II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 195 

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 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Access to Congression5 ally Mandated Reports Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED REPORT.— 

2 The term ‘‘congressionally mandated report’’— 

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

4 submitted to either House of Congress or any 

5 committee of Congress, or subcommittee there6 of, by a statute, resolution, or conference report 

7 that accompanies legislation enacted into law; 

8 and 

9 (B) does not include a report required 

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

11 States Code. 

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

13 the Director of the Government Publishing Office. 

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

15 agency’’ has the meaning given that term under sec16 tion 102 of title 40, United States Code, but does 

17 not include the Government Accountability Office. 

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

19 means a file format for storing digital data based on 

20 an underlying open standard that— 

21 (A) is not encumbered by any restrictions 

22 that would impede reuse; and 

23 (B) is based on an underlying open data 

24 standard that is maintained by a standards or25 ganization. 


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

2 website’’ means the website established under section 

3 3(a). 

4 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF WEBSITE FOR CONGRESSION5 ALLY MANDATED REPORTS. 

6 (a) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH WEBSITE.— 

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

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

9 establish and maintain a website accessible by the 

10 public that allows the public to obtain electronic cop11 ies of all congressionally mandated reports in one 

12 place. The Director may publish other reports on the 

13 website. 

14 (2) EXISTING FUNCTIONALITY.—To the extent 

15 possible, the Director shall meet the requirements 

16 under paragraph (1) by using existing websites and 

17 functionality under the authority of the Director. 

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

19 the Director shall consult with the Clerk of the 

20 House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Sen21 ate, and the Librarian of Congress regarding the re22 quirements for and maintenance of congressionally 

23 mandated reports on the reports website. 

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

25 ensure that the reports website includes the following: 


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

2 each congressionally mandated report, each of the 

3 following: 

4 (A) A citation to the statute, conference 

5 report, or resolution requiring the report. 

6 (B) An electronic copy of the report, in7 cluding any transmittal letter associated with 

8 the report, in an open format that is platform 

9 independent and that is available to the public 

10 without restrictions, including restrictions that 

11 would impede the re-use of the information in 

12 the report. 

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

14 extent practicable, through searches based on 

15 each, and any combination, of the following: 

16 (i) The title of the report. 

17 (ii) The reporting Federal agency. 

18 (iii) The date of publication. 

19 (iv) Each congressional committee re20 ceiving the report, if applicable. 

21 (v) The statute, resolution, or con22 ference report requiring the report. 

23 (vi) Subject tags. 


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1 (vii) A unique alphanumeric identifier 

2 for the report that is consistent across re3 port editions. 

4 (viii) The serial number, Super5 intendent of Documents number, or other 

6 identification number for the report, if ap7 plicable. 

8 (ix) Key words. 

9 (x) Full text search. 

10 (xi) Any other relevant information 

11 specified by the Director. 

12 (D) The date on which the report was re13 quired to be submitted, and on which the report 

14 was submitted, to the reports website. 

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

16 calendar days after its submission to Congress. 

17 (F) To the extent practicable, a permanent 

18 means of accessing the report electronically. 

19 (2) A means for bulk download of all congres20 sionally mandated reports. 

21 (3) A means for downloading individual reports 

22 as the result of a search. 

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

24 Federal agency to submit to the reports website each 


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1 congressionally mandated report of the agency, as 

2 required by section 4. 

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

4 mandated reports that can be searched, sorted, and 

5 downloaded by— 

6 (A) reports submitted within the required 

7 time; 

8 (B) reports submitted after the date on 

9 which such reports were required to be sub10 mitted; and 

11 (C) reports not submitted. 

12 (c) NONCOMPLIANCE BY FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 

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

14 agency does not submit a congressionally mandated 

15 report to the Director, the Director shall to the ex16 tent practicable— 

17 (A) include on the reports website— 

18 (i) the information required under 

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

20 (b)(1)(C); and 

21 (ii) the date on which the report was 

22 required to be submitted; and 

23 (B) include the congressionally mandated 

24 report on the list described in subsection 

25 (b)(5)(C). 


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1 (2) REPORTS NOT IN OPEN FORMAT.—If a Fed2 eral agency submits a congressionally mandated re3 port that is not in an open format, the Director shall 

4 include the congressionally mandated report in an5 other format on the reports website. 

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

7 fee, require registration, or impose any other limitation 

8 in exchange for access to the reports website. 

9 (e) UPGRADE CAPABILITY.—The reports website 

10 shall be enhanced and updated as necessary to carry out 

11 the purposes of this Act. 

12 SEC. 4. FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES. 

13 (a) SUBMISSION OF ELECTRONIC COPIES OF RE14 PORTS.—Concurrently with the submission to Congress of 

15 each congressionally mandated report, the head of the 

16 Federal agency submitting the congressionally mandated 

17 report shall submit to the Director the information re18 quired under subparagraphs (A) through (D) of section 

19 3(b)(1) with respect to the congressionally mandated re20 port. Nothing in this Act shall relieve a Federal agency 

21 of any other requirement to publish the congressionally 

22 mandated report on the website of the Federal agency or 

23 otherwise submit the congressionally mandated report to 

24 Congress or specific committees of Congress, or sub25 committees thereof. 


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

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

3 of Management and Budget, in consultation with the Di4 rector, shall issue guidance to agencies on the implementa5 tion of this Act. 

6 (c) STRUCTURE OF SUBMITTED REPORT DATA.— 

7 The head of each Federal agency shall ensure that each 

8 congressionally mandated report submitted to the Director 

9 complies with the open format criteria established by the 

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

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

12 agency shall designate a point of contact for congression13 ally mandated reports. 

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

15 in consultation with the Clerk of the House of Representa16 tives, shall submit to the Director a list of congressionally 

17 mandated reports that are required to be submitted during 

18 a year as soon as is practicable, including, whenever fea19 sible, on rolling basis throughout the year, but in any 

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

21 shall— 

22 (1) be provided in an open format; 

23 (2) include the information required under 

24 clauses (i), (ii), (iv), (v) of section 3(b)(1)(C) for 

25 each report; 


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1 (3) include the frequency of the report; 

2 (4) include a unique alphanumeric identifier for 

3 the report that is consistent across report editions; 

4 (5) include the date on which each report is re5 quired to be submitted; and 

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

7 necessary. 

8 SEC. 5. REMOVING AND ALTERING REPORTS. 

9 A report submitted to be published to the reports 

10 website may only be changed or removed, with the excep11 tion of technical changes, by the head of the Federal agen12 cy concerned if— 

13 (1) the head of the Federal agency consults 

14 with each congressional committee to which the re15 port is submitted; and 

16 (2) Congress enacts a joint resolution author17 izing the changing or removal of the report. 

18 SEC. 6. RELATIONSHIP TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMA19 TION ACT. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act shall be con21 strued to require the disclosure of information or records 

22 that are exempt from public disclosure under section 552 

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

24 duty on the Director to review congressionally mandated 

25 reports submitted for publication to the reports website 


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1 for the purpose of identifying and redacting such informa2 tion or records. 

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

4 congressionally mandated report, the head of each relevant 

5 Federal agency— 

6 (1) shall redact any information that may not 

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

8 United States Code, before submission for publica9 tion on the reports website; and 

10 (2) shall— 

11 (A) redact only such information from the 

12 report; 

13 (B) identify where any such redaction is 

14 made in the report; and 

15 (C) identify the exemption under which 

16 each such redaction is made. 

17 (c) WITHHOLDING INFORMATION.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—A Federal agency— 

19 (A) may withhold information otherwise re20 quired to be disclosed under this Act only if— 

21 (i) the Federal agency reasonably 

22 foresees that disclosure would harm an in23 terest protected by an exemption described 

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

25 Code; or 


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1 (ii) disclosure is prohibited by law; 

2 and 

3 (B) shall— 

4 (i) consider whether partial disclosure 

5 of information otherwise required to be dis6 closed under this Act is possible whenever 

7 the Federal agency determines that a full 

8 disclosure of the information is not pos9 sible; and 

10 (ii) take reasonable steps necessary to 

11 segregate and release nonexempt informa12 tion. 

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

14 subsection requires disclosure of information that is 

15 otherwise prohibited from disclosure by law, or oth16 erwise exempted from disclosure under section 

17 552(b)(3) of title 5, United States Code. 

18 SEC. 7. IMPLEMENTATION. 

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

20 implemented not later than 1 year after the date of enact21 ment of this Act and shall apply with respect to congres22 sionally mandated reports submitted to Congress on or 

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

Æ 


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