II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3900 

To amend chapter 3 of title 5, United States Code, to require the publication 

of settlement agreements, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 22, 2022 

Mr. LANKFORD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend chapter 3 of title 5, United States Code, to require 

the publication of settlement agreements, 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 ‘‘Settlement Agreement 

5 Information Database Act of 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Executive 

9 agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

10 105 of title 5, United States Code. 


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1 (2) SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT.—The term 

2 ‘‘settlement agreement’’ has the meaning given the 

3 term in section 307 of title 5, United States Code, 

4 as added by section 3(a) of this Act. 

5 SEC. 3. INFORMATION REGARDING SETTLEMENT AGREE6 MENTS ENTERED INTO BY FEDERAL AGEN7 CIES. 

8 (a) REQUIREMENTS FOR SETTLEMENT AGREE9 MENTS.—Chapter 3 of title 5, United States Code, is 

10 amended by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘§ 307. Information regarding settlement agreements 

12 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 ‘‘(1) LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘local 

14 government’ has the meaning given the term in sec15 tion 6501 of title 31. 

16 ‘‘(2) ORDER TYPE.—The term ‘order type’ 

17 means the type of action or instrument used to set18 tle a civil or criminal judicial action. 

19 ‘‘(3) SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT.—The term 

20 ‘settlement agreement’ means a settlement agree21 ment, including a consent decree, that— 

22 ‘‘(A) is entered into by an Executive agen23 cy; and 

24 ‘‘(B) relates to an alleged violation of Fed25 eral civil or criminal law. 


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1 ‘‘(4) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of 

2 the several States, the District of Columbia, each 

3 territory or possession of the United States, and 

4 each federally recognized Indian Tribe. 

5 ‘‘(b) SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT INFORMATION

6 DATABASE.— 

7 ‘‘(1) EXECUTIVE AGENCY REQUIREMENT.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara9 graph (B), the head of each Executive agency 

10 shall, in accordance with guidance issued pursu11 ant to paragraph (2), submit the following in12 formation to the database established under 

13 paragraph (3): 

14 ‘‘(i) A list of each settlement agree15 ment, in a categorized and searchable for16 mat, entered into by the Executive agency, 

17 as a party to a lawsuit, which shall in18 clude, for each settlement agreement— 

19 ‘‘(I) the order type of the settle20 ment agreement; 

21 ‘‘(II) the date on which the par22 ties entered into the settlement agree23 ment; 

24 ‘‘(III) a list of specific violations 

25 that specify the basis for the action 


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1 taken, with a description of the claims 

2 each party settled under the settle3 ment agreement; 

4 ‘‘(IV) the amount of attorneys’ 

5 fees and other litigation costs award6 ed, if any, including a description of 

7 the statutory basis for such an award; 

8 ‘‘(V) the amount each party set9 tling a claim under the settlement 

10 agreement is obligated to pay under 

11 the settlement agreement; 

12 ‘‘(VI) the total amount the set13 tling parties are obligated to pay 

14 under the settlement agreement; 

15 ‘‘(VII) the amount, if any, the 

16 settling party is obligated to pay that 

17 is expressly specified under the settle18 ment agreement as a civil or criminal 

19 penalty or fine; 

20 ‘‘(VIII) any payment made under 

21 the settlement agreement, including a 

22 description of any payment made to 

23 the Federal Government; 

24 ‘‘(IX) the projected duration of 

25 the settlement agreement, if available; 


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1 ‘‘(X) a list of State or local gov2 ernments that may be directly af3 fected by the terms of the settlement 

4 agreement; 

5 ‘‘(XI) a brief description of any 

6 economic data and methodology used 

7 to justify the terms of the settlement 

8 agreement; 

9 ‘‘(XII) any modifications to the 

10 settlement agreement, when applica11 ble; 

12 ‘‘(XIII) notice and comments, 

13 when applicable; and 

14 ‘‘(XIV) whether the settlement 

15 agreement is still under judicial en16 forcement and any period of time by 

17 which the parties agreed to have cer18 tain conditions met. 

19 ‘‘(ii) A copy of each— 

20 ‘‘(I) settlement agreement en21 tered into by the Executive agency; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(II) statement issued under 

24 paragraph (4). 


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1 ‘‘(B) NONDISCLOSURE.—The requirement 

2 to submit information or a copy of a settlement 

3 agreement under subparagraph (A) shall not 

4 apply to the extent the information or copy (or 

5 portion thereof)— 

6 ‘‘(i) is subject to a confidentiality pro7 vision that prohibits disclosure of the infor8 mation or copy (or portion thereof); and 

9 ‘‘(ii) would not be disclosed under sec10 tion 552, if the Executive agency provides 

11 a citation to the applicable exemption. 

12 ‘‘(C) CLARIFICATION OF RESPONSIBLE

13 AGENCY.—In a case in which an Executive 

14 agency is acting at the request or on behalf of 

15 another Executive agency (referred to as the 

16 originating agency), the originating agency is 

17 responsible for submitting information under 

18 subparagraph (A). 

19 ‘‘(2) GUIDANCE.—The Director of the Office of 

20 Management and Budget shall issue guidance for 

21 Executive agencies to implement paragraph (1), 

22 which shall include the following: 

23 ‘‘(A) Specific dates by which submissions 

24 must be made, not less than twice a year. 


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1 ‘‘(B) Data standards, including common 

2 data elements and a common, nonproprietary, 

3 searchable, machine-readable, platform inde4 pendent format. 

5 ‘‘(C) A requirement that the information 

6 and documents required under paragraph (1) 

7 are publicly available for a period starting on 

8 the date of the settlement through not less than 

9 5 years after the termination of the settlement 

10 agreement. 

11 ‘‘(3) ESTABLISHMENT OF DATABASE.—The Di12 rector of the Office of Management and Budget, or 

13 the head of an Executive agency designated by the 

14 Director, shall establish and maintain a public, 

15 searchable, downloadable database for Executive 

16 agencies to directly upload and submit the informa17 tion and documents required under paragraph (1) 

18 for immediate publication online. 

19 ‘‘(4) STATEMENT OF CONFIDENTIALITY.—If 

20 the head of an Executive agency determines that a 

21 confidentiality provision in a settlement agreement, 

22 or the sealing of a settlement agreement, is required 

23 to protect the public interest of the United States, 

24 the head of the Executive agency may except the 

25 settlement agreement from the requirement in paraVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:11 Mar 23, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3900.IS S3900

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1 graph (1) and shall issue a written public statement 

2 stating why such action is required to protect the 

3 public interest of the United States, which shall ex4 plain— 

5 ‘‘(A) what interests confidentiality pro6 tects; and 

7 ‘‘(B) why the interests protected by con8 fidentiality outweigh the public’s interest in 

9 knowing about the conduct of the Federal Gov10 ernment and the expenditure of Federal re11 sources.’’. 

12 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

13 The table of sections for chapter 3 of title 5, United States 

14 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘307. Information regarding settlement agreements.’’. 

15 (c) DEADLINE TO ESTABLISH DATABASE.—Not later 

16 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

17 Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall— 

18 (1) issue the guidance required under section 

19 307(b)(2) of title 5, United States Code, as added 

20 by subsection (a); and 

21 (2) establish the settlement agreement informa22 tion database required under section 307(b)(3) of 

23 title 5, United States Code, as added by subsection 

24 (a). 


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1 (d) DEADLINE FOR FIRST SUBMISSION.—Not later 

2 than 90 days after the date on which the Director issues 

3 the guidance required under section 307(b)(2) of title 5, 

4 United States Code, as added by subsection (a), the head 

5 of each Executive agency shall begin submitting informa6 tion to the database established under such section 307. 

7 SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION 

8 ACT. 

9 Section 552(a) of title 5, United States Code, is 

10 amended— 

11 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

12 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) 

13 through (E) as subparagraphs (C) through (F), 

14 respectively; 

15 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 

16 the following: 

17 ‘‘(B) each settlement agreement, as defined in 

18 section 307, entered into by an Executive agency, 

19 with redactions for information that the agency may 

20 withhold under paragraph (8) and subsections (b) 

21 and (c) of this section;’’; 

22 (C) in subparagraph (F), as so redesig23 nated, by striking ‘‘subparagraph (D)’’ and in24 serting ‘‘subparagraph (E)’’; and 


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1 (D) in the flush text following subpara2 graph (F), as so redesignated— 

3 (i) by striking ‘‘subparagraph (D)’’ 

4 and inserting ‘‘subparagraph (E)’’; and 

5 (ii) by striking ‘‘subparagraph (E)’’ 

6 and inserting ‘‘subparagraph (F)’’; and 

7 (2) in paragraph (4)(B), by striking ‘‘para8 graph (2)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (2)(D)’’. 

9 SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

10 Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this 

11 Act, shall be construed to require the disclosure of infor12 mation or records that any agency may properly withhold 

13 from public disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United 

14 States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Freedom of Infor15 mation Act’’). 

16 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY. 

17 This Act shall— 

18 (1) be effective on the date that is 180 days 

19 after the date of enactment of this Act; and 

20 (2) apply— 

21 (A) with respect to any settlement agree22 ment entered into on or after the date of the 

23 enactment of this Act; and 


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1 (B) to the extent practicable, any such set2 tlement agreement that remains in effect on or 

3 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

4 SEC. 7. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

5 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

6 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

7 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

8 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

9 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

10 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro11 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

12 vote on passage. 

Æ 


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