I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5181 

To amend title 44, United States Code, to require the retention of records 

of high level officials, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 23, 2014 

Ms. SPEIER (for herself and Mr. CHAFFETZ) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To amend title 44, United States Code, to require the retention of records of high level officials, 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 ‘‘Retention of Electronic 

5 Correspondence Of Regulatory Decisions Act of 2014’’ or 

6 as the ‘‘RECORD Act of 2014’’. 

7 SEC. 2. RETENTION OF RECORDS OF HIGH LEVEL OFFI8 CIALS. 

9 Section 3102 of title 44, United States Code, is 

10 amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

2 inserting a semicolon; 

3 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at 

4 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

6 ‘‘(4) the identification of electronic mail ac7 counts that should be preserved because such ac8 counts are most likely to contain records that should 

9 be preserved as permanent Federal records and the 

10 automatic retention of those records, including the 

11 accounts of each head of a Federal agency, the dep12 uties and assistants of such head, the head of each 

13 program office and staff office, each assistant sec14 retary, each administrator, each commissioner, each 

15 director of an office, bureau, or the equivalent, each 

16 principal regional official, each staff assistant to 

17 such official (such as a special assistant, confidential 

18 assistant, and administrative assistant), each career 

19 Federal employee, each political appointee, and each 

20 member of the Armed Forces serving in equivalent 

21 or comparable positions; and 

22 ‘‘(5) electronic capture, management, and pres23 ervation of the electronic mail accounts described in 

24 paragraph (4) in accordance with the records disVerDate Mar 15 2010 20:25 Jul 30, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5181.IH H5181

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1 posal requirements of chapter 33 of this title such 

2 that— 

3 ‘‘(A) electronic records are readily acces4 sible for retrieval through electronic searches; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(B) there are mandatory minimum func7 tional requirements for electronic records man8 agement systems to ensure compliance with this 

9 section.’’. 

10 SEC. 3. REVIEW BY THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE 

11 UNITED STATES. 

12 Section 3107 of title 44, United States Code, is 

13 amended— 

14 (1) by striking ‘‘Chapters 21’’ and inserting 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapters 21’’; and 

16 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(b) COMPTROLLER GENERAL EVALUATION.—The 

18 Comptroller General shall evaluate and report to Congress 

19 not less than every two years on agency management of 

20 electronic mail records required under paragraphs (4) and 

21 (5) of section 3102.’’. 

22 SEC. 4. REVIEW BY INSPECTOR GENERAL. 

23 Section 4(a) of the Inspector General Act (5 U.S.C. 

24 App.) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

2 inserting a semicolon; 

3 (2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at 

4 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

5 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

6 paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(6) to review existing and proposed legislation 

8 and regulations relating to records retention require9 ments under the chapters 21, 29, 31 and 33 of title 

10 44, United States Code (commonly referred to as 

11 the Federal Records Act) for programs and oper12 ations of such establishment and to make rec13 ommendations in the semiannual reports required by 

14 section 5(a) concerning compliance with records re15 tention requirements.’’. 

16 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

17 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

18 take effect on December 31, 2014. 

Æ 


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