I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1711 
To require the disclosure of certain visitor access records. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 23, 2017 
Mr. QUIGLEY (for himself, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Mr. COHEN, Ms. CLARK of 
Massachusetts, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. 
SPEIER, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. EVANS, Mr. THOMPSON of 
Mississippi, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. HASTINGS, 
and Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
A BILL 
To require the disclosure of certain visitor access records. 
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 ‘‘Making Access Records 
Available to Lead American Government Openness Act’’ 
or the ‘‘MAR-A-LAGO Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Beginning in 2009, the Obama administra-
tion instituted a policy to release the visitor access 
records for the White House complex. 
(2) This policy was responsible for making pub-
lic the names of nearly 6,000,000 visitors to the 
White House in the 8 years of the Obama adminis-
tration. 
(3) This policy provided the people of the 
United States with insight into who influences the 
White House and transparency regarding efforts by 
lobbyists to effect policies, legislation, and Presi-
dential actions. 
(4) To date, the Trump administration has not 
indicated whether it will continue the policy of pub-
licly releasing White House visitor access records. 
(5) Since taking office on January 20, 2017, 
President Trump has conducted official business not 
only in the White House, but also at several of his 
privately owned clubs and resorts. 
(6) President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in 
Palm Beach, Florida, has been dubbed the ‘‘Winter 
White House’’ and the ‘‘Southern White House’’. 
(7) President Trump has spent 5 of his first 9 
weekends in office at Mar-a-Lago. 
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(8) Mar-a-Lago is a private membership facility 
open to members, their guests, and others who have 
been invited as guests for special events. 
(9) Visitors to Mar-a-Lago do not undergo the 
same background checks as White House visitors 
and visitor access records to the club have not been 
released to the public. 
(10) The President has conducted official busi-
ness and hosted international leaders at Mar-a-Lago. 
(11) Media reports have shown President 
Trump and members of his Cabinet at Mar-a-Lago 
and nearby Trump International Golf Club inter-
acting with members and guests, providing access 
unavailable to the general public. 
(12) President Trump owns many other prop-
erties that offer similar amenities and membership- 
only access where he is likely to conduct official 
business during his term in office. 
(13) On March 11, 2017, President Trump 
hosted several members of his Cabinet at his Trump 
National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Virginia, to 
discuss homeland security, health care, and the 
economy according to media reports. 
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(14) Media reports have indicated that the 
President may use his Bedminster, New Jersey, re-
sort as a ‘‘Summer White House’’. 
(15) The people of the United States expect 
and deserve transparency in government. The policy 
to release visitor access records instituted by the 
previous 
administration 
appropriately 
balanced 
transparency with the need for confidentiality in 
government actions. 
(16) To the extent Mar-a-Lago and any other 
private facilities become locations where the Presi-
dent conducts business and interacts with individ-
uals who are not government officials, the same dis-
closures should apply. 
SEC. 3. IMPROVING ACCESS TO INFLUENTIAL VISITOR AC-
CESS RECORDS. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) COVERED LOCATION.—The term ‘‘covered 
location’’ means— 
(A) the White House; 
(B) the residence of the Vice President; 
and 
(C) any other location at which the Presi-
dent or the Vice President regularly conducts 
official business. 
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(2) COVERED
RECORDS.—The term ‘‘covered 
records’’ means information relating to a visit at a 
covered location, which shall include— 
(A) the name of each visitor at the covered 
location; 
(B) the name of each individual with whom 
each visitor described in subparagraph (A) met 
at the covered location; and 
(C) the purpose of the visit. 
(b) REQUIREMENT.—Except as provided in sub-
section (c), not later than 30 days after the date of enact-
ment of this Act, the President shall establish and update, 
every 90 days, a publicly available database that contains 
covered records for the preceding 30-day period. 
(c) EXCEPTIONS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall not in-
clude in the database established under subsection 
(b) any covered record— 
(A) the posting of which would implicate 
personal privacy or law enforcement concerns or 
threaten national security; or 
(B) relating to a purely personal guest at 
a covered location. 
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(2) SENSITIVE MEETINGS.—With respect to a 
particularly sensitive meeting at a covered location, 
the President shall— 
(A) include the number of visitors at the 
covered location in the database established 
under subsection (b); and 
(B) post the applicable covered records in 
the database established under subsection (b) 
when the President determines that release of 
the covered records is no longer sensitive. 
Æ 
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