I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4983 

To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Rules of the House 

of Representatives, the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, and the Federal 

Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 to improve access 

to information in the legislative and executive branches of the Government, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 25, 2010 

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

Committees on Rules, House Administration, the Judiciary, and Standards of Official Conduct, 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 amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Rules 

of the House of Representatives, the Lobbying Disclosure 

Act of 1995, and the Federal Funding Accountability 

and Transparency Act of 2006 to improve access to 

information in the legislative and executive branches of 

the 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transparency in Gov3 ernment Act of 2010’’. 

4 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

5 The table of contents is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title. 

Sec. 2. Table of contents. 

TITLE I—IMPROVING ACCESS TO INFORMATION ABOUT 

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 

Sec. 101. Greater disclosure and electronic filing of personal financial information. 

Sec. 102. Greater disclosure of travel reports. 

Sec. 103. Greater disclosure of gift reports. 

Sec. 104. Greater disclosure of earmarks. 

TITLE II—ENHANCING PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE WORK OF 

CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES, LEGISLATION, AND VOTES 

Sec. 201. Increase transparency of committee votes. 

Sec. 202. Increase transparency of committee work. 

Sec. 203. Increase transparency of committee schedules through the Clerk. 

Sec. 204. Require all legislation be publicly available 72 hours before consideration. 

Sec. 205. Increased transparency of recorded votes. 

TITLE III—ENHANCING PUBLIC ACCESS TO CONGRESSIONAL 

RESEARCH SERVICE 

Sec. 301. Enhance access to CRS. 

TITLE IV—LOBBYING DISCLOSURE 

Sec. 401. GAO study of lobbyist registration and disclosure. 

Sec. 402. Expedited online registration of lobbyists; expansion of registrants. 

Sec. 403. Disclosure of additional information by lobbyists. 

Sec. 404. Disclosure of political contributions. 

Sec. 405. Effective date. 

TITLE V—TRANSPARENCY IN FEDERAL CONTRACTING 

Sec. 501. Improving application programming interface and website data elements. 

Sec. 502. Improving data quality. 

Sec. 503. Recipient performance transparency. 

Sec. 504. Improvement of Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System Database. 

Sec. 505. Requirements relating to reporting of award data. 

TITLE VI—EXECUTIVE BRANCH TRANSPARENCY 


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Sec. 601. Requirement for disclosure of Federal sponsorship of all Federal advertising or other communications. 

TITLE VII—STRENGTHENING FOIA 

Sec. 701. Digital access to completed responses to the Freedom of Information 

Act. 

Sec. 702. Commission on Freedom of Information Act Processing Delays. 

TITLE VIII—ENFORCEMENT 

Sec. 801. Audits by the Government Accountability Office. 

1 TITLE I—IMPROVING ACCESS TO 

2 INFORMATION ABOUT MEM3 BERS OF CONGRESS 

4 SEC. 101. GREATER DISCLOSURE AND ELECTRONIC FILING 

5 OF PERSONAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION. 

6 (a) ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REQUIRE7 MENTS.—(1) Section 102(a)(1)(B) of the Ethics in Gov8 ernment Act of 1978 is amended in clause (iv) by striking 

9 ‘‘$15,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$25,000’’ and by striking 

10 clauses (v) through (ix) and inserting the following new 

11 clauses: 

12 ‘‘(v) greater than $25,000 but not 

13 more than $100,000, round to the nearest 

14 $10,000, 

15 ‘‘(vi) greater than $100,000 but not 

16 more than $1,000,000, round to the near17 est $100,000, or 

18 ‘‘(vii) greater than $1,000,000, round 

19 to the nearest $1,000,000.’’. 


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1 (2) Section 102(d)(1) of the Ethics in Government 

2 Act of 1978 is amended by striking ‘‘(3), (4), (5), and 

3 (8)’’ an inserting ‘‘(5) and (8)’’. 

4 (3) Section 102(d) of the Ethics in Government Act 

5 of 1978 is amended by redesignating paragraph (2) as 

6 paragraph (3) and by inserting after paragraph (1) the 

7 following new paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(3) The categories for reporting the amount or value 

9 of the items covered in paragraphs (3) or (4) of subsection 

10 (a) are as follows: 

11 ‘‘(A) not more than $15,000; 

12 ‘‘(B) greater than $15,000 but not more than 

13 $25,000; 

14 ‘‘(C) greater than $25,000 but not more than 

15 $100,000, round to the nearest $10,000; 

16 ‘‘(D) greater than $100,000 but not more than 

17 $1,000,000, round to the nearest $100,000; and 

18 ‘‘(E) greater than $1,000,000, round to the 

19 nearest $1,000,000.’’. 

20 (b) MORE FREQUENT DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL

21 TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING LARGE SUMS OF MONEY.— 

22 (1) Section 101 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 

23 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub24 section: 


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1 ‘‘(i) In addition to any other report required to be 

2 filed by a Member of Congress or officer or employee of 

3 the Congress, each such individual is required to file a 

4 quarterly report on April 30, July 30, October 30, and 

5 January 30 of each year covering the preceding calendar 

6 quarter if that individual (or the spouse or any dependent 

7 child of that individual) purchased, sold, or exchanged any 

8 property described in subsection (a)(5) valued at not less 

9 than $250,000 during that calendar quarter. For any such 

10 transaction of not less than $250,000, such report shall 

11 contain all of the information required under subsection 

12 (a)(5).’’. 

13 (2)(A) Clause 1 of rule XXVI of the Rules of the 

14 House of Representatives is amended by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ 

15 after ‘‘1.’’ and by adding at the end the following new 

16 paragraphs: 

17 ‘‘(b) If any report is filed with the Clerk for a 

18 calendar quarter pursuant to section 101(i) of the 

19 Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the Clerk shall 

20 compile all such reports sent to the Clerk by Mem21 bers and have them printed as a House document, 

22 which shall be made available to the public, as soon 

23 as practicable. 

24 ‘‘(c) Each individual required to file a report 

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1 ernment Act of 1978 shall file and maintain such re2 port in electronic form.’’. 

3 (B) Comparable language to be added by the Senate. 

4 (c) AVAILABILITY ON THE INTERNET OF REPORTS

5 FILED UNDER THIS TITLE WITH THE CLERK OF THE

6 HOUSE OR THE SECRETARY OF THE SENATE.—Section 

7 103 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 is amended 

8 by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

9 ‘‘(l) The Clerk of the House of Representatives and 

10 the Secretary of the Senate shall each make available any 

11 report filed with them under this title within 48 hours of 

12 the applicable submission deadline on the website of the 

13 Clerk or the Secretary, as applicable, in a searchable, sort14 able, downloadable format.’’. 

15 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

16 this section shall apply to reports filed for calendar years 

17 or calendar quarters beginning after the date of enactment 

18 of this Act. 

19 SEC. 102. GREATER DISCLOSURE OF TRAVEL REPORTS. 

20 (a) FOREIGN TRAVEL.—Clause 8(b)(3) of rule X of 

21 the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by 

22 adding at the end the following new sentence: ‘‘Within 48 

23 hours after any such report is filed with the chair of a 

24 committee, the chair shall post the report on the Internet 


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1 site of the committee in a searchable, sortable, 

2 downloadable format.’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

4 subsection (a) shall apply to travel commencing after the 

5 date of enactment of this Act. 

6 SEC. 103. GREATER DISCLOSURE OF GIFT REPORTS. 

7 (a) REQUIRING CLERK OF THE HOUSE TO POST RE8 PORTS ON INTERNET NOT LATER THAN 48 HOURS

9 AFTER RECEIPT.—(1) Clause 5(b)(5) of rule XXV of the 

10 Rules of the House of Representatives is amended— 

11 (A) by striking ‘‘shall make available’’ and 

12 inserting ‘‘shall post on the public Internet site 

13 of the Clerk and otherwise make available’’; and 

14 (B) by striking ‘‘as possible’’ and inserting 

15 the following: ‘‘as possible, but in no event later 

16 than 48 hours,’’. 

17 (2) Comparable language to be added by the Senate. 

18 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

19 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to reports filed on 

20 or after the date of the adoption of this resolution. 

21 SEC. 104. GREATER DISCLOSURE OF EARMARKS. 

22 (a) ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE BY MEMBERS.—(1) 

23 Rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives 

24 is amended by redesignating clause 18 as clause 19 and 

25 by inserting after clause 17 the following: 


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1 ‘‘18. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner 

2 who requests a congressional earmark, a limited tax ben3 efit, or a limited tariff benefit shall, within 24 hours after 

4 making such request— 

5 ‘‘(1) post on his or her public website for the 

6 remainder of the Congress the following— 

7 ‘‘(A) the name and address of the intended 

8 recipient; 

9 ‘‘(B) whether the intended recipient is a 

10 for-profit or not-for-profit entity; 

11 ‘‘(C) the requested amount (only in the 

12 case of congressional earmarks); and 

13 ‘‘(D) an explanation of the request, includ14 ing the purpose, and why it is a valuable use 

15 of taxpayer funds; 

16 ‘‘(2) electronically submit to the committee of 

17 subject-matter jurisdiction the webpage address 

18 where such information is posted; 

19 ‘‘(3) identify each request as having been sub20 mitted to the committee of subject-matter jurisdic21 tion; and 

22 ‘‘(4) display on the homepage of such website a 

23 hypertext link that contains the words ‘Earmarks’, 

24 ‘Appropriations Requests’, ‘Limited Tax Benefits’, 

25 or ‘Limited Tariff Benefits’ and that directs to such 


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1 webpage address, and maintain that link for at least 

2 30 calendar days after the last such request is made 

3 during the Congress.’’. 

4 (2) The last sentence of clause 16 of rule XXIII of 

5 the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by 

6 striking ‘‘and clause 17’’ and inserting ‘‘, clause 17, and 

7 clause 18’’. 

8 (b) ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE BY COMMITTEES.— 

9 Rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives is 

10 amended by adding at the end the following new clause: 

11 ‘‘ Earmark disclosure websites 

12 ‘‘(s)(1) Any committee that accepts any request of 

13 a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner for a con14 gressional earmark, a limited tax benefit, or a limited tar15 iff benefit shall maintain a public website with an earmark 

16 disclosure webpage that contains the following for each 

17 such request— 

18 ‘‘(A) the bill name; 

19 ‘‘(B) the name, State, and district of that indi20 vidual; 

21 ‘‘(C) the name and address of the intended re22 cipient; 

23 ‘‘(D) whether the intended recipient is a for24 profit or not-for-profit entity; 


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1 ‘‘(E) the requested amount (only in the case of 

2 congressional earmarks); 

3 ‘‘(F) a brief description; and 

4 ‘‘(G) the applicable department or agency of the 

5 Government, and the account or program (if pro6 vided to the committee in the request); 

7 and is in a downloadable format that is searchable and 

8 sortable by such characteristics. 

9 ‘‘(2) Any written statement received by a committee 

10 under clause 17(a) of rule XXIII shall be posted on the 

11 earmark disclosure webpage of the committee. 

12 ‘‘(3) The earmark disclosure webpage of a committee 

13 shall list the names of any Member, Delegate, and Resi14 dent Commissioner who requests a congressional earmark, 

15 a limited tax benefit, or a limited tariff benefit and link 

16 directly to their webpage addresses referred to in clause 

17 18(2) of rule XXIII. 

18 ‘‘(4) The earmark disclosure webpage of a committee 

19 shall post the information required under subparagraphs 

20 (1) through (3) within one week of receipt, and shall main21 tain that information on that webpage for the remainder 

22 of the Congress. 

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1 iff benefit’ shall have the meaning given them in clause 

2 9 of rule XXI.’’. 

3 (c) POINT OF ORDER.—Clause 9 of rule XXI of the 

4 Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by re5 designating paragraphs (e), (f), and (g) as paragraphs (f), 

6 (g), and (h), respectively, and by inserting after paragraph 

7 (d) the following: 

8 ‘‘(e) It shall not be in order to consider any bill or 

9 joint resolution, or an amendment thereto or conference 

10 report thereon, that carries a congressional earmark, lim11 ited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit for which a Mem12 ber, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner failed to comply 

13 with any applicable requirement of clause 18 of rule 

14 XXIII.’’. 

15 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

16 this section shall apply to requests for congressional ear17 marks, limited tax benefits, and limited tariff benefits 

18 made after the date this resolution is agreed to. 

19 (e) CENTRALIZED DATABASE FOR EARMARKS, LIM20 ITED TAX BENEFITS, AND LIMITED TARIFF BENEFITS.— 

21 (1) The Clerk of the House of Representatives, the Sec22 retary of the Senate, and the chairs of the Committee on 

23 Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the 

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1 mittee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate 

2 shall collaborate to create one centralized database where 

3 all requests for earmark, limited tax benefits, and limited 

4 tariff benefits are available on the Internet in a search5 able, sortable, downloadable format to the public. The 

6 data available to the public for each earmark should in7 clude— 

8 (A) an identification of the bill into which the 

9 earmark is to be inserted; 

10 (B) the name, State, and district of the Mem11 ber of Congress requesting the earmark; 

12 (C) the name and address of the intended re13 cipient; 

14 (D) whether the intended recipient is a for-prof15 it or not-for-profit entity; 

16 (E) the requested amount (only in the case of 

17 congressional earmarks); 

18 (F) a brief description of the earmark; and 

19 (G) the applicable department or agency of the 

20 Government, and the account or program (if pro21 vided to the committee in the request). 

22 (2) The centralized database for earmarks referred 

23 to in paragraph (1) shall be implemented within six 

24 months after the date of enactment of this Act. 


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1 TITLE II—ENHANCING PUBLIC 

2 ACCESS TO THE WORK OF 

3 CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT4 TEES, LEGISLATION, AND 

5 VOTES 

6 SEC. 201. INCREASE TRANSPARENCY OF COMMITTEE 

7 VOTES. 

8 Clause 2(e)(1)(B)(i) of rule XI of the Rules of the 

9 House of Representatives is amended— 

10 (1) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘and 

11 within 24 hours of such record vote on its Web site 

12 on the Internet’’ before the period at the end there13 of; and 

14 (2) in the second sentence, by inserting ‘‘and 

15 information so available on its Web site’’ before 

16 ‘‘shall’’. 

17 SEC. 202. INCREASE TRANSPARENCY OF COMMITTEE 

18 WORK. 

19 (a) IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—Clause 

20 1 of rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives 

21 is amended by adding at the end the following new para22 graph: 

23 ‘‘(e)(1) Each committee shall post on its Internet 

24 website the public hearings and markup schedules of the 

25 committee and each of its subcommittees at the same time 


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1 that information is made available to members of the com2 mittee. 

3 ‘‘(2) For each hearing and markup for which infor4 mation is posted under subparagraph (1), the committee 

5 shall post on its Internet website as soon as practicable 

6 the following: the topic, related legislation, testimony of 

7 witnesses, opening statements of the chair and ranking 

8 minority member, transcripts, and audio and video record9 ings. 

10 ‘‘(3) Within 24 hours after a committee or sub11 committee orders any bill or resolution to be reported, the 

12 committee or subcommittee, as applicable, shall post on 

13 its Internet website all amendments that were agreed to, 

14 except for technical and conforming changes authorized by 

15 the committee or subcommittee.’’. 

16 (b) IN THE SENATE.—Comparable language to be 

17 added by the Senate. 

18 SEC. 203. INCREASE TRANSPARENCY OF COMMITTEE 

19 SCHEDULES THROUGH THE CLERK. 

20 Clause 2 of rule II of the Rules of the House of Rep21 resentatives is amended by adding at the end the following 

22 new paragraph: 

23 ‘‘(l) The Clerk shall require the House to pro24 vide, in a structured data format, a complete list of 

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1 tees and subcommittees as soon as publically avail2 able, including links to committee websites.’’. 

3 SEC. 204. REQUIRE ALL LEGISLATION BE PUBLICLY AVAIL4 ABLE 72 HOURS BEFORE CONSIDERATION. 

5 (a) AVAILABILITY OF LEGISLATION.—(1) Clause 4 of 

6 rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives 

7 is amended— 

8 (A) in its side heading, by inserting ‘‘legislation 

9 and’’ before ‘‘reports’’; 

10 (B) in paragraph (a) by striking subparagraph 

11 (1) and inserting the following new subparagraph: 

12 ‘‘(1) Except as specified in subparagraph (2), it shall 

13 not be in order to consider in the House a measure or 

14 matter until 72 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and 

15 holidays except when the House is in session on such a 

16 day) after the text of such measure or matter (and, if the 

17 measure or matter is reported, the text of all accom18 panying reports) have been made available to Members, 

19 Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and the general 

20 public pursuant to subparagraph (3).’’; 

21 (C) by adding at the end of paragraph (a) the 

22 following new subparagraph: 

23 ‘‘(3) Without further amendment before floor consid24 eration, the full text of the measure or matter and each 

25 committee report thereon shall be posted continuously by 


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1 means of the Internet in such a manner that they are con2 veniently accessible using existing technology, anony3 mously and at no cost, in a format that is searchable by 

4 text.’’; and 

5 (D) in paragraph (c), by striking ‘‘the third cal6 endar day’’ and inserting ‘‘at least 72 hours’’ and by 

7 striking ‘‘on’’ and inserting ‘‘after’’. 

8 (2) Rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Rep9 resentatives is further amended— 

10 (A) in clause 5(b), by striking ‘‘and the 

11 Resident Commissioner’’ and inserting ‘‘the 

12 Resident Commissioner, and the general pub13 lic’’; and 

14 (B) in clause 6(c), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 

15 end of subparagraph (1), by striking the period 

16 at the end of subparagraph (2) and inserting ‘‘; 

17 or’’, and by inserting before the period ‘‘a rule 

18 or order proposing a waiver of clause 4(a) of 

19 rule XIII or of clause 8(a) or 8(b) of rule XXII, 

20 unless a question of consideration of the rule is 

21 adopted by a vote of two-thirds of the Members 

22 voting, a quorum being present’’. 

23 (b) AVAILABILITY OF CONFERENCE REPORTS.— 

24 Clause 8 of rule XXII of the Rules of the House of Rep25 resentatives is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking subparagraph (a) and inserting 

2 the following new paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(a)(1) It shall not be in order to consider a con4 ference report until 72 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sun5 days and holidays except when the House is in session on 

6 such a day) after the conference report and the accom7 panying joint explanatory statement have been available 

8 to Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and 

9 the general public pursuant to subparagraph (2). 

10 ‘‘(2) Without further amendment before floor consid11 eration, the full texts of the conference report and the ac12 companying signed joint explanatory statement shall be 

13 posted continuously by means of the Internet in such a 

14 manner that they are conveniently accessible using exist15 ing technology, anonymously and at no cost, in a format 

16 that can be searched by text.’’; 

17 (2) in paragraph (b), by striking subparagraphs 

18 (1) and (2) and inserting the following new subpara19 graphs: 

20 ‘‘(1) It shall not be in order to consider a mo21 tion to dispose of a Senate amendment reported in 

22 disagreement by a conference committee until at 

23 least 72 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and 

24 holidays except when the House is in session on such 

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1 companying statement have been available to Mem2 bers, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and the 

3 general public pursuant to subparagraph (2). 

4 ‘‘(2) Without further amendment before floor 

5 consideration, the full texts of a Senate amendment 

6 reported in disagreement and any accompanying 

7 statement shall be posted continuously by means of 

8 the Internet in such a manner that they are conven9 iently accessible using existing technology, anony10 mously and at no cost, in a format that can be 

11 searched by text.’’. 

12 (c) PROTECTION OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.— 

13 Nothing in this section or any amendment made by it shall 

14 be interpreted to require or permit the declassification or 

15 posting on the Internet of classified information in the 

16 custody of the House of Representatives. Such classified 

17 information shall be made available to Members in a time18 ly manner as appropriate under existing laws and rules. 

19 (d) IN THE SENATE.—Comparable language to be 

20 added by the Senate. 

21 SEC. 205. INCREASED TRANSPARENCY OF RECORDED 

22 VOTES. 

23 (a) ADDITIONAL DUTIES OF THE CLERK OF THE

24 HOUSE AND THE SECRETARY OF THE SENATE.—The 

25 Clerk of the House of Representative and the Secretary 


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1 of the Senate shall post on the public Internet site of the 

2 Office of the Clerk or of the Secretary, respectively, a 

3 record, organized by the name of each Member or Senator, 

4 in a structured data format, of the recorded votes of that 

5 Member or Senator, including the roll, date, issue, ques6 tion, result, and title or description of the vote, and any 

7 cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office related 

8 to the vote. 

9 (b) WEB LINK.—Each Member shall provide a link 

10 to the Clerk of the House of Representatives of a list of 

11 recorded votes from that Member’s web site, and each 

12 Senator shall provide a link to the Secretary of the Senate 

13 of a list of recorded votes from that Senator’s web site. 

14 (c) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term 

15 ‘‘Member’’ means a Representative in Congress, a delegate 

16 to Congress, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto 

17 Rico. 

18 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply to 

19 recorded votes occurring after the date of enactment of 

20 this Act. 


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1 TITLE III—ENHANCING PUBLIC 

2 ACCESS TO CONGRESSIONAL 

3 RESEARCH SERVICE 

4 SEC. 301. ENHANCE ACCESS TO CRS. 

5 (a) AVAILABILITY OF CRS INFORMATION ON THE

6 INTERNET.—Except as provided by subsection (b) and (c), 

7 the Clerk of the House of Representatives, in consultation 

8 with the Director of Congressional Research Service (here9 after in this section referred to as ‘‘CRS’’), shall make 

10 publically available on the Internet the following CRS in11 formation: 

12 (1) CRS Issue Briefs; 

13 (2) CRS Reports that are available to Members 

14 of Congress through the CRS website; and 

15 (3) CRS Authorization of Appropriations and 

16 Appropriations Products. 

17 (b) EXEMPTION FOR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMA18 TION.—Information deemed confidential by the Director 

19 of CRS or the head of the Federal department or agency 

20 that provided that information to CRS and any document 

21 that is a confidential research request made by an indi22 vidual, office, or committee shall be exempt from disclo23 sure under subsection (a). 


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1 (c) ADDITIONAL EXEMPTIONS.—The Clerk of the 

2 House of Representatives, in consultation with the Direc3 tor of CRS, shall— 

4 (1) remove the personal information of CRS 

5 employees, including names and phone numbers; 

6 (2) remove material that may infringe the copy7 right of a work protected under title 17, United 

8 States Code; and 

9 (3) make any changes to information that s/he 

10 deems necessary to ensure its accuracy and cur11 rency. 

12 (d) CONFORMING PROVISION.—Nothing in this sec13 tion shall be construed to require the Director of CRS to 

14 respond to any inquiry made by a member of the public 

15 respecting the information covered by this section. 

16 (e) ACCESS TO CRS WEBSITE.—Members and stand17 ing committees of the House of Representatives shall pro18 vide a link to the CRS database on their websites. 

19 (f) ESTABLISHING, MAINTAINING, AND UPDATING

20 THE DATABASE.—Within 6 months after the date of en21 actment of this Act, the Clerk of the House of Representa22 tives shall establish the database necessary to carry out 

23 this section. The Clerk shall be responsible for maintain24 ing and updating the information on that database. 


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1 TITLE IV—LOBBYING 

2 DISCLOSURE 

3 SEC. 401. GAO STUDY OF LOBBYIST REGISTRATION AND 

4 DISCLOSURE. 

5 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General shall, begin6 ning not later than 90 days after the date of the enact7 ment of this Act, conduct a study to examine the following: 

8 (1) Whether and to what extent persons exert9 ing substantial influence on the legislative process 

10 and executive branch decisionmaking are avoiding 

11 the registration and reporting requirements under 

12 the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995. 

13 (2) Whether all individuals who fall within the 

14 definition of ‘‘lobbyist’’ under the Lobbying Disclo15 sure Act of 1995 (or the organizations employing 

16 such individuals) are registering as required under 

17 section 4 of that Act and filing reports under section 

18 5 of that Act, and whether such definition should be 

19 amended to avoid evasion of such registration and 

20 reporting requirements. 

21 (b) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date 

22 of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 

23 submit to Congress a report on the findings of the study 

24 conducted under subsection (a), and shall include any rec25 ommendations the Comptroller General has to ensure that 


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1 all persons exerting substantial influence on the legislative 

2 process and executive branch decisionmaking and all indi3 viduals qualifying as lobbyists (or the organizations em4 ploying such individuals) are complying with the registra5 tion and reporting requirements of the Lobbying Disclo6 sure Act of 1995. 

7 SEC. 402. EXPEDITED ONLINE REGISTRATION OF LOBBY8 ISTS; EXPANSION OF REGISTRANTS. 

9 Section 4(a) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

10 (2 U.S.C. 1603(a)) is amended— 

11 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

12 (A) by striking ‘‘45 days’’ and inserting 

13 ‘‘72 hours’’; 

14 (B) by striking ‘‘, or on the first business 

15 day after such 45th day if such 45th day is not 

16 a business day,’’ and inserting ‘‘, or on the first 

17 business day occurring after such 72nd hour if 

18 such 72nd hour does not occur on a business 

19 day,’’; and 

20 (C) by inserting ‘‘online’’ after ‘‘shall reg21 ister’’; and 

22 (2) in paragraph (3)(A)(ii), by striking 

23 ‘‘$10,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$5,000’’. 


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1 SEC. 403. DISCLOSURE OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BY 

2 LOBBYISTS. 

3 Section 5(b)(2)(A) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 

4 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604(b)(2)(A)) is amended— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘(A)(i)’’; 

6 (2) by adding ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; and 

7 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(ii) for each issue listed under clause (i), 

9 a list identifying— 

10 ‘‘(I) each covered executive branch of11 ficial with whom the lobbyist engaged in 

12 lobbying activities; and 

13 ‘‘(II) each covered legislative branch 

14 official with whom the lobbyist engaged in 

15 lobbying activities and— 

16 ‘‘(aa) if the official is an em17 ployee of a Member of Congress, the 

18 name of that Member of Congress; or 

19 ‘‘(bb) if the official is an em20 ployee described in clause (ii), (iii), 

21 (iv), or (v) of section 3(4), the name 

22 of the Member or Members of Con23 gress who hired the official or for 

24 whom the official performs duties as 

25 such official;’’. 


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1 SEC. 404. DISCLOSURE OF POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS. 

2 Section 5(d) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

3 (2 U.S.C. 1604(d)) is amended— 

4 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

5 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

6 (A), by striking ‘‘30 days after’’ and all that 

7 follows through ‘‘30th day is not’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘20 days after the end of the quarterly period 

9 beginning on the first day of January, April, 

10 July, and October of each year, or on the first 

11 business day after such 20th day if such 20th 

12 day is not’’; 

13 (B) by striking ‘‘semiannual period’’ each 

14 place it appears and inserting ‘‘quarterly pe15 riod’’; 

16 (C) by redesignating subparagraphs (F) 

17 and (G) as subparagraphs (G) and (H), respec18 tively; and 

19 (D) by inserting after subparagraph (E) 

20 the following: 

21 ‘‘(F) the date, recipient, and amount of 

22 bundled contributions made within the quar23 terly period;’’; and 

24 (2) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol25 lows: 

26 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(A) LEADERSHIP PAC.—The term ‘leader2 ship PAC’ has the meaning given that term in 

3 section 304(I)(8)(B) of the Federal Election 

4 Campaign Act of 1971. 

5 ‘‘(B) BUNDLED CONTRIBUTION.—The 

6 term ‘bundled contribution’ means a bundled 

7 contribution as defined in section 

8 304(I)(8)(A)(i) of the Federal Election Cam9 paign Act of 1971.’’. 

10 SEC. 405. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

11 (a) SECTION 401.—Section 401 takes effect on the 

12 date of the enactment of this Act. 

13 (b) AMENDMENTS.—The amendments made by sec14 tions 402, 403, and 404 take effect on the first day of 

15 the first quarterly period described in section 5(a) of the 

16 Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604(a)) that 

17 begins after the end of the 90-day period beginning on 

18 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

19 TITLE V—TRANSPARENCY IN 

20 FEDERAL CONTRACTING 

21 SEC. 501. IMPROVING APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTER22 FACE AND WEB SITE DATA ELEMENTS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2 of the Federal Funding 

24 Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Public Law 

25 109–282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note) (referred to in this Act 


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1 as the ‘‘Act’’ for purposes of any amendment) is amend2 ed— 

3 (1) in subsection (a)— 

4 (A) in paragraph (2)(A)(ii), by striking 

5 ‘‘and delivery orders’’ and inserting ‘‘lease 

6 agreements and assignments, and delivery or7 ders’’; and 

8 (B) in paragraph (3)— 

9 (i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

10 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

11 (ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

12 the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

13 (iii) by adding at the end the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(E) programmatically search and access 

16 all data in a serialized machine readable format 

17 (such as XML) via a web-services application 

18 programming interface.’’; and 

19 (2) in subsection (b)(1)— 

20 (A) in subparagraph (F), by striking the 

21 period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

22 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (G) as 

23 subparagraph (J); and 

24 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (F) 

25 the following: 


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1 ‘‘(G) to the extent possible, the agency and 

2 department as well as subagencies and sub3 offices that have authorized the Federal award; 

4 ‘‘(H) after January 1, 2012, for all con5 tracts, subcontracts, purchase orders, task or6 ders, lease agreements and assignments, and 

7 delivery orders— 

8 ‘‘(i) information about the extent of 

9 competition in making the award, includ10 ing the number of bids or proposals deter11 mined to be responsive and responsible 

12 during the competitive process, and if the 

13 award was not competed, the legal author14 ity and specific rationale for making the 

15 award without full and open competition; 

16 ‘‘(ii) the full amount of money that is 

17 awarded under a contract or, in the case of 

18 lease agreements or assignments, the 

19 amount paid to the Government, and the 

20 full amount of any options to expand or 

21 extend under a contract; 

22 ‘‘(iii) the amount and nature of the 

23 profit incentive, such as award fees, of24 fered to contractors for achieving or ex25 ceeding specified goals such as fixed price, 


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1 cost plus pricing, labor hour contracts, and 

2 time and materials contracts; 

3 ‘‘(iv) an indication if the contract is 

4 the result of legislative mandates, set5 asides, preference program requirements, 

6 or other criteria, and whether the contract 

7 is multiyear, consolidated, or performance 

8 based; and 

9 ‘‘(v) an indication if the contract is a 

10 congressionally directed spending item as 

11 defined in Public Law 110–81; 

12 ‘‘(I) after January 1, 2011, for all grants, 

13 subgrants, loans, awards, cooperative agree14 ments, and other forms of financial assistance, 

15 an indication if the funding is a congressionally 

16 directed spending item as defined in Public Law 

17 110–81; and’’. 

18 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as otherwise pro19 vided, amendments made by subsection (a) shall be imple20 mented not later than 6 months after the date of enact21 ment of this Act. 

22 SEC. 502. IMPROVING DATA QUALITY. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Act is amended by adding at 

24 the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 5. IMPROVING DATA QUALITY. 

2 ‘‘The Director of the Office of Management and 

3 Budget shall ensure the following: 

4 ‘‘(1) A simple method for the public to report 

5 errors is available on the website created by this Act 

6 which should— 

7 ‘‘(A) allow the public to report errors on 

8 single records as well as problems affecting 

9 multiple records; 

10 ‘‘(B) require the public to provide contact 

11 information, including e-mail address, mail ad12 dress, or telephone number, to be used for in13 forming the reporter of the outcome of the 

14 records review; 

15 ‘‘(C) send copies of the error report to 

16 both an official responsible for the data quality 

17 at the agency that generated the data and to 

18 the Office of Management and Budget; and 

19 ‘‘(D) maintain a public record organized by 

20 agency of the total number of records which 

21 have had nonfrivolous reports of errors, the 

22 number of records which have been corrected, 

23 and number of records for which error reports 

24 remain unresolved. 

25 ‘‘(2) The data used on the website created by 

26 this Act is audited for quality annually by an exterVerDate Nov 24 2008 01:11 Apr 01, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4983.IH H4983

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1 nal auditor, in compliance with generally accepted 

2 Government auditing standards, with the audit to 

3 include at least the following steps: 

4 ‘‘(A) Review and report publicly on the ac5 tivity in the error reporting system created by 

6 this section with an analysis for each agency 

7 and combined for agencies that includes at least 

8 the following indicators: 

9 ‘‘(i) Number of errors reported. 

10 ‘‘(ii) Number of reported errors re11 solved. 

12 ‘‘(iii) Number of reported errors that 

13 remain unresolved. 

14 ‘‘(iv) Number of reported errors that 

15 led to corrections. 

16 ‘‘(v) Number of reported errors on 

17 records that proved to be correct. 

18 ‘‘(vi) Average number of days to re19 solve error report. 

20 ‘‘(vii) Longest number of days to re21 solve an error report. 

22 ‘‘(viii) Longest held reported error 

23 that remains unresolved. 

24 ‘‘(B) An independent review annually of 

25 data used for the website to verify accuracy of 


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1 the data and assess the process used for im2 proving data quality with an ability for the pub3 lic to review these findings. 

4 ‘‘(C) Identify and report new standards 

5 that should be implemented by agencies to im6 prove data quality. 

7 ‘‘(3) Each agency inspector general— 

8 ‘‘(A) reviews a statistically representative 

9 sample of agency Federal awards every 6 

10 months for the first three years following enact11 ment of this section, and annually thereafter, to 

12 determine whether agencies have appropriate 

13 measures in place to review Federal Funding 

14 Accountability and Transparency data submis15 sions for accuracy and completeness; 

16 ‘‘(B) reports to the Director of the Office 

17 of Management and Budget and the head of the 

18 agency the findings of the review, including rec19 ommendations for corrective action; and 

20 ‘‘(C) makes publicly available, including 

21 through the website created by this Act, the 

22 findings of the review.’’. 

23 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as otherwise pro24 vided, the amendments made by subsection (a) shall be 

25 implemented not later than June 30, 2011. 


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1 SEC. 503. RECIPIENT PERFORMANCE TRANSPARENCY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Act as amended by section 

3 502 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘SEC. 6. RECIPIENT PERFORMANCE TRANSPARENCY AND 

5 PAST PERFORMANCE. 

6 ‘‘The Director of the Office of Management and 

7 Budget shall ensure that the unique identifier required in 

8 section 2(b)(1)(E) that is used to link information about 

9 the entity receiving the award on the website described 

10 in section 2 is also used to link information about that 

11 entity on the Federal Awardee Performance Integrity In12 formation System.’’. 

13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

14 subsection (a) shall be implemented not later than June 

15 30, 2011. 

16 SEC. 504. IMPROVEMENT OF FEDERAL AWARDEE PER17 FORMANCE AND INTEGRITY INFORMATION 

18 SYSTEM DATABASE. 

19 (a) REQUIREMENT TO MAKE DATABASE AVAILABLE

20 TO PUBLIC.—Section 872 of the Duncan Hunter National 

21 Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Public 

22 Law 110–417; 122 Stat. 4555) is amended in subsection 

23 (e) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The database 

25 shall be made available to the public on the Internet 

26 in a searchable, sortable, downloadable format.’’. 


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1 (b) REQUIREMENT TO INCLUDE IN DATABASE 10 

2 YEARS OF INFORMATION ON CERTAIN PERSONS AWARD3 ED FEDERAL CONTRACTS OR GRANTS.—Section 872 of 

4 such Act is amended in subsection (c) by striking ‘‘5-year’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘10-year’’. 

6 (c) REQUIREMENT TO INCLUDE INFORMATION IN

7 DATABASE REGARDING CERTAIN JUDGMENTS AND SET8 TLEMENTS.—Section 872 of such Act is further amended 

9 in subsection (c)(1) by adding at the end the following 

10 new subparagraphs: 

11 ‘‘(E) In an administrative proceeding, any 

12 administrative judgment that does not contain 

13 an explicit finding or acknowledgment of fault. 

14 ‘‘(F) In a civil proceeding, any settlement 

15 that does not contain an explicit finding or ac16 knowledgment of fault.’’. 

17 SEC. 505. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO REPORTING OF 

18 AWARD DATA. 

19 (a) SUBAWARD DATA COLLECTION AND REPORT20 ING.—The Director of the Office and Management and 

21 Budget shall develop and implement a specific plan for 

22 the collection and reporting of subaward data on Federal 

23 contracts, including a time frame for including subaward 

24 data on USAspending.gov. 


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1 (b) PROCESS TO ENSURE AGENCY COMPLIANCE

2 WITH REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—The Director of the 

3 Office of Management and Budget shall develop and im4 plement a process to regularly ensure that all Federal 

5 agencies report required award information to 

6 USAspending.gov. 

7 (c) REVISION OF GUIDANCE.—The Director of the 

8 Office of Management and Budget shall revise the Office’s 

9 guidance to Federal agencies on reporting Federal awards 

10 to clarify— 

11 (1) the requirement that award titles describe 

12 the award’s purpose; and 

13 (2) requirements for validating and docu14 menting agency award data submitted by Federal 

15 agencies. 

16 (d) INCLUSION OF CITY INFORMATION.—The Direc17 tor of the Office of Management and Budget shall include 

18 information on the city where work is performed in the 

19 Office’s public reporting of the completeness of agency 

20 data submissions. 


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1 TITLE VI—EXECUTIVE BRANCH 

2 TRANSPARENCY 

3 SEC. 601. REQUIREMENT FOR DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL 

4 SPONSORSHIP OF ALL FEDERAL ADVER5 TISING OR OTHER COMMUNICATIONS. 

6 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Every advertisement or other 

7 communication paid for by an Executive agency, either di8 rectly or through a contract awarded by the Executive 

9 agency, shall include a prominent notice informing the tar10 get audience that the advertisement or other communica11 tion is paid for by that Executive agency. 

12 (b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘adver13 tisement or other communication’’ includes— 

14 (1) an advertisement disseminated in any form, 

15 including print or by any electronic means; and 

16 (2) a communication by an individual in any 

17 form, including speech, print or by any electronic 

18 means. 

19 TITLE VII—STRENGTHENING 

20 FOIA 

21 SEC. 701. DIGITAL ACCESS TO COMPLETED RESPONSES TO 

22 THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. 

23 (a) REQUIREMENT.—(1) Each agency shall make 

24 available all materials contained in the agency’s completed 

25 response to a request under section 552 of title 5, United 


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1 States Code (in this section referred to as a ‘‘FOIA re2 quest’’) in a structured database; in a searchable, sortable, 

3 downloadable database; or in a format searchable by text 

4 as appropriate, within one month after the date the FOIA 

5 request was completed. 

6 (2) All information is presumed to be available in an 

7 electronic format as described in paragraph (1) unless the 

8 agency demonstrates that excessive cost would place an 

9 undue burden on the agency. 

10 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—All information included 

11 in the agency’s completed response to a FOIA request 

12 shall be made available to the public electronically, free 

13 of charge through each agency’s website. 

14 SEC. 702. COMMISSION ON FREEDOM OF INFORMATION 

15 ACT PROCESSING DELAYS. 

16 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a Com17 mission to be known as the ‘‘Commission on Freedom of 

18 Information Act Processing Delays’’ (in this section re19 ferred to as the ‘‘Commission’’) for the purpose of con20 ducting a study relating to the methods to help reduce 

21 delays in processing requests submitted to Federal agen22 cies under section 552 of title 5, United States Code. 

23 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall be 

25 composed of 16 members, as follows: 


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1 (A) 3 appointed by the Chairman of the 

2 Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate. 

3 (B) 3 appointed by the ranking member of 

4 the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate. 

5 (C) 3 appointed by the Chairman of Com6 mittee on Oversight and Government Reform of 

7 the House of Representatives. 

8 (D) 3 appointed by the ranking member of 

9 the Committee on Oversight and Government 

10 Reform of the House of Representatives. 

11 (E) 1 appointed by the Attorney General. 

12 (F) 1 appointed by the Director of the Of13 fice of Management and Budget. 

14 (G) 1 appointed by the Archivist. 

15 (H) 1 appointed by the Comptroller Gen16 eral. 

17 (2) QUALIFICATIONS.—Appointees must have 

18 certain qualifications. 

19 (c) DUTIES.—The duties of the Commission are to— 

20 (1) identify methods that— 

21 (A) help reduce delays in the processing of 

22 FOIA requests submitted to Federal agencies; 

23 and 


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1 (B) ensure the efficient and equitable ad2 ministration of FOIA throughout the Federal 

3 Government; and 

4 (2) examine whether the system for charging 

5 fees and granting waivers of fees needs to be re6 formed in order to reduce delays. 

7 (d) REPORT.—The Commission shall submit a report 

8 to Congress and the President, not later than 1 year after 

9 the date of enactment of this Act, containing the conclu10 sions and recommendations of the Commission. 

11 TITLE VIII—ENFORCEMENT 

12 SEC. 801. AUDITS BY THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY 

13 OFFICE. 

14 (a) AUDIT REQUIREMENT.—The Comptroller Gen15 eral shall conduct annual audits of the implementation of 

16 the provisions in this Act, and shall submit annually to 

17 the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of 

18 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

19 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen20 ate a report on the results of the audits. 

21 (b) MATTERS COVERED BY AUDITS.—Audits con22 ducted under this section shall address whether the con23 gressional and executive branch information that is re24 quired to be provided to the public through the Internet 

25 is complete, primary, timely, accessible, machine 


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1 processable, non-discriminatory, non-proprietary, and li2 cense-free. 

3 (c) CURRENT STANDARDS.—Audits conducted under 

4 this section shall also address whether the information 

5 provided to the public under this Act is produced and 

6 maintained using current standards for data publication. 

7 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) COMPLETE.—The term ‘‘complete’’ means 

9 all public data is made available. Public data is data 

10 that is not subject to valid privacy, security, or privi11 lege limitations. 

12 (2) PRIMARY.—The term ‘‘primary’’ means 

13 data collected at the source, with the highest pos14 sible level of granularity, not in aggregate or modi15 fied forms. 

16 (3) TIMELY.—The term ‘‘timely’’ means data is 

17 made available as quickly as necessary to preserve 

18 the value of the data. 

19 (4) ACCESSIBLE.—The term ‘‘accessible’’ 

20 means data is available to the widest range of users 

21 for the widest range of purposes. 

22 (5) MACHINE PROCESSABLE.—The term ‘‘ma23 chine processable’’ means data is reasonably struc24 tured to allow automated processing. 


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1 (6) NON-DISCRIMINATORY.—The term ‘‘non2 discriminatory’’ means data is available to anyone, 

3 with no requirement of registration. 

4 (7) NON-PROPRIETARY.—The term ‘‘non-pro5 prietary’’ means data is available in a format over 

6 which no entity has exclusive control. 

7 (8) LICENSE-FREE.—The term ‘‘license-free’’ 

8 means data is not subject to any copyright, patent, 

9 trademark, or trade secret regulation. Reasonable 

10 privacy, security, and privilege restrictions may be 

11 allowed. 

Æ 


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