 (2) publish the report on the Commission’s pub2 licly accessible Web site. 

3 (i) APPROPRIATIONS.—There is authorized to be ap4 propriated $1,000,000 for the Commission to carry out 

5 this section. 

6 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF GRANT MAKING. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 

8 the publication of the Commission report under section 

9 2(h), the Director of the Office of Management and Budg10 et shall establish an office within the Office of Manage11 ment and Budget to be known as the ‘‘Office of Grant 

12 Making’’ (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Office’’). 

13 (b) DIRECTOR.—The Office shall be overseen by a 

14 Director, who shall be designated from among Federal of15 ficers and employees by the Director of the Office of Man16 agement and Budget. 

17 (c) FUNCTIONS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Office and Director 

19 shall— 

20 (A) in consultation with agency heads, rep21 resentatives of local, State and Federal Govern22 ment, and other non-Federal entities, direct and 

23 coordinate the development of the expert grant 

24 award panels (referred to in section 2) and the 


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1 specific recommendations of the National Com2 mission on Earmark Reform; and 

3 (B) be responsible for maintaining 

4 Grants.gov, in accordance with section 5. 

5 (2) ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Di6 rector shall also support Federal agencies in estab7 lishing— 

8 (A) a common grant application and re9 porting system; and 

10 (B) an interagency process for addressing 

11 the following: 

12 (i) Ways to streamline and simplify 

13 Federal grant administrative procedures 

14 and reporting requirements for non-Fed15 eral entities. 

16 (ii) Improved interagency and inter17 governmental coordination of information 

18 collection and sharing of data pertaining to 

19 Federal grants. 

20 (iii) Improvements in the timeliness, 

21 completeness, and quality of information 

22 received by Federal agencies from recipi23 ents of Federal grants. 

24 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

25 authorized to be appropriated $30,000,000 for fiscal years 


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1 2011 through 2013 for purposes of establishing and oper2 ating the Office. 

3 SEC. 4. STREAMLINING OF ROLE OF FEDERAL AGENCIES IN 

4 GRANT MAKING PROCESS. 

5 (a) REQUIREMENT FOR PLAN.—Not later than 180 

6 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, each Fed7 eral agency shall develop and implement a plan that— 

8 (1) streamlines and simplifies the application, 

9 administrative, and reporting procedures for Federal 

10 grants administered by the agency; 

11 (2) demonstrates a process to actively partici12 pate in the expert grants awards panels referred to 

13 in section 2; 

14 (3) demonstrates appropriate agency use, or 

15 plans for use, of a common grant application and re16 porting system; 

17 (4) designates a lead agency official for car18 rying out the responsibilities of the agency under 

19 this Act; 

20 (5) allows grant applicants to electronically 

21 apply for, and report on the use of funds from, the 

22 Federal grants administered by the agency; 

23 (6) ensures recipients of Federal grants provide 

24 timely, complete, and high-quality information in re25 sponse to Federal reporting requirements; and 


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1 (7) in cooperation with recipients of Federal 

2 grants, establishes specific annual goals and objec3 tives to further the purposes of this Act and meas4 ures annual performance in achieving those goals 

5 and objectives. 

6 (b) EXTENSION.—If a Federal agency is unable to 

7 comply with subsection (a), the Director of the Office of 

8 Management and Budget may extend for up to 30 days 

9 the period for the agency to develop and implement a plan. 

10 (c) COMMENT AND CONSULTATION ON AGENCY

11 PLANS.— 

12 (1) COMMENT.—Each agency shall publish the 

13 plan developed under this section in the Federal 

14 Register and receive public comment on the plan 

15 through the Federal Register and other means (in16 cluding electronic means). To the maximum extent 

17 practicable, each Federal agency shall hold public fo18 rums on the plan. 

19 (2) CONSULTATION.—The lead official des20 ignated by each Agency shall consult with represent21 atives of State, local, and tribal governments, and 

22 other non-Federal entities, during development and 

23 implementation of the plan. 

24 (d) SUBMISSION OF PLAN.—Each Federal agency 

25 shall submit the plan developed under this section to the 


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1 Director of the Office of Grant Making and Congress and 

2 report annually thereafter on the implementation of the 

3 plan and performance of the agency in meeting the re4 quirements for the plan specified in subsection (a). 

5 SEC. 5. EXPANSION OF THE USE AND FUNCTIONALITY OF 

6 GRANTS.GOV. 

7 (a) TRANSFER TO OFFICE OF GRANT MAKING.—The 

8 Director of the Office of Grant Making shall be respon9 sible for maintaining Grants.gov. 

10 (b) REQUIREMENT TO POST ALL GRANTS.—All Fed11 eral grants, both formula and discretionary, from all 

12 grant-making agencies shall be posted on Grants.gov. 

13 (c) DUPLICATIVE HARD COPY APPLICATIONS NOT

14 REQUIRED.—Grant applications in hard copy that are du15 plicative of applications submitted electronically shall not 

16 be required from grant applicants. 

17 (d) EXPANSION OF FUNCTIONALITY.—The Director 

18 of the Office of Grant Making shall ensure that Grants.gov 

19 is able to handle the following functions: 

20 (1) Finding grants. 

21 (2) Applying for grants. 

22 (3) Submitting and receiving grant applications. 

23 (4) Sending grant award notifications and other 

24 documents. 


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1 (5) Submitting and receiving post-grant-award 

2 management reports. 

3 (6) Closeout tools related to grants. 

4 (7) Grant award tracking. 

5 (8) Training and technical assistance, as de6 scribed in subsection (f). 

7 (e) AVOIDANCE OF DUPLICATION WITH

8 USASPENDING.GOV.—The Director of the Office of Grant 

9 Making shall ensure that duplication of effort and dual 

10 systems related to online Federal grant activity are no 

11 longer in effect by merging USASpending.gov into 

12 Grants.gov. Other Federal agencies shall cooperate to the 

13 extent necessary to assist the Director in carrying out this 

14 subsection. 

15 (f) TRAINING AND OTHER TECHNICAL ASSIST16 ANCE.—The Director shall ensure that Grants.gov in17 cludes technical assistance information and resources, in18 cluding— 

19 (1) online or recorded training sessions con20 ducted by other Federal agencies; 

21 (2) online or recorded training sessions on how 

22 to use Grants.gov; and 

23 (3) such other technical assistance as the Direc24 tor considers appropriate. 


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1 SEC. 6. ENDING CONGRESSIONAL EARMARKS, LIMITED TAX 

2 BENEFITS, AND LIMITED TARIFF BENEFITS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 312 of the Congressional 

4 Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding at the end the 

5 following new subsection: 

6 ‘‘(g) PROHIBITION ON CONGRESSIONAL EARMARKS, 

7 LIMITED TAX BENEFITS, AND LIMITED TARIFF BENE8 FITS.—(1) It shall not be in order in the House of Rep9 resentatives or the Senate to consider any bill or joint res10 olution, or amendment thereto or conference report there11 on, if it or any accompanying report contains any congres12 sional earmark, limited tax benefit, or limited tariff ben13 efit. 

14 ‘‘(2) As used in this subsection, the terms ‘congres15 sional earmark’, ‘limited tax benefit’, and ‘limited tariff 

16 benefit’ have the meanings given to such terms in clause 

17 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representa18 tives.’’. 

19 (b) SUPER MAJORITY IN THE SENATE.—Subsections 

20 (c)(1) and (d)(2) of section 904 of the Congressional 

21 Budget Act of 1974 are each amended by inserting 

22 ‘‘312(g),’’ after ‘‘310(d)(2),’’. 

23 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

24 subsections (a) and (b) shall take effect 1 year after the 

25 date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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