II 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2758 

To provide for certain financial reporting requirements to apply to the 

legislative branch of the Federal Government, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 22, 2004 

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

referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To provide for certain financial reporting requirements to 

apply to the legislative branch of the Federal Government, 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 ‘‘Legislative Branch Fi5 nancial Accountability Act of 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CONGRESS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Senate and the House of 

8 Representatives each shall annually have a financial state9 ment prepared in accordance with United States generally 

10 accepted accounting principles, and have the statement 
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1 independently audited, for the preceding calendar year 

2 covering all the accounts and associated activities of the 

3 Senate and the House of Representatives, respectively. 

4 (b) FINANCIAL STATEMENT.—Each financial state5 ment shall reflect the organizational structure of the Sen6 ate and House of Representatives, respectively, and shall 

7 cover accounts and financial information for all entities 

8 of the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively. 

9 Joint activities shall be reflected in the financial statement 

10 of a House of Congress to the extent that the House funds 

11 the activities. 

12 SEC. 3. AGENCIES. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each agency under subsection (b) 

14 shall annually have a financial statement prepared in ac15 cordance with United States generally accepted accounting 

16 principles, and have the statement independently audited, 

17 for the preceding fiscal year covering all the accounts and 

18 associated activities of the agency. 

19 (b) The agencies referred to under subsection (a) are 

20 the— 

21 (1) Library of Congress; 

22 (2) Congressional Budget Office; 

23 (3) Government Accountability Office; 

24 (4) Government Printing Office; 

25 (5) United States Botanic Garden; 
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1 (6) Architect of the Capitol; 

2 (7) United States Capitol Police; and 

3 (8) any other entity of the legislative branch es4 tablished by Congress and not required by statute to 

5 have annual financial statements independently au6 dited. 

7 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

9 date of enactment of this Act, a report described under 

10 subsection (b)— 

11 (1) shall be submitted by the Committee on 

12 Rules and Administration of the Senate, with re13 spect to the entities of the Senate, to the Committee 

14 on Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 

15 (2) shall be submitted by the Committee on Ad16 ministration of the House of Representatives, with 

17 respect to entities of the House of Representatives, 

18 to the Committee on Government Reform of the 

19 House of Representatives; and 

20 (3) shall be submitted by each legislative agency 

21 or entity under section 3 to the— 

22 (A) Committee on Rules and Administra23 tion of the Senate and the Committee on Gov24 ernmental Affairs of the Senate; and 
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1 (B) Committee on Administration of the 

2 House of Representatives and the Committee 

3 on Government Reform of the House of Rep4 resentatives. 

5 (b) CONTENT.—Each report under subsection (a) 

6 shall include— 

7 (1) a plan for implementation of this Act, in8 cluding whether the establishment of an office is 

9 necessary to carry out this Act; and 

10 (2) recommendations, including legislative ac11 tions and amendments to this Act, if necessary, to 

12 effectively carry out this Act. 

13 SEC. 5. PREPARATION AND AUDIT OF STATEMENTS. 

14 (a) PREPARATION.— 

15 (1) CONGRESS.—Not later than 60 days after 

16 the submission of the report under section 4, the 

17 majority leader of the Senate in consultation with 

18 the minority leader of the Senate, and the Speaker 

19 of the House of Representatives in consultation with 

20 the minority leader of the House of Representatives, 

21 shall establish offices in the Senate and the House 

22 of Representatives, respectively, that shall prepare 

23 the financial statements for each House required by 

24 this Act in accordance with United States generally 

25 accepted accounting principles. 
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1 (2) LEGISLATIVE AGENCIES AND ENTITIES.— 

2 Not later than 60 days after the submission of the 

3 report under section 5, the head of each legislative 

4 agency or entity shall designate an individual or es5 tablish an office that shall prepare the financial 

6 statements required by this Act in accordance with 

7 United States generally accepted accounting prin8 ciples. 

9 (b) AUDIT.—With respect to the financial statements 

10 of each House of Congress and each legislative agency or 

11 other entity, the majority leader of the Senate in consulta12 tion with the minority leader of the Senate, the Speaker 

13 of the House of Representatives in consultation with the 

14 minority leader of the House of Representatives, and the 

15 head of each legislative agency or other entity, respec16 tively, shall provide, by contract, for an independent audit 

17 of the financial statements required by this Act in accord18 ance with generally accepted government auditing stand19 ards. Not later than 45 days after the end of the applica20 ble fiscal year, whether calendar or fiscal, and each year 

21 thereafter, each House of Congress and head of legislative 

22 agency or entity shall complete and make available to the 

23 public the independently audited financial statement. 
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1 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 

3 as may be necessary to carry out this Act in fiscal year 

4 2005, and each fiscal year thereafter. 

5 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATES. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Sections 2 and 3 shall take effect 

7 in the applicable fiscal year, whether calendar or fiscal, 

8 during which the office referred to in section 5 is estab9 lished. 

10 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.—Sections 1, 4, 5, 

11 and 6 shall take effect on the date of enactment of this 

12 Act. 

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