Title: United States Commission on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Act of 2017
Policy area: Energy

Summary:
United States Commission on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Act of 2017
This bill establishes the United States Commission on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to investigate and address any practices on the part of OPEC that prevent or reduce competition in the global oil market.
The Commission shall be composed of a bipartisan group of 16 experts on energy and related matters chosen by the leadership of both parties in Congress and appointed by the President. All members of the Commission must be U.S. citizens.
The bill requires the Commission to:
The Commission must submit a report of its findings and recommendations to Congress and the President within 12 months. The Commission shall terminate within 90 days after submission of its report. On receipt of the Commission's report, the President will have 90 days to submit Congress a proposal to implement or respond to the recommendations.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 545 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 545

   To establish the United States Commission on the Organization of 
         Petroleum Exporting Countries, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 13, 2017

 Mr. Cramer (for himself, Mr. Franks of Arizona, Mr. Peterson, and Mr. 
   David Scott of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was 
 referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to 
   the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 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 committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To establish the United States Commission on the Organization of 
         Petroleum Exporting Countries, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``United States Commission on the 
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT.

    There is hereby established a commission to be known as the United 
States Commission on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries 
(in this Act referred to as the ``Commission'').

SEC. 3. DUTIES OF COMMISSION.

    (a) In General.--The Commission shall investigate any anti-
competitive involvement of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting 
Countries (OPEC), its member nations, and affiliated entities in oil 
markets and make recommendations to reduce the adverse impacts on the 
United States of such involvement.
    (b) Specific Duties.--The Commission shall--
            (1) investigate behavior of OPEC, its member nations, and 
        affiliated entities, including national oil companies, designed 
        to disadvantage United States oil producers and secure market 
        power through anti-competitive behavior;
            (2) assess the impact of OPEC's policies on United States 
        economic and energy security interests, including on innovation 
        in both energy production and the transportation of goods and 
        people;
            (3) assess existing relationships of Federal agencies with 
        OPEC and the extent to which Federal officials are making 
        efforts to mitigate the impact of any potential anti-
        competitive actions by OPEC; and
            (4) produce recommendations on reducing the adverse impacts 
        on the United States of such activities, including through 
        policy reform in the areas of taxes, trade, defense, and 
        research and development, and diplomacy, among others.

SEC. 4. MEMBERS OF COMMISSION.

    (a) Number and Appointment.--The Commission shall be composed of 16 
members appointed by the President as follows:
            (1) 4 members shall be appointed from among individuals 
        independently determined by the President to be qualified for 
        appointment.
            (2) 4 members shall be appointed from a list of 8 
        individuals who shall be nominated by the majority leader of 
        the Senate in consultation with the chairman of the Committee 
        on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate.
            (3) 4 members shall be appointed from a list of 8 
        individuals who shall be nominated by the Speaker of the House 
        of Representatives in consultation with the chairman of the 
        Committee on Energy and Commerce and the chairman of the 
        Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives.
            (4) 2 members shall be appointed from a list of 4 
        individuals who shall be nominated by the minority leader of 
        the Senate in consultation with the ranking member of the 
        Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate.
            (5) 2 members shall be appointed from a list of 4 
        individuals who shall be nominated by the minority leader of 
        the House of Representatives in consultation with the ranking 
        member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the ranking 
        member of the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of 
        Representatives.
    (b) Qualifications.--
            (1) In general.--In making appointments under this section, 
        the President shall give consideration to individuals who are 
        knowledgeable on energy issues, including oil market dynamics, 
        oil and gas exploration and production, crude oil refining, oil 
        and gas pipelines, transportation-related fuel consumption, oil 
        use efficiency, national security, foreign policy, 
        macroeconomics, labor, environment, logistics, shipping, 
        tourism, consumer goods, manufacturing, and tourism.
            (2) Balance of expertise areas.--In making appointments 
        under this section, the President shall seek to ensure the 
        membership of the Commission is balanced by area of expertise 
        to the extent consistent with maintaining the highest level of 
        expertise on the Commission.
            (3) U.S. citizen requirement.--Members of the Commission 
        shall be United States citizens.
    (c) Timing of Appointments.--Appointments to the Commission shall 
be made not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
    (d) Terms; Vacancies.--Each member shall be appointed for the 
duration of the Commission. Any vacancy in the Commission shall not 
affect its powers, and shall be filled in the manner in which the 
original appointment was made.
    (e) Chairman.--The chairman of the Commission shall be selected by 
the President. The chairman of the Commission shall be responsible 
for--
            (1) the assignment of duties and responsibilities among 
        staff personnel and their continuing supervision; and
            (2) the use and expenditure of funds available to the 
        Commission.
    (f) Meetings.--
            (1) Administration.--All meetings of the Commission shall 
        be open to the public, except that a meeting or any portion of 
        it may be closed to the public if it concerns matters or 
        information described in section 552b(c) of title 5, United 
        States Code. Interested persons shall be permitted to appear at 
        open meetings and present oral or written statements on the 
        subject matter of the meeting. The Commission may administer 
        oaths or affirmations to any person appearing before it.
            (2) Notice; minutes; public availability of documents.--
                    (A) Notice.--All open meetings of the Commission 
                shall be preceded by timely public notice in the 
                Federal Register of the time, place, and subject of the 
                meeting.
                    (B) Minutes.--Minutes of each meeting shall be kept 
                and shall contain a record of the people present, a 
                description of the discussion that occurred, and copies 
                of all statements filed. Subject to section 552 of 
                title 5, United States Code, the minutes and records of 
                all meetings and other documents that were made 
                available to or prepared for the Commission shall be 
                available for public inspection and copying at a single 
                location in the offices of the Commission.
            (3) Initial meeting.--The Commission shall hold its first 
        meeting within 30 days after all members of the Commission have 
        been appointed.

SEC. 5. STAFFING AND RESOURCES.

    (a) Staffing.--The chairman of the Commission may, without regard 
to the civil service laws and regulations, appoint and terminate an 
executive director and such other additional personnel as may be 
necessary for the Commission to perform its duties. The executive 
director shall be compensated at a rate not to exceed the rate payable 
for Level IV of the Executive Schedule under chapter 53 of title 5, 
United States Code. The chairman shall select staff from among 
qualified individuals who are citizens of the United States.
    (b) Resources.--In carrying out its duties under section 3, the 
Commission--
            (1) is authorized to secure directly from any Federal 
        department or agency any information it deems necessary to 
        carry out its functions under this Act, and each such 
        department or agency is authorized to cooperate with the 
        Commission and, to the extent permitted by law, to furnish such 
        information (other than information described in section 
        552(b)(1)(A) of title 5, United States Code) to the Commission, 
        upon the request of the Commission;
            (2) may enter into contracts, subject to the availability 
        of appropriations for contracting, and employ such staff 
        experts and consultants as may be necessary to carry out the 
        duties of the Commission, as provided by section 3109 of title 
        5, United States Code; and
            (3) shall establish a multidisciplinary science and 
        technical advisory panel of experts in the field of energy to 
        assist the Commission in preparing its report, including 
        ensuring that the scientific and technical information 
        considered by the Commission is based on the best information 
        available.

SEC. 6. REPORT.

    (a) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Commission shall submit to Congress and the President 
a report of its findings and recommendations regarding the activities 
required by section 3.
    (b) Administrative Procedure for Report and Review.--Chapter 5 and 
chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code, do not apply to the 
preparation, review, or submission of the report required by subsection 
(a).

SEC. 7. TERMINATION.

    The Commission shall terminate not later than 90 days after the 
date on which the Commission submits its report under section 6.

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There is authorized to be appropriated to carry 
out this Act $10,000,000 for fiscal years 2018 and 2019.
    (b) Availability.--Amounts authorized to be appropriated under 
subsection (a) are authorized to remain available until expended.

SEC. 9. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS.

    Not later than 90 days after receiving the report of the Commission 
under section 6, the President shall submit to Congress a statement of 
proposals to implement or respond to the Commission's recommendations 
contained in the report.
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