I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 545 

To establish the United States Commission on the Organization of Petroleum 

Exporting Countries, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 13, 2017 

Mr. CRAMER (for himself, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. PETERSON, and Mr. 

DAVID SCOTT of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to 

the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 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 establish the United States Commission on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, 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 ‘‘United States Commis5 sion on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Coun6 tries Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT. 

2 There is hereby established a commission to be known 

3 as the United States Commission on the Organization of 

4 Petroleum Exporting Countries (in this Act referred to as 

5 the ‘‘Commission’’). 

6 SEC. 3. DUTIES OF COMMISSION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall investigate 

8 any anti-competitive involvement of the Organization of 

9 Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), its member na10 tions, and affiliated entities in oil markets and make rec11 ommendations to reduce the adverse impacts on the 

12 United States of such involvement. 

13 (b) SPECIFIC DUTIES.—The Commission shall— 

14 (1) investigate behavior of OPEC, its member 

15 nations, and affiliated entities, including national oil 

16 companies, designed to disadvantage United States 

17 oil producers and secure market power through anti18 competitive behavior; 

19 (2) assess the impact of OPEC’s policies on 

20 United States economic and energy security inter21 ests, including on innovation in both energy produc22 tion and the transportation of goods and people; 

23 (3) assess existing relationships of Federal 

24 agencies with OPEC and the extent to which Fed25 eral officials are making efforts to mitigate the imVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Jan 27, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H545.IH H545

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1 pact of any potential anti-competitive actions by 

2 OPEC; and 

3 (4) produce recommendations on reducing the 

4 adverse impacts on the United States of such activi5 ties, including through policy reform in the areas of 

6 taxes, trade, defense, and research and development, 

7 and diplomacy, among others. 

8 SEC. 4. MEMBERS OF COMMISSION. 

9 (a) NUMBER AND APPOINTMENT.—The Commission 

10 shall be composed of 16 members appointed by the Presi11 dent as follows: 

12 (1) 4 members shall be appointed from among 

13 individuals independently determined by the Presi14 dent to be qualified for appointment. 

15 (2) 4 members shall be appointed from a list of 

16 8 individuals who shall be nominated by the majority 

17 leader of the Senate in consultation with the chair18 man of the Committee on Energy and Natural Re19 sources of the Senate. 

20 (3) 4 members shall be appointed from a list of 

21 8 individuals who shall be nominated by the Speaker 

22 of the House of Representatives in consultation with 

23 the chairman of the Committee on Energy and Com24 merce and the chairman of the Committee on Nat25 ural Resources of the House of Representatives. 


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1 (4) 2 members shall be appointed from a list of 

2 4 individuals who shall be nominated by the minority 

3 leader of the Senate in consultation with the ranking 

4 member of the Committee on Energy and Natural 

5 Resources of the Senate. 

6 (5) 2 members shall be appointed from a list of 

7 4 individuals who shall be nominated by the minority 

8 leader of the House of Representatives in consulta9 tion with the ranking member of the Committee on 

10 Energy and Commerce and the ranking member of 

11 the Committee on Natural Resources of the House 

12 of Representatives. 

13 (b) QUALIFICATIONS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—In making appointments 

15 under this section, the President shall give consider16 ation to individuals who are knowledgeable on en17 ergy issues, including oil market dynamics, oil and 

18 gas exploration and production, crude oil refining, 

19 oil and gas pipelines, transportation-related fuel con20 sumption, oil use efficiency, national security, for21 eign policy, macroeconomics, labor, environment, lo22 gistics, shipping, tourism, consumer goods, manufac23 turing, and tourism. 

24 (2) BALANCE OF EXPERTISE AREAS.—In mak25 ing appointments under this section, the President 


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1 shall seek to ensure the membership of the Commis2 sion is balanced by area of expertise to the extent 

3 consistent with maintaining the highest level of ex4 pertise on the Commission. 

5 (3) U.S. CITIZEN REQUIREMENT.—Members of 

6 the Commission shall be United States citizens. 

7 (c) TIMING OF APPOINTMENTS.—Appointments to 

8 the Commission shall be made not later than 60 days after 

9 the date of enactment of this Act. 

10 (d) TERMS; VACANCIES.—Each member shall be ap11 pointed for the duration of the Commission. Any vacancy 

12 in the Commission shall not affect its powers, and shall 

13 be filled in the manner in which the original appointment 

14 was made. 

15 (e) CHAIRMAN.—The chairman of the Commission 

16 shall be selected by the President. The chairman of the 

17 Commission shall be responsible for— 

18 (1) the assignment of duties and responsibilities 

19 among staff personnel and their continuing super20 vision; and 

21 (2) the use and expenditure of funds available 

22 to the Commission. 

23 (f) MEETINGS.— 

24 (1) ADMINISTRATION.—All meetings of the 

25 Commission shall be open to the public, except that 


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1 a meeting or any portion of it may be closed to the 

2 public if it concerns matters or information de3 scribed in section 552b(c) of title 5, United States 

4 Code. Interested persons shall be permitted to ap5 pear at open meetings and present oral or written 

6 statements on the subject matter of the meeting. 

7 The Commission may administer oaths or affirma8 tions to any person appearing before it. 

9 (2) NOTICE; MINUTES; PUBLIC AVAILABILITY

10 OF DOCUMENTS.— 

11 (A) NOTICE.—All open meetings of the 

12 Commission shall be preceded by timely public 

13 notice in the Federal Register of the time, 

14 place, and subject of the meeting. 

15 (B) MINUTES.—Minutes of each meeting 

16 shall be kept and shall contain a record of the 

17 people present, a description of the discussion 

18 that occurred, and copies of all statements filed. 

19 Subject to section 552 of title 5, United States 

20 Code, the minutes and records of all meetings 

21 and other documents that were made available 

22 to or prepared for the Commission shall be 

23 available for public inspection and copying at a 

24 single location in the offices of the Commission. 


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1 (3) INITIAL MEETING.—The Commission shall 

2 hold its first meeting within 30 days after all mem3 bers of the Commission have been appointed. 

4 SEC. 5. STAFFING AND RESOURCES. 

5 (a) STAFFING.—The chairman of the Commission 

6 may, without regard to the civil service laws and regula7 tions, appoint and terminate an executive director and 

8 such other additional personnel as may be necessary for 

9 the Commission to perform its duties. The executive direc10 tor shall be compensated at a rate not to exceed the rate 

11 payable for Level IV of the Executive Schedule under 

12 chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code. The chairman 

13 shall select staff from among qualified individuals who are 

14 citizens of the United States. 

15 (b) RESOURCES.—In carrying out its duties under 

16 section 3, the Commission— 

17 (1) is authorized to secure directly from any 

18 Federal department or agency any information it 

19 deems necessary to carry out its functions under this 

20 Act, and each such department or agency is author21 ized to cooperate with the Commission and, to the 

22 extent permitted by law, to furnish such information 

23 (other than information described in section 

24 552(b)(1)(A) of title 5, United States Code) to the 

25 Commission, upon the request of the Commission; 


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1 (2) may enter into contracts, subject to the 

2 availability of appropriations for contracting, and 

3 employ such staff experts and consultants as may be 

4 necessary to carry out the duties of the Commission, 

5 as provided by section 3109 of title 5, United States 

6 Code; and 

7 (3) shall establish a multidisciplinary science 

8 and technical advisory panel of experts in the field 

9 of energy to assist the Commission in preparing its 

10 report, including ensuring that the scientific and 

11 technical information considered by the Commission 

12 is based on the best information available. 

13 SEC. 6. REPORT. 

14 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

15 of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall submit 

16 to Congress and the President a report of its findings and 

17 recommendations regarding the activities required by sec18 tion 3. 

19 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE FOR REPORT AND

20 REVIEW.—Chapter 5 and chapter 7 of title 5, United 

21 States Code, do not apply to the preparation, review, or 

22 submission of the report required by subsection (a). 


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1 SEC. 7. TERMINATION. 

2 The Commission shall terminate not later than 90 

3 days after the date on which the Commission submits its 

4 report under section 6. 

5 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro7 priated to carry out this Act $10,000,000 for fiscal years 

8 2018 and 2019. 

9 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts authorized to be appro10 priated under subsection (a) are authorized to remain 

11 available until expended. 

12 SEC. 9. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS. 

13 Not later than 90 days after receiving the report of 

14 the Commission under section 6, the President shall sub15 mit to Congress a statement of proposals to implement 

16 or respond to the Commission’s recommendations con17 tained in the report. 

Æ 


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