I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3642 
To require the Office of Government Ethics to establish and maintain a 
centralized database for executive branch ethics records of noncareer 
appointees. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 24, 2023 
Mr. LANGWORTHY (for himself, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. BUCK, Mrs. MILLER of Illi-
nois, Mr. ALFORD, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. WILLIAMS of New York, Mr. 
EDWARDS, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, and Mr. TIMMONS) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Ac-
countability 
A BILL 
To require the Office of Government Ethics to establish 
and maintain a centralized database for executive branch 
ethics records of noncareer appointees. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Executive Branch Ac-
countability and Transparency Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. CENTRALIZED DATABASE FOR PUBLICLY AVAIL-
ABLE GOVERNMENT ETHICS RECORDS. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 210 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Of-
fice of Government Ethics shall establish a searchable, 
sortable database through which members of the public 
can access covered ethics records. 
(b) SPECIFICATIONS OF DATABASE.—The database 
under subsection (a) shall be— 
(1) hosted on a official website of the Office of 
Government Ethics without charge and without a re-
quirement that members of the public register for 
access; 
(2) accessible through an application program-
ming interface; and 
(3) fully compliant with— 
(A) section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act 
of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d); and 
(B) the most recent Web Content Accessi-
bility Guidelines (or successor guidelines). 
(c) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER INSPECTION PROCE-
DURES.—In establishing the database under subsection 
(a), the Director of the Office of Government Ethics may 
not apply the inspection procedures established in section 
13107(b) of title 5, United States Code, to any procedures 
concerning the accessibility of covered ethics records. 
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(d) AGENCY COOPERATION.— 
(1) SUBMISSION
OF
ELECTRONIC
COVERED 
ETHICS RECORDS.—Except as provided in subsection 
(g), the designated agency ethics official of each em-
ploying agency shall— 
(A) not later than 60 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act or within 60 days of 
receipt or issuance, submit electronic copies of 
covered ethics records, in such format and 
through such means as the Director of the Of-
fice of Government Ethics may require; and 
(B) ensure that the content of all such 
records is machine readable and compliant with 
the requirements of subsection (b). 
(2) COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH COMPLIANCE.— 
The cost of complying with the requirements of 
paragraph (1) and uploading covered ethics records 
to the website of the Office of Government Ethics 
shall be the responsibility of the employing agency. 
(e) REIMBURSABLE COSTS.— 
(1) PERIODIC
ASSESSMENT.—In consultation 
with the Office of Management and Budget, the Di-
rector of the Office of Government Ethics is author-
ized to periodically assess from any agency a share 
of the costs of establishing and maintaining the 
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database, provided that the total amounts assessed 
do not exceed costs actually incurred by the Office 
of Government Ethics, and provided further that 
any part of the assessment attributable to the cost 
of services of personnel of the Office of Government 
Ethics does not exceed the cost of one full-time 
equivalent. 
(2) DETERMINATION AND REIMBURSEMENT.— 
(A) DETERMINATION.—The Office of Man-
agement and Budget shall assist the Office of 
Government Ethics in determining amounts to 
assess agencies and in collecting the assess-
ments authorized under this subsection. 
(B) REIMBURSEMENT.—Each agency in 
the executive branch is authorized to reimburse 
the Office of Government Ethics for an as-
sessed share of such costs. 
(f) REDACTIONS.—Covered ethics records may not be 
redacted except to the extent necessary to— 
(1) ensure the exclusion of information de-
scribed in subsection (i)(3)(B); 
(2) prevent the release of trade secrets or com-
mercial information that is privileged or confidential, 
unless the disclosure of such information is required 
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pursuant to section 13104 of title 5, United States 
Code; or 
(3) prevent the release of information that, in 
the opinion of the Director, poses an identifiable risk 
to the safety of an individual, such as a street ad-
dress, the name of a minor, or a brokerage account 
number. 
(g) RECORDS PREDATING ESTABLISHMENT OF THE 
DATABASE.— 
(1) SEARCH FOR OLDER INFORMATION.—Not 
later than 12 months after the date of enactment of 
this Act, each employing agency shall complete a 
search reasonably calculated to find covered ethics 
records that were created during the 9-year period 
preceding the date of enactment of this Act. 
(2) INCLUDED
INFORMATION
AND
CERTIFI-
CATION.—The search shall include all materials in 
the possession of the agency’s ethics office or readily 
accessible materials in any other office within the 
agency that the designated agency ethics official cer-
tifies in writing is the most likely office to possess 
covered ethics records. 
(3) EXCLUSION
FROM
SEARCH.—The agency 
may exclude information described in subsection 
(i)(3)(B) from the search. 
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(4) ELECTRONIC
COPIES.—The agency shall 
provide the Director of the Office of Government 
Ethics with electronic copies of all covered ethics 
records in a manner prescribed by the Director and 
as required by this Act with respect to format and 
accessibility. 
(5) REPORT.—Not later than 30 days after the 
completion of the search under paragraph (1), the 
designated agency ethics official shall provide the 
Director of the Office of Government Ethics with a 
report that describes— 
(A) the scope of the search and steps un-
dertaken to identify information; 
(B) a copy of the certification required 
under paragraph (2); 
(C) the best estimate as to the complete-
ness of the collection of information provided to 
the Director; 
(D) an identification of any categories of 
information known to the agency that the agen-
cy was unable to find; and 
(E) a certification signed by the designated 
agency ethics official affirming that the agency 
made reasonable efforts in good faith to identify 
and obtain covered ethics records. 
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(6) PUBLICATION.—The Director shall publish 
the report under paragraph (5) on the official 
website of the Office of Government Ethics. 
(h) REMOVAL OF RECORDS FROM THE DATABASE.— 
Notwithstanding any other law regarding the destruction 
of records or information, all covered ethics records re-
quired to be included in the database shall remain publicly 
available through the database established under this Act 
for a period of not less than 10 years. 
(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means each 
executive agency, as defined in section 105 of title 
5, United States Code, and each component of the 
Executive Office of the President. 
(2) COVERED EMPLOYEE.— 
(A) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘covered em-
ployee’’ includes the following individuals: 
(i) Each individual who is— 
(I) a noncareer employee; and 
(II) is described in paragraphs 
(3) through (8) of section 13103(f) of 
title 5, United States Code. 
(ii) Each individual serving in a posi-
tion with respect to which a determination 
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has been made under section 7511(b)(2) of 
title 5, United States Code. 
(iii) Each special Government em-
ployee, as defined in section 202(a) of title 
18, United States Code, who is employed 
in the Executive Office of the President, 
other than a special government employee 
serving solely on a Federal advisory com-
mittee or presidential advisory committee. 
(iv) An individual who previously 
served in the Federal Government in a ca-
pacity described in subparagraphs (A) 
through (C) within the last 10 years. 
(B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘covered em-
ployee’’ excludes any individual described in 
section 13107(a)(1) of title 5, United States 
Code. 
(3) COVERED ETHICS RECORD.— 
(A) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘covered eth-
ics record’’— 
(i) with respect to any individual, 
means— 
(I) each approval granted pursu-
ant to subsection (b) or subsection (c) 
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208(b)(1) of title 18, United 
States Code; 
(cc) a public financial disclo-
sure requirement, pursuant to 
section 
13103(i) 
of 
title 
5, 
United States Code; 
(dd) the requirement to dis-
close a gift, pursuant to section 
13104(a)(2)(C) of title 5, United 
States Code; and 
(ee) a provision of any regu-
lation of the Office of Govern-
ment Ethics, supplemental agen-
cy ethics regulation, or Executive 
order pertaining to government 
ethics. 
(IV) Each authorization of an in-
dividual to participate in a matter 
from which recusal would otherwise be 
required under any provision of law, 
regulation, Executive order, or policy 
pertaining to government ethics and 
applicable to the individual as an em-
ployee of the executive branch. 
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(V) Each approval or authoriza-
tion permitting an individual to accept 
a gift from an outside source that 
would otherwise be prohibited under 
section 7353 of title 5, United States 
Code, or any other provision of law, 
regulation, Executive order, or policy 
pertaining to government ethics and 
applicable to the individual as an em-
ployee of the executive branch. 
(VI) Each determination— 
(aa) that a position may be 
excluded from otherwise applica-
ble public financial disclosure re-
quirements, pursuant to section 
13103(f)(5) of title 5, United 
States Code; 
(bb) that an employee of the 
executive branch, or the spouse 
or minor child of an employee of 
the executive branch, must divest 
a financial interest; or 
(cc) regarding an individual 
that is made pursuant to any 
other provision of law, regulation, 
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Executive order, or policy per-
taining to government ethics and 
applicable to the individual as an 
employee or former employee of 
the executive branch. 
(VII) Each written ethics agree-
ment, recusal, or screening arrange-
ment pertaining to employment in the 
executive branch. 
(VIII) Each record of a presi-
dential appointee’s completion of eth-
ics training required under a regula-
tion of the Office of Government Eth-
ics. 
(IX) Each Certificate of Divesti-
ture issued pursuant to section 1043 
of title 26, United States Code, and 
each request that resulted in the 
issuance of a Certificate of Divesti-
ture. 
(X) Each qualified blind trust 
agreement and each record described 
in section 13104(f)(5)(D) of title 5, 
United States Code. 
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(XI) Each record submitted pur-
suant to section 13103(b)(1) of title 
5, United States Code for the purpose 
of making current, with respect to in-
come and honoraria, a financial dis-
closure filed pursuant to that para-
graph. 
(XII) Each notice submitted pur-
suant to section 13111 of title 5, 
United States Code and any certifi-
cation by a Senate-confirmed presi-
dential appointee as to compliance 
with an ethics agreement, whether 
submitted to the employing agency, 
the Office of Government Ethics, or 
the Senate. 
(XIII) Any written opinion issued 
pursuant to section 847 of the Na-
tional Defense Authorization Act for 
2008 (Public Law 110–181), except 
that the employing agency may redact 
the name of an individual or organiza-
tion with whom an individual has not 
yet accepted an offer of employment 
or compensation. 
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(XIV) Any notification filed pur-
suant to section 17 of the Stop Trad-
ing On Congressional Knowledge Act 
(Public Law 112–105), except that 
the agency may withhold the public 
release of any such notification until 
such time as the employee has accept-
ed an offer of employment or com-
pensation from an individual or orga-
nization that is the subject of the no-
tification. 
(XV) Each certification made 
pursuant to— 
(aa) section 203(e) of title 
18, United States Code; 
(bb) section 205(f) of title 
18, United States Code; or 
(cc) section 207(j)(5) of title 
18, United States Code. 
(XVI) Any other category of 
records that the Director of the Office 
of Government Ethics determines is 
appropriate for inclusion in the data-
base. 
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(B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘covered eth-
ics record’’ excludes— 
(i) national defense information; 
(ii) the subject of an ongoing law en-
forcement matter which, in the opinion of 
the agency, requires the information or 
record to be kept confidential; 
(iii) a confidential financial disclosure 
report under section 13109 of title 5, 
United States Code; or 
(iv) individualized ethics counseling or 
advice concerning an interpretation of ap-
plicable legal requirements that has been 
provided by an ethics official to an indi-
vidual, except that such information or 
record shall not be excluded from the re-
quirements of this Act if— 
(I) the information or record has 
the operative effect of altering a legal 
obligation of the individual, such as 
the approval of an employee’s accept-
ance of a gift from an outside source 
under a regulation requiring approval; 
or 
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(II) is required by law to be 
issued, such as a post-employment 
opinion that section 847 of the Na-
tional Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 110– 
181). 
(4) EMPLOYING AGENCY.—The term ‘‘employ-
ing agency’’ means any agency that employs or em-
ployed the individual whose record is the subject of 
a requirement of this Act, except that the National 
Archives and Records Administration shall be deter-
mined to be the employing agency with respect to 
any record for which it is responsible. 
(5) NONCAREER EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘non-
career employee’’ means an individual who is— 
(A) an employee, as defined in section 
2105 of title 5, United States Code, serving in 
a position in the executive branch; and 
(B) is— 
(i) serving in a position to which the 
President appointed the individual (without 
regard to whether the advice and consent 
of the Senate was required with respect to 
that appointment), other than an indi-
vidual who is— 
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(I) a member of a uniformed 
service, as that term is defined in sec-
tion 210(m) of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 410(m)); or 
(II) a member of the Foreign 
Service serving under a career ap-
pointment, as described in section 301 
of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 
(22 U.S.C. 3941); 
(ii) a noncareer appointee, as that 
term is defined in section 3132(a) of title 
5, United States Code; 
(iii) serving in a position in a Federal 
executive system that is comparable to the 
Senior Executive Service, the appointment 
to which is not made through merit-based 
procedures, such as a position in the 
Transportation Security Executive Service; 
or 
(iv) serving in a position with respect 
to which a determination has been made 
under section 7511(b)(2) of title 5, United 
States Code. 
(j) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or 
the application of such provision to any person or cir-
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cumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder 
of this Act, and the application of the remaining provisions 
of this Act to any person or circumstance, shall not be 
affected. 
Æ 
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