I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 170 

To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 and the Rules of the 

House of Representatives to strengthen financial disclosures and to require precertification of privately-funded travel, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 4, 2007 

Mr. KING of Iowa introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee 

on Rules, 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 Ethics in Government Act of 1978 and the 

Rules of the House of Representatives to strengthen 

financial disclosures and to require precertification of 

privately-funded travel, 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 ‘‘Sunlight Act of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PRECERTIFICATION OF TRAVEL BY COMMITTEE ON 

2 STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CONDUCT. 

3 Clause 5 of rule XXV of the Rules of the House of 

4 Representatives is amended by inserting after paragraph 

5 (d) the following new paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(d)(1) Before a Member, Delegate, Resident Com7 missioner, officer, or employee of the House may take a 

8 privately-funded trip, that individual shall— 

9 ‘‘(A) provide the estimated cost of the trip, the 

10 entity paying for the trip, the purpose of the trip, 

11 the modes of transportation, accommodations, num12 ber of meals on the trip, and the proposed itinerary 

13 to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(B) agree to provide to the Committee on 

16 Standards of Official Conduct within 5 calendar 

17 days after the trip is completed the expenses reim18 bursed or to be reimbursed and any changes from 

19 the information provided under subdivision (A). 

20 The information shall be made available on the public 

21 website of the committee in a searchable and sortable 

22 manner. 

23 ‘‘(2) A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, 

24 officer, or employee of the House may not take a privately25 funded trip unless the Committee makes a determination 

26 that the proposed trip (including the itinerary and estiVerDate Aug 31 2005 01:15 Jan 11, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H170.IH H170

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1 mated expenses) complies with all applicable rules of the 

2 House, based on the information submitted under sub3 paragraph (1).’’. 

4 SEC. 3. DOLLAR AMOUNTS REQUIRED FOR ANNUAL FINAN5 CIAL DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS. 

6 (a) FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES.—Section 102(d) of the 

7 Ethics in Government Act of 1978 is amended by adding 

8 at the end the following new paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, 

10 in the case of reports of Members of Congress and officers 

11 and employees of Congress filed pursuant to sections 

12 101(d) and (e), references to the categories for reporting 

13 the amount or value of the items covered in paragraphs 

14 (3), (4), (5), and (8) of subsection (a) shall be deemed 

15 to be exact dollar amounts.’’. 

16 (b) AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS ON THE INTER17 NET.—Section 103 of the Ethics in Government Act of 

18 1978 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

19 subsection: 

20 ‘‘(l) A copy of each report filed under this title with 

21 the Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary 

22 of the Senate shall be made available as soon as prac23 ticable to the general public on the Internet in a format 

24 that is searchable and sortable.’’. 


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1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

2 subsection (a) shall apply to reports filed for calendar 

3 years beginning after the date of enactment of this Act. 

4 SEC. 4. PUBLIC DISPLAY OF THE SUBJECT MATTER OF DE5 BATES. 

6 Clause 2 of rule II of the Rules of the House of Rep7 resentatives is amended by adding at the end the following 

8 new paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(l) During general debate on any measure, the Clerk 

10 shall project on a wall of the Hall of the House the subject 

11 matter of that debate so that it is visible to Members and 

12 to visitors in the gallery.’’. 

13 SEC. 5. AVAILABILITY OF BILLS, CONFERENCE REPORTS, 

14 AND AMENDMENTS ON THE INTERNET BE15 FORE VOTING. 

16 Rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representa17 tives is amended by adding at the end the following new 

18 clause: 

19 ‘‘7. It shall not be in order to consider any bill or 

20 joint resolution, or conference report thereon, or amend21 ment thereto, unless— 

22 ‘‘(1) in the case of a bill, joint resolution, or 

23 conference report, such measure is made available to 

24 Members and the general public on the Internet for 

25 at least 48 hours before its consideration; or 


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1 ‘‘(2)(A) in the case of an amendment made in 

2 order by a rule, it is made available to Members and 

3 the general public on the Internet within one hour 

4 after the rule is filed; or 

5 ‘‘(B) in the case of an amendment under an 

6 open rule, it is made available to Members and the 

7 general public on the Internet immediately after 

8 being offered; 

9 in a format that is searchable and sortable.’’. 

10 SEC. 6. PROMOTING EXPEDITED AVAILABILITY OF FEC RE11 PORTS. 

12 (a) MANDATORY ELECTRONIC FILING FOR ALL RE13 PORTS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 304(a)(11) of the 

15 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 

16 434(a)(11)) is amended— 

17 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘a 

18 person required to file—’’ and all that follows 

19 and inserting the following: ‘‘each person re20 quired to file a report under this Act shall be 

21 required to maintain and file such report in 

22 electronic form accessible by computers.’’; 

23 (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘des24 ignations, statements, and reports’’ and insert25 ing ‘‘documents’’; and 


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1 (C) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

2 ‘‘means, with respect to’’ and all that follows 

3 and inserting the following: ‘‘means any report, 

4 designation, statement, or notification required 

5 by this Act to be filed with the Commission or 

6 the Secretary of the Senate.’’. 

7 (2) PLACEMENT OF ALL REPORTS ON INTER8 NET.—Section 304(a)(11)(B) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 

9 434(a)(11)(B)) is amended— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘a designation, statement, 

11 report, or notification’’ and inserting ‘‘each re12 port’’; and 

13 (B) by striking ‘‘the designation, state14 ment, report, or notification’’ and inserting 

15 ‘‘the report’’. 

16 (3) SEARCHABLE AND SORTABLE MANNER OF

17 INFORMATION.—Section 304(a)(11)(B) of such Act 

18 (2 U.S.C. 434(a)(11)(B)) is amended by inserting 

19 ‘‘in a format that is searchable and sortable’’ after 

20 ‘‘Internet’’. 

21 (4) SOFTWARE FOR FILING OF ALL REPORTS.— 

22 Section 304(a)(12) of such Act (2 U.S.C 

23 434a(a)(12)) is amended— 

24 (A) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking 

25 ‘‘each person required to file a designation, 


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1 statement, or report in electronic form’’ and in2 serting ‘‘each person required to file a report 

3 (as defined in paragraph (11)(D))’’; and 

4 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘any 

5 designation, statement, or report’’ and inserting 

6 ‘‘any report (as defined in paragraph 

7 (11)(D))’’. 

8 (b) REQUIRING REPORTS FOR ALL CONTRIBUTIONS

9 MADE TO ANY POLITICAL COMMITTEE WITHIN 30 DAYS

10 OF ELECTION; REQUIRING REPORTS TO BE MADE WITH11 IN 24 HOURS.—Section 304(a)(6)(A) of such Act (2 

12 U.S.C. 434(a)(6)(A)) is amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(A) Each political committee shall notify the Sec14 retary or the Commission, and the Secretary of State, as 

15 appropriate, in writing, of any contribution received by the 

16 committee during the period which begins on the 30th day 

17 before an election and ends at the time the polls close for 

18 such election. This notification shall be made within 24 

19 hours (or, if earlier, by midnight of the day on which the 

20 contribution is deposited) after the receipt of such con21 tribution and shall include the name of the candidate in22 volved (as appropriate) and the office sought by the can23 didate, the identification of the contributor, and the date 

24 of receipt and amount of the contribution.’’. 


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1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 this section shall apply with respect to reports for periods 

3 beginning on or after January 1, 2008. 

Æ 


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