Title: Agency Accountability Act of 2017
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance

Summary:
Agency Accountability Act of 2017
This bill requires any agency that receives a fee, fine, penalty, or proceeds from a settlement to deposit the amount in the general fund of the Treasury.
The funds may not be used unless the funding is provided in advance in an appropriations bill. Any amounts deposited during the fiscal year in which this bill is enacted may not be obligated during the fiscal year and must be used for deficit reduction.
The bill includes an exception for funds to be paid to an individual entitled to receive the funds as a whistle-blower, including funds received as a percentage of amounts received by the government pursuant to a judgment or settlement agreement.
The bill amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to require offsetting receipts and collections to be treated as revenue. (Offsetting receipts and collections are funds collected by agencies from other government accounts or from the public in businesslike or market-oriented transactions. Under current law, the collections are treated as negative budget authority and outlays rather than revenue and may be used to offset spending for budget enforcement purposes.)
The requirements of the bill do not apply to the U.S. Postal Service or the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and the Director of the USPTO must submit annually to Congress a report describing any fee, fine, penalty, or proceeds from a settlement collected by the USPTO during the previous year.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 299 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 299

 To require the appropriation of funds to use a fee, fine, penalty, or 
proceeds from a settlement received by a Federal agency, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 3, 2017

Mr. Lee (for himself and Mr. Paul) introduced the following bill; which 
 was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 
                          Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the appropriation of funds to use a fee, fine, penalty, or 
proceeds from a settlement received by a Federal agency, 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 ``Agency Accountability Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. APPROPRIATION OF FUNDS REQUIRED.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and 
consistent with subsection (c), an agency that receives a fee, fine, 
penalty, or proceeds from a settlement shall deposit such amount in the 
general fund of the Treasury.
    (b) Use of Amounts.--
            (1) Subject to appropriation.--Consistent with paragraph 
        (2), any amounts deposited pursuant to subsection (a) shall 
        only be available to the extent, and in such amounts, as are 
        provided in advance in appropriation Acts.
            (2) Obligation limitation; deficit reduction.--Of the 
        amounts so deposited during the fiscal year in which this 
        section is enacted, such amounts--
                    (A) may not be available for obligation during such 
                fiscal year; and
                    (B) shall be used for purposes of deficit 
                reduction.
    (c) Exception.--This section shall not apply to any amounts to be 
paid to an individual entitled to such amounts as a whistleblower, 
including any amounts received as a percentage of amounts received by 
the Government pursuant to a judgment or settlement agreement.
    (d) USPTO Report to Congress Required.--Not later than March 1 of 
each year, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property 
and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office shall 
submit to Congress a report that describes any fee, fine, penalty, or 
proceeds from a settlement collected by the United States Patent and 
Trademark Office for the previous fiscal year.
    (e) Agency Defined.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given that 
term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code, but does not 
include the United States Postal Service or the United States Patent 
and Trademark Office.

SEC. 3. OFFSETTING COLLECTIONS AND RECEIPTS AS REVENUE.

    (a) In General.--The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 621 
et seq.) is amended--
            (1) in section 3(2)(A)(iv), by inserting ``except as 
        provided in section 316,'' before ``offsetting receipts''; and
            (2) by adding after section 315 the following:

           ``treatment of offsetting collections and receipts

    ``Sec. 316. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, offsetting 
receipts and collections shall be treated as revenue for purposes of 
carrying out this or any other Act. The preceding sentence shall not 
apply to the United States Postal Service or the United States Patent 
and Trademark Office.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents of such Act is 
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 315 the 
following:

``316. Treatment of offsetting collections and receipts.''.
    (c) Application.--The amendments made by this section shall apply 
during budget years (as that term is defined in section 250(c)(12) of 
the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 
900(c)(12))) beginning in 2019.
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