I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 811
To reauthorize the independent counsel law for an additional 5 years, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 4, 1993
Mr. BROOKS (for himself, Mr. BRYANT, and Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
A BILL
To reauthorize the independent counsel law for an additional
5 years, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Independent Counsel
Reauthorization Act of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. FIVE-YEAR REAUTHORIZATION.
Section 599 of title 28, United States Code, is
amended by striking ‘‘1987’’ and inserting ‘‘1993’’.
SEC. 3. ADDED CONTROLS.
(a) COST CONTROLS
AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUP-
PORT.—Section 594 of title 28, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(l) COST CONTROLS AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUP-
PORT.—
‘‘(1) COST CONTROLS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An independent coun-
sel shall—
‘‘(i) conduct all activities with due re-
gard for expense;
‘‘(ii) authorize only reasonable and
lawful expenditures; and
‘‘(iii) promptly, upon taking office, as-
sign to a specific employee the duty of cer-
tifying that expenditures of the independ-
ent counsel are reasonable and made in ac-
cordance with law.
‘‘(B) DEPARTMENT
OF
JUSTICE
POLI-
CIES.—An independent counsel shall comply
with the established policies of the Department
of Justice respecting expenditures of funds, ex-
cept to the extent that compliance would be in-
consistent with the purposes of this chapter.
‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT.—The Director
of the Administrative Office of the United States
Courts shall provide administrative support and
guidance to each independent counsel. No officer or
employee of the Administrative Office of the United
States Courts shall disclose information related to
an independent counsel’s expenditures, personnel, or
administrative acts or arrangements without the au-
thorization of the independent counsel.
‘‘(3) OFFICE
SPACE.—The Administrator of
General Services, in consultation with the Director
of the Administrative Office of the United States
Courts, shall promptly provide appropriate office
space for each independent counsel. Such office
space shall be within a Federal building unless the
Administrator of General Services determines that
other arrangements would cost less.’’.
(b) INDEPENDENT
COUNSEL
PER
DIEM
EX-
PENSES.— Section 594(b) of title 28, United States Code,
is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘An independent counsel’’ and
inserting
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An independent counsel’’;
and
(2) by adding at the end the following new
paragraphs:
‘‘(2) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—Except as provided
in paragraph (3), an independent counsel and per-
sons appointed under subsection (c) shall be entitled
to the payment of travel expenses as provided by
subchapter 1 of chapter 57 of title 5, including trav-
el or transportation expenses in accordance with sec-
tion 5703 of title 5.
‘‘(3) TRAVEL TO PRIMARY OFFICE.—An inde-
pendent counsel and any person appointed under
subsection (c) shall not be entitled to the payment
of travel and subsistence expenses under subchapter
1 of chapter 57 of title 5 with respect to duties per-
formed in the city in which the primary office of
that independent counsel or person is located after
1 year of service by that independent counsel or per-
son (as the case may be) under this chapter unless
the employee assigned duties under subsection
(l)(1)(A)(iii) certifies that the payment is in the pub-
lic interest to carry out the purposes of this chapter.
Any such certification shall be effective for 6
months, but may be renewed for additional periods
of 6-months each if, for each such renewal, the em-
ployee assigned duties under subsection (l)(1)(A)(iii)
makes a recertification with respect to the public in-
terest described in the preceding sentence. In mak-
ing any certification or recertification under this
paragraph with respect to travel and subsistence ex-
penses of an independent counsel or person ap-
pointed under subsection (c), such employee shall
consider, among other relevant factors—
‘‘(A) the cost to the Government of reim-
bursing such travel and subsistence expenses;
‘‘(B) the period of time for which the inde-
pendent counsel anticipates that the activities
of the independent counsel or person, as the
case may be, will continue;
‘‘(C) the personal and financial burdens on
the independent counsel or person, as the case
may be, of relocating so that such travel and
subsistence expenses would not be incurred; and
‘‘(D) the burdens associated with appoint-
ing a new independent counsel, or appointing
another person under subsection (c), to replace
the individual involved who is unable or unwill-
ing to so relocate.’’.
(c) INDEPENDENT COUNSEL EMPLOYEE PAY COM-
PARABILITY.—Section 594(c) of title 28, United States
Code, is amended by striking the last sentence and insert-
ing the following: ‘‘Such employees shall be compensated
at levels not to exceed those payable for comparable posi-
tions in the Office of United States Attorney for the Dis-
trict of Columbia under sections 548 and 550, but in no
event shall any such employee be compensated at a rate
greater than the rate of basic pay payable for level IV of
the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5.’’.
(d) ETHICS ENFORCEMENT.—Section 594(j) of title
28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end
the following new paragraph:
‘‘(5) ENFORCEMENT.—The Attorney General
and the Director of the Office of Government Ethics
have authority to enforce compliance with this sub-
section.’’.
(e) COMPLIANCE WITH POLICIES OF THE DEPART-
MENT OF JUSTICE.—Section 594(f) is amended by strik-
ing ‘‘shall, except where not possible, comply’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘shall, except to the extent that to do so would be
inconsistent with the purposes of this chapter, comply’’.
(f) PUBLICATION OF REPORTS.—Section 594(h) of
title 28, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
‘‘(3) PUBLICATION
OF
REPORTS.—At the re-
quest of an independent counsel, the Public Printer
shall cause to be printed any report previously re-
leased to the public under paragraph (2). The inde-
pendent counsel shall certify the number of copies
necessary for the public, and the Public Printer shall
place the cost of the required number to the debit
of such independent counsel. Additional copies shall
be made available to the public through the Super-
intendent of Documents sales program under section
1702 of title 44 and the depository library program
under section 1903 of such title.’’; and
(2) in the first sentence of paragraph (2), by
striking ‘‘appropriate’’ the second place it appears
and inserting ‘‘in the public interest, consistent with
maximizing public disclosure, ensuring a full expla-
nation of independent counsel activities and decision-
making, and facilitating the release of information
and materials which the independent counsel has de-
termined should be disclosed’’.
(g) ANNUAL
REPORTS
TO
CONGRESS.—Section
595(a)(2) of title 28, United States Code, is amended by
striking ‘‘such statements’’ and all that follows through
‘‘appropriate’’ and inserting ‘‘annually a report on the ac-
tivities of the independent counsel, including a description
of the progress of any investigation or prosecution con-
ducted by the independent counsel. Such report may omit
any matter that in the judgment of the independent coun-
sel should be kept confidential, but shall provide informa-
tion adequate to justify the expenditures that the office
of the independent counsel has made’’.
(h) PERIODIC REAPPOINTMENT OF INDEPENDENT
COUNSEL.—Section 596(b)(2) of title 28, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new
sentence: ‘‘If the Attorney General has not made a request
under this paragraph, the division of the court shall deter-
mine on its own motion whether termination is appro-
priate under this paragraph not later than 3 years after
the appointment of an independent counsel and at the end
of each succeeding 3-year period.’’.
(i) AUDITS BY THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—Sec-
tion 596(c) of title 28, United States Code, is amended
to read as follows:
‘‘(c) AUDITS.—By December 31 of each year, an
independent counsel shall prepare a statement of expendi-
tures for the fiscal year that ended on the immediately
preceding September 30. An independent counsel whose
office is terminated prior to the end of the fiscal year shall
prepare a statement of expenditures by the date that is
90 days after the date on which the office is terminated.
The Comptroller General shall audit each such statement
and shall, not later than March 31 of the year following
the submission of any such statement, report the results
of each audit to the Committee on the Judiciary and the
Committee on Government Operations of the House of
Representatives and to the Committee on Governmental
Affairs and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Sen-
ate.’’.
SEC. 4. MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.
Section 591(c) of title 28, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) by indenting paragraphs (1) and (2) two
ems to the right and by redesignating such para-
graphs as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively;
(2) by striking ‘‘The Attorney’’ and all that fol-
lows through ‘‘if—’’ and inserting the following:
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may
conduct a preliminary investigation in accordance
with section 592 if—’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
‘‘(2) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.—When the At-
torney General determines that it would be in the
public interest, the Attorney General may conduct a
preliminary investigation in accordance with section
592 if the Attorney General receives information
sufficient to constitute grounds to investigate wheth-
er a Member of Congress may have violated any
Federal criminal law other than a violation classified
as a Class B or C misdemeanor or an infraction.’’.
SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by this Act shall become ef-
fective on the date of the enactment of this Act.
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