I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 283 
To require the approval by the head of an agency for any conference costing 
more than $25,000, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 15, 2013 
Mr. FLEISCHMANN (for himself, Mr. BARLETTA, Mrs. BLACK, Mrs. BLACK-
BURN, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. MULVANEY, Mr. GRIMM, and Mr. 
DESJARLAIS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
A BILL 
To require the approval by the head of an agency for any 
conference costing more than $25,000, 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 ‘‘Agency Conferences 
and Conventions Operating Under Necessary Trans-
parency Act of 2013’’ or the ‘‘ACCOUNT Act’’. 
SEC. 2. AGENCY CONFERENCE REQUIREMENTS. 
(a) AGENCY HEAD APPROVAL REQUIRED.—Any con-
ference costing more than $25,000 must be approved in 
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writing by the head of the relevant agency before the date 
on which such conference occurs. The head of an agency 
may only approve such conference if the head determines 
that the conference is necessary to the core mission of the 
agency. 
(b) PUBLICATION OF STATEMENT REQUIRED.—Not 
later than 30 days after the date of a conference described 
in subsection (a), the head of the agency shall publish on 
the website of such agency a summary of the conference 
that includes the purpose and total cost of the conference 
and the cost per employee that attended the conference. 
(c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than Decem-
ber 31 of each year, the head of each agency shall submit 
a report, for the previous fiscal year, to the relevant com-
mittees of the Congress that includes a list of each con-
ference approved pursuant to subsection (a) and with re-
gard to each such conference, the following: 
(1) A summary of the purposes and goals. 
(2) A description of the conference activities 
that accomplish such purposes and goals. 
(3) The total cost. 
(4) The cost per government employee. 
(d) EXCLUSION.—The requirements of this section 
shall not apply— 
(1) to the armed forces; 
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(2) with respect to law enforcement activity; 
and 
(3) with respect to any conference that the head 
of the agency determines is classified or related to 
national security. 
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 
meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, 
United States Code. 
(2) ARMED FORCES.—The term ‘‘armed forces’’ 
has the meaning given that term in section 2101 of 
title 5, United States Code. 
(3) CONFERENCE.—The term ‘‘conference’’ 
means a meeting, retreat, seminar, symposium, or 
event to which 20 or more employees travel at least 
25 miles to attend, that— 
(A) is held for consultation, education, dis-
cussion, or training; and 
(B) is not held entirely at a Government 
facility. 
(4) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ has the 
meaning given that term in section 2105 of title 5, 
United States Code. 
Æ 
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