II 

Calendar No. 67 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 195 

[Report No. 116–31] 

To require the Director of the Government Publishing Office to establish 

and maintain a website accessible to the public that allows the public 

to obtain electronic copies of all congressionally mandated reports in 

one place, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 19, 2019 

Mr. PORTMAN (for himself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Ms. HASSAN) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

APRIL 10, 2019 

Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, with an amendment 

[Insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To require the Director of the Government Publishing Office 

to establish and maintain a website accessible to the 

public that allows the public to obtain electronic copies 

of all congressionally mandated reports in one place, 

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 ‘‘Access to Congression3 ally Mandated Reports Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED REPORT.— 

7 The term ‘‘congressionally mandated report’’— 

8 (A) means a report that is required to be 

9 submitted to either House of Congress or any 

10 committee of Congress, or subcommittee there11 of, by a statute, resolution, or conference report 

12 that accompanies legislation enacted into law; 

13 and 

14 (B) does not include a report required 

15 under part B of subtitle II of title 36, United 

16 States Code. 

17 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

18 the Director of the Government Publishing Office. 

19 (3) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 

20 agency’’ has the meaning given that term under sec21 tion 102 of title 40, United States Code, but does 

22 not include the Government Accountability Office. 

23 (4) OPEN FORMAT.—The term ‘‘open format’’ 

24 means a file format for storing digital data based on 

25 an underlying open standard that— 


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1 (A) is not encumbered by any restrictions 

2 that would impede reuse; and 

3 (B) is based on an underlying open data 

4 standard that is maintained by a standards or5 ganization. 

6 (5) REPORTS WEBSITE.—The term ‘‘reports 

7 website’’ means the website established under section 

8 3(a). 

9 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF WEBSITE FOR CONGRESSION10 ALLY MANDATED REPORTS. 

11 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH WEBSITE.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

13 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall 

14 establish and maintain a website accessible by the 

15 public that allows the public to obtain electronic cop16 ies of all congressionally mandated reports in one 

17 place. The Director may publish other reports on the 

18 website. 

19 (2) EXISTING FUNCTIONALITY.—To the extent 

20 possible, the Director shall meet the requirements 

21 under paragraph (1) by using existing websites and 

22 functionality under the authority of the Director. 

23 (3) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this Act, 

24 the Director shall consult with the Clerk of the 

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1 ate, and the Librarian of Congress regarding the re2 quirements for and maintenance of congressionally 

3 mandated reports on the reports website. 

4 (b) CONTENT AND FUNCTION.—The Director shall 

5 ensure that the reports website includes the following: 

6 (1) Subject to subsection (c), with respect to 

7 each congressionally mandated report, each of the 

8 following: 

9 (A) A citation to the statute, conference 

10 report, or resolution requiring the report. 

11 (B) An electronic copy of the report, in12 cluding any transmittal letter associated with 

13 the report, in an open format that is platform 

14 independent and that is available to the public 

15 without restrictions, including restrictions that 

16 would impede the re-use of the information in 

17 the report. 

18 (C) The ability to retrieve a report, to the 

19 extent practicable, through searches based on 

20 each, and any combination, of the following: 

21 (i) The title of the report. 

22 (ii) The reporting Federal agency. 

23 (iii) The date of publication. 

24 (iv) Each congressional committee re25 ceiving the report, if applicable. 


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1 (v) The statute, resolution, or con2 ference report requiring the report. 

3 (vi) Subject tags. 

4 (vii) A unique alphanumeric identifier 

5 for the report that is consistent across re6 port editions. 

7 (viii) The serial number, Super8 intendent of Documents number, or other 

9 identification number for the report, if ap10 plicable. 

11 (ix) Key words. 

12 (x) Full text search. 

13 (xi) Any other relevant information 

14 specified by the Director. 

15 (D) The date on which the report was re16 quired to be submitted, and on which the report 

17 was submitted, to the reports website. 

18 (E) Access to the report not later than 30 

19 calendar days after its submission to Congress. 

20 (F) To the extent practicable, a permanent 

21 means of accessing the report electronically. 

22 (2) A means for bulk download of all congres23 sionally mandated reports. 

24 (3) A means for downloading individual reports 

25 as the result of a search. 


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1 (4) An electronic means for the head of each 

2 Federal agency to submit to the reports website each 

3 congressionally mandated report of the agency, as 

4 required by section 4. 

5 (5) In tabular form, a list of all congressionally 

6 mandated reports that can be searched, sorted, and 

7 downloaded by— 

8 (A) reports submitted within the required 

9 time; 

10 (B) reports submitted after the date on 

11 which such reports were required to be sub12 mitted; and 

13 (C) reports not submitted. 

14 (c) NONCOMPLIANCE BY FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 

15 (1) REPORTS NOT SUBMITTED.—If a Federal 

16 agency does not submit a congressionally mandated 

17 report to the Director, the Director shall to the ex18 tent practicable— 

19 (A) include on the reports website— 

20 (i) the information required under 

21 clauses (i), (ii), (iv), and (v) of subsection 

22 (b)(1)(C); and 

23 (ii) the date on which the report was 

24 required to be submitted; and 


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1 (B) include the congressionally mandated 

2 report on the list described in subsection 

3 (b)(5)(C). 

4 (2) REPORTS NOT IN OPEN FORMAT.—If a Fed5 eral agency submits a congressionally mandated re6 port that is not in an open format, the Director shall 

7 include the congressionally mandated report in an8 other format on the reports website. 

9 (d) FREE ACCESS.—The Director may not charge a 

10 fee, require registration, or impose any other limitation 

11 in exchange for access to the reports website. 

12 (e) UPGRADE CAPABILITY.—The reports website 

13 shall be enhanced and updated as necessary to carry out 

14 the purposes of this Act. 

15 SEC. 4. FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES. 

16 (a) SUBMISSION OF ELECTRONIC COPIES OF RE17 PORTS.—Concurrently with the submission to Congress of 

18 each congressionally mandated report, the head of the 

19 Federal agency submitting the congressionally mandated 

20 report shall submit to the Director the information re21 quired under subparagraphs (A) through (D) of section 

22 3(b)(1) with respect to the congressionally mandated re23 port. Nothing in this Act shall relieve a Federal agency 

24 of any other requirement to publish the congressionally 

25 mandated report on the website of the Federal agency or 


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1 otherwise submit the congressionally mandated report to 

2 Congress or specific committees of Congress, or sub3 committees thereof. 

4 (b) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 240 days after the 

5 date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office 

6 of Management and Budget, in consultation with the Di7 rector, shall issue guidance to agencies on the implementa8 tion of this Act. 

9 (c) STRUCTURE OF SUBMITTED REPORT DATA.— 

10 The head of each Federal agency shall ensure that each 

11 congressionally mandated report submitted to the Director 

12 complies with the open format criteria established by the 

13 Director in the guidance issued under subsection (b). 

14 (d) POINT OF CONTACT.—The head of each Federal 

15 agency shall designate a point of contact for congression16 ally mandated reports. 

17 (e) LIST OF REPORTS.—The Librarian of Congress, 

18 in consultation with the Clerk of the House of Representa19 tives, shall submit to the Director a list of congressionally 

20 mandated reports that are required to be submitted during 

21 a year as soon as is practicable, including, whenever fea22 sible, on rolling basis throughout the year, but in any 

23 event not later than April 1 of the following year, which 

24 shall— 

25 (1) be provided in an open format; 


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1 (2) include the information required under 

2 clauses (i), (ii), (iv), and (v) of section 3(b)(1)(C) 

3 for each report; 

4 (3) include the frequency of the report; 

5 (4) include a unique alphanumeric identifier for 

6 the report that is consistent across report editions; 

7 (5) include the date on which each report is re8 quired to be submitted; and 

9 (6) be updated and provided to the Director, as 

10 necessary. 

11 SEC. 5. REMOVING AND ALTERING REPORTS. 

12 A report submitted to be published to the reports 

13 website may only be changed or removed, with the excep14 tion of technical changes, by the head of the Federal agen15 cy concerned if— 

16 (1) the head of the Federal agency consults 

17 with each congressional committee to which the re18 port is submitted; and 

19 (2) Congress enacts a joint resolution author20 izing the changing or removal of the report. 

21 SEC. 6. RELATIONSHIP TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMA22 TION ACT. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act shall be con24 strued to require the disclosure of information or records 

25 that are exempt from public disclosure under section 552 


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1 of title 5, United States Code, or to impose any affirmative 

2 duty on the Director to review congressionally mandated 

3 reports submitted for publication to the reports website 

4 for the purpose of identifying and redacting such informa5 tion or records. 

6 (b) REDACTION OF REPORT.—With respect to each 

7 congressionally mandated report, the head of each relevant 

8 Federal agency— 

9 (1) shall redact any information that may not 

10 be publicly released under section 552(b) of title 5, 

11 United States Code, before submission for publica12 tion on the reports website; and 

13 (2) shall— 

14 (A) redact only such information from the 

15 report; 

16 (B) identify where any such redaction is 

17 made in the report; and 

18 (C) identify the exemption under which 

19 each such redaction is made. 

20 (c) WITHHOLDING INFORMATION.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—A Federal agency— 

22 (A) may withhold information otherwise re23 quired to be disclosed under this Act only if— 

24 (i) the Federal agency reasonably 

25 foresees that disclosure would harm an inVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:15 Apr 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S195.RS S195

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1 terest protected by an exemption described 

2 in section 552(b) of title 5, United States 

3 Code; or 

4 (ii) disclosure is prohibited by law; 

5 and 

6 (B) shall— 

7 (i) consider whether partial disclosure 

8 of information otherwise required to be dis9 closed under this Act is possible whenever 

10 the Federal agency determines that a full 

11 disclosure of the information is not pos12 sible; and 

13 (ii) take reasonable steps necessary to 

14 segregate and release nonexempt informa15 tion. 

16 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

17 subsection requires disclosure of information that is 

18 otherwise prohibited from disclosure by law, or oth19 erwise exempted from disclosure under section 

20 552(b)(3) of title 5, United States Code. 

21 SEC. 7. IMPLEMENTATION. 

22 Except as provided in section 4(b), this Act shall be 

23 implemented not later than 1 year after the date of enact24 ment of this Act and shall apply with respect to congresVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:15 Apr 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S195.RS S195

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1 sionally mandated reports submitted to Congress on or 

2 after the date that is 1 year after such date of enactment. 


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pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
Calendar No. 67 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 195 

[Report No. 116–31] 

A BILL 

To require the Director of the Government Pubpurposes. mandated reports in one place, and for other obtain electronic copies of all congressionally accessible to the public that allows the public to lishing Office to establish and maintain a website 

APRIL 10, 2019 

Reported with an amendment 


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