I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3869

To amend the Federal Advisory Committee Act to direct the Director of

the Office of Management and Budget to conduct a negotiated rulemaking for the purpose of establishing electronic data reporting standards for the electronic interchange of certain data that is required to

be reported under existing Federal law.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 23, 1996

Mr. HORN (for himself, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. BASS, Mr. CLINGER, Mr.

EHLERS, Mr. FLANAGAN, Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania, Mr. SHAYS, Mr.

STEARNS, and Mr. TATE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, and in

addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 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 amend the Federal Advisory Committee Act to direct

the Director of the Office of Management and Budget

to conduct a negotiated rulemaking for the purpose of

establishing electronic data reporting standards for the

electronic interchange of certain data that is required

to be reported under existing Federal law.

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 ‘‘Electronic Reporting

3 Streamlining Act of 1996’’.

4 SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

5 The purposes of this Act are the following:

6 (1) To streamline governmentwide use of elec7 tronic data transmissions in place of paperwork sub8 missions to Federal agencies from non-Federal per9 sons, including businesses and State and local gov10 ernments.

11 (2) To ensure that full advantage is taken of

12 private-sector standard setting for electronic data

13 transmission for the benefit of small and large orga14 nizations alike.

15 (3) To reduce costs to business and government

16 by avoiding further proliferation of incompatible for17 mats and methods for transmitting data in an elec18 tronic format.

19 (4) To stimulate Government adoption of com20 prehensive standards for electronic data exchange.

21 (5) To increase effective public access to data

22 and other forms of information transmitted to or

23 from Federal agencies, through electronic means.

24 (6) To minimize costs to the public of review25 ing, obtaining, and searching for data and other
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1 forms of information that are available in electronic

2 form.

3 SEC. 3. NEGOTIATED RULEMAKING FOR DATA STANDARDS

4 FOR ELECTRONIC INTERCHANGE OF DATA.

5 Section 15 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act

6 (5 App. U.S.C.) is amended to read as follows:

7 ‘‘ELECTRONIC DATA MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE

8 ‘‘SEC. 15. (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days

9 after the date of the enactment of this section, the Direc10 tor of the Office of Management and Budget shall estab11 lish and appoint a negotiated rulemaking committee in ac12 cordance with subchapter III of chapter 5 of title 5, Unit13 ed States Code, for the purpose of establishing electronic

14 data reporting standards for the electronic interchange of

15 certain data that is required to be reported under existing

16 Federal law. The committee shall be known as the Elec17 tronic Data Management Advisory Committee. The Direc18 tor shall designate the subject matter of the negotiated

19 rulemaking to be conducted by the Committee, which shall

20 consist of an existing data reporting requirement that ap21 plies to 3 or more agencies and that relates to the report22 ing of data commonly managed by the private sector in

23 accordance with uniform standards.

24 ‘‘(b) MEMBERSHIP OF COMMITTEE.—In addition to

25 the membership requirements for the Committee under

26 section 565(b) of title 5, United States Code—
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1 ‘‘(1) one-third of the membership of the Com2 mittee shall be composed of individuals representing

3 private industry;

4 ‘‘(2) the membership of the Committee shall in5 clude—

6 ‘‘(A) at least one representative of each

7 Federal agency having regulatory authority

8 with respect to the subject matter; and

9 ‘‘(B) representatives of organizations de10 voted to the public interest in the subject mat11 ter; and

12 ‘‘(3) not more than one-quarter of the member13 ship of the Committee may be composed of individ14 uals representing a particular department or agency.

15 ‘‘(c) NEGOTIATED RULEMAKING BY COMMITTEE.—

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall con17 duct a negotiated rulemaking in accordance with

18 subchapter III of chapter 5 of title 5, United States

19 Code, for the purpose set forth in subsection (a) and

20 on the subject matter. In conducting the rulemaking,

21 the Committee shall seek comment and participation

22 from all persons interested in the subject matter.

23 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS FOR PROPOSED RULE.—

24 Any proposed rule promulgated by the Committee

25 shall—
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1 ‘‘(A) provide data necessary to satisfy ex2 isting regulatory reporting requirements com3 prising the subject matter, under a format and

4 protocol that will reasonably accommodate fu5 ture or revised data element specifications with6 out requiring users to make costly or substan7 tial modifications to hardware or software that

8 they use to submit electronic data;

9 ‘‘(B) give deference to existing, oper10 ational, comprehensive electronic data inter11 change standards for reporting under the sub12 ject matter;

13 ‘‘(C) establish data standards that use

14 electronic file formats that are nonproprietary,

15 royalty free, or in the public domain;

16 ‘‘(D) include a list of data elements to be

17 used under the rule, including a description of

18 the characteristics of each data element;

19 ‘‘(E) use data elements that are suitable

20 for placing in publicly accessible electronic

21 databases, to the extent such placement is not

22 otherwise prohibited by law;

23 ‘‘(F) provide for electronic dissemination of

24 data reported under the proposed rule through

25 one or more publicly accessible, searchable
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1 databases identified by the Committee, to the

2 extent such dissemination is not otherwise pro3 hibited by law;

4 ‘‘(G) include a schedule for implementation

5 of electronic data interchange for each Federal

6 program to which the proposed rule would

7 apply; and

8 ‘‘(H) set forth a schedule for the dissemi9 nation of all publicly releasable information ob10 tained under the proposed rule through elec11 tronic data interchange in accordance with

12 chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, and

13 Office of Management and Budget Circular A–

14 130 (as in effect on the date of the enactment

15 of this section).

16 ‘‘(3) PARTICIPATION OF NONGOVERNMENTAL

17 PERSONS.—In developing standards under this sec18 tion, the Committee shall—

19 ‘‘(A) solicit the participation of nongovern20 mental persons;

21 ‘‘(B) solicit from such persons proposals

22 for meeting the requirements set forth in para23 graph (2); and

24 ‘‘(C) authorize demonstrations by such

25 persons of the operational capacity of any
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1 standard proposed to be adopted under this sec2 tion.

3 ‘‘(4) DEMONSTRATION OF PROPOSED STAND4 ARDS.—Before issuing a proposed rule under this

5 section, the Committee shall provide for the dem6 onstration and thorough testing of the proposed

7 standard included in the proposed rule.

8 ‘‘(d) REPORT OF COMMITTEE.—Not later than 2

9 years after the date of the enactment of this section, the

10 Committee shall transmit to the Director, the Committee

11 on Government Reform and Oversight of the House of

12 Representatives, and the Committee on Governmental Af13 fairs of the Senate a report under section 566(f) of title

14 5, United States Code, on the rulemaking required by this

15 section.

16 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:

17 ‘‘(1) COMMITTEE.—The term ‘Committee’

18 means the Electronic Data Management Advisory

19 Committee established under subsection (a).

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

21 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg22 et.
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1 ‘‘(3) SUBJECT MATTER.—The term ‘subject

2 matter’ means the subject matter designated by the

3 Director under subsection (a).’’.

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