I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 27 
To amend chapter 3 of title 5, United States Code, to require the publication 
of settlement agreements, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 4, 2021 
Mr. PALMER (for himself, Mr. TAYLOR, Mr. COOPER, and Mr. CONNOLLY) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Over-
sight and Reform, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for 
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend chapter 3 of title 5, United States Code, to require 
the publication of settlement agreements, 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 ‘‘Settlement Agreement 
Information Database Act of 2021’’. 
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SEC. 2. INFORMATION REGARDING SETTLEMENT AGREE-
MENTS ENTERED INTO BY FEDERAL AGEN-
CIES. 
(a) REQUIREMENTS
FOR
SETTLEMENT
AGREE-
MENTS.—Chapter 3 of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘§ 307. Information regarding settlement agreements 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) LOCAL
GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘local 
government’ has the meaning given that term in sec-
tion 6501 of title 31. 
‘‘(2) ORDER
TYPE.—The term ‘order type’ 
means the type of action or instrument used to set-
tle a civil or criminal judicial action. 
‘‘(3) SETTLEMENT
AGREEMENT.—The term 
‘settlement agreement’ means a settlement agree-
ment (including a consent decree) that— 
‘‘(A) is entered into by an Executive agen-
cy; and 
‘‘(B) relates to an alleged violation of Fed-
eral civil or criminal law. 
‘‘(4) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of 
the several States, the District of Columbia, each 
territory or possession of the United States, and 
each federally recognized Indian Tribe. 
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‘‘(b) 
SETTLEMENT
AGREEMENT
INFORMATION 
DATABASE.— 
‘‘(1) EXECUTIVE AGENCY REQUIREMENT.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B), the head of each Executive agency 
shall, in accordance with guidance issued pursu-
ant to paragraph (2), submit the following in-
formation to the database established under 
paragraph (3): 
‘‘(i) A list of each settlement agree-
ment, in a categorized and searchable for-
mat, entered into by the Executive agency, 
as a party to a lawsuit, which shall in-
clude, for each settlement agreement— 
‘‘(I) the order type of the settle-
ment agreement; 
‘‘(II) the date on which the par-
ties entered into the settlement agree-
ment; 
‘‘(III) a list of specific violations 
that specify the basis for the action 
taken, with a description of the claims 
each party settled under the settle-
ment agreement; 
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‘‘(IV) the amount of attorneys’ 
fees and other litigation costs award-
ed, if any, including a description of 
the statutory basis for such an award; 
‘‘(V) the amount each party set-
tling a claim under the settlement 
agreement is obligated to pay under 
the settlement agreement; 
‘‘(VI) the total amount the set-
tling parties are obligated to pay 
under the settlement agreement; 
‘‘(VII) the amount, if any, the 
settling party is obligated to pay that 
is expressly specified under the settle-
ment agreement as a civil or criminal 
penalty or fine; 
‘‘(VIII) any payment made under 
the settlement agreement, including a 
description of any payment made to 
the Federal Government; 
‘‘(IX) the projected duration of 
the settlement agreement, if available; 
‘‘(X) a list of State or local gov-
ernments that may be directly af-
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