Title: Executive Appointee Ethics Improvement Act
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
Executive Appointee Ethics Improvement Act
This bill lengthens from one to two years the ban on certain senior personnel of the executive branch and independent agencies from lobbying the department or agency in which the person served. If the Director of the Office of Government Ethics decides to waive this restriction, such decision shall be published in the Federal Register unless it would compromise national security.
The bill lengthens from two to five years the ban on certain very senior personnel of the executive branch and independent agencies, including the Vice President, from lobbying any office or employee of any department or agency in which such person served.
Certain high-level employees of the executive branch are subject to a lifetime ban on knowingly representing a foreign entity before any officer or employee of any department or agency of the United States with the intent to influence a decision of such officer or employee.
During a two-year period beginning on the date an individual is appointed to a covered position, such individual is banned from participating in any matter involving specific parties that is directly related to the individual's former employer or former clients. Additionally, any individual who was a registered lobbyist or who engaged in lobbying activities during a two-year period prior to appointment is prohibited from participating in any particular matter on which the individual made a lobbying contact or participating in the specific issue area in which the matter falls. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) may waive these requirements if OMB certifies in writing to various congressional committees that it is in the public interest to grant the waiver.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2500 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2500

 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit high-level Federal 
employees from participating in any matter substantially related to the 
         appointee's former employment, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 17, 2017

 Mr. Huffman introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit high-level Federal 
employees from participating in any matter substantially related to the 
         appointee's former employment, 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 ``Executive Appointee Ethics 
Improvement Act''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO SECTION 207 OF TITLE 18.

    (a) Extension of Post-Employment Ban on Lobbying for Certain Former 
Government Employees.--Section 207 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in the subsection heading, by striking ``One-
                year'' and inserting ``Two-Year'';
                    (B) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) by striking ``within 1 year after'' and 
                        inserting ``within 2 years after''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``within 1 year before 
                        such termination''; and
                    (C) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the 
                following:
            ``(D) Not later than 30 days after a waiver is granted 
        under subparagraph (C), the waiver shall be published in the 
        Federal Register and accompanied by a signed statement by the 
        Director of the Office of Government Ethics describing in 
        detail the reasons for providing such waiver unless such a 
        description would compromise national security.'';
            (2) in subsection (d)(1), in the matter following 
        subparagraph (C), by striking ``within 2 years'' and inserting 
        ``within 5 years''; and
            (3) in subsection (d)(2)(A), by striking ``in such 
        position'' and all that follows through ``terminated''.
    (b) Lifetime Ban on Representation of Foreign Entities for Certain 
High-Level Former Employees.--Section 207(f) of such title is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``(or, in the case of an 
        individual described in paragraph (2), at any time)'' after 
        ``within 1 year'';
            (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``paragraph (1)'' and 
        inserting ``paragraphs (1) and (2)'';
            (3) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as paragraphs 
        (3) and (4); and
            (4) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(2) Description of individuals subject to lifetime ban.--
        An individual described in this paragraph is any individual who 
        was--
                    ``(A) employed in a position described under 
                sections 5312 through 5316 of title 5, United States 
                Code (relating to the Executive Schedule);
                    ``(B) a limited term appointee, limited emergency 
                appointee, or noncareer appointee in the Senior 
                Executive Service, as defined under paragraphs (5), 
                (6), and (7), respectively, of section 3132(a) of title 
                5, United States Code; or
                    ``(C) employed in a position of a confidential or 
                policy-determining character under schedule C of 
                subpart C of part 213 of title 5 of the Code of Federal 
                Regulations.''.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON PARTICIPATION IN MATTER RELATING TO PREVIOUS 
              EMPLOYMENT.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 11 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after section 219 the following new section:
``Sec. 220. Prohibition on participation in matter relating to previous 
              employment
    ``(a) During the 2-year period beginning on the date an individual 
is appointed to a covered position at an agency, any such individual 
who has not received a waiver under subsection (b)--
            ``(1) who participates in any particular matter involving 
        specific parties that is directly and substantially related to 
        the individual's former employer or former clients, or
            ``(2) with respect to any such individual who was a 
        registered lobbyist under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, 
        or who was not a registered lobbyist under such Act but who 
        engaged in lobbying activity as defined in subsection (c), 
        during the 2-year period preceding the date of such 
        appointment, who--
                    ``(A) participates in any particular matter on 
                which the individual made a lobbying contact (in the 
                case of a registered lobbyist under such Act), or 
                engaged in such activity, during such 2-year period,
                    ``(B) participates in the specific issue area in 
                which such particular matter falls, or
                    ``(C) seeks or accepts employment with any agency 
                with respect to which the individual made a lobbying 
                contact (in the case of a registered lobbyist under 
                such Act), or engaged in such activity, during such 2-
                year period,
shall be punished as provided in section 216 of this title.
    ``(b)(1) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in 
consultation with the Counsel to the President, may waive the 
requirements of subsection (a) with respect to any individual covered 
by such subsection if the Director certifies, in writing, to the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of 
Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs of the Senate, and the appropriate congressional committees of 
jurisdiction, that it is in the public interest to grant the waiver.
    ``(2) For purposes of carrying out paragraph (1)--
            ``(A) the public interest includes exigent circumstances 
        relating to public health, public safety, or national security;
            ``(B) de minimis contact with an agency shall be cause for 
        a waiver of subsection (a)(2); and
            ``(C) any waiver shall take effect when the certification 
        is published in the Federal Register, accompanied by a signed 
        statement by the Director describing in detail the reasons for 
        providing the waiver unless such a description would compromise 
        national security.
    ``(c)(1) In this section, the term `lobbying activity' means, with 
respect to an individual, knowingly making, with the intent to 
influence, any communication to or appearance before any officer or 
employee of the Federal Government on behalf of another person as an 
employee of a lobbying firm or lobbying organization, in connection 
with any matter on which such person seeks official action by such 
officer or employee of the Federal Government. The previous sentence 
applies only with respect to an individual who spends greater than 20% 
of the individual's time as an employee of a lobbying firm or lobbying 
organization engaged in such lobbying activity.
    ``(2) In paragraph (1), the term `lobbying firm' means any firm, 
corporation, or limited liability company in which--
            ``(A) employees of the firm in the aggregate make 2 or more 
        lobbying contacts at any time on behalf of a particular client; 
        and
            ``(B) the firm receives or expects to receive from a 
        particular client for matters related to lobbying activities at 
        least the amount specified in section 4(a)(3)(A) of the 
        Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603(a)(3)(A)) in the 
        quarterly period during which registration would be made under 
        such Act.
    ``(3) In paragraph (1), the term `lobbying organization' includes 
any organization in which--
            ``(A) employees of the firm in the aggregate make 2 or more 
        lobbying contacts at any time on its behalf; and
            ``(B) the organization expends in connection with lobbying 
        activities at least the amount specified in section 4(a)(3)(B) 
        of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1603(a)(3)(A)) 
        in the quarterly period during which registration would be made 
        under such Act.
    ``(4) In this subsection, the term `employee' has the meaning given 
such term in section 3(5) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 
U.S.C. 1602(5)).
    ``(d) In this section, the following definitions apply:
            ``(1) The term `agency' means an `Executive agency' (as 
        that term is defined in section 105 of title 5), the Executive 
        Office of the President, the United States Postal Service, and 
        the Postal Regulatory Commission, but does not include the 
        Government Accountability Office.
            ``(2) The term `covered position'--
                    ``(A) means any--
                            ``(i) full-time, non-career position which 
                        requires appointment by the President or Vice-
                        President;
                            ``(ii) non-career position within the 
                        Senior Executive Service or other SES-type 
                        system; or
                            ``(iii) position that has been excepted 
                        from the competitive service by reason of being 
                        of a confidential or policymaking character, 
                        including positions under schedule C of subpart 
                        C of part 213 of title 5 of the Code of Federal 
                        Regulations; and
                    ``(B) does not include any individual appointed as 
                a member of the Senior Foreign Service or solely as a 
                uniformed service commissioned officer.
            ``(3) The term `directly and substantially related to 
        former employer or former clients' means matters in which the 
        individual's former employer or a former client is a party or 
        represents a party.
            ``(4) The term `former client' means any person for whom 
        the individual served personally as agent, attorney, or 
        consultant, but does include instances where the service 
        provided was limited to a speech or similar appearance or 
        clients of the individual's former employer to whom the 
        individual did not personally provide services.
            ``(5) The term `former employer' means any person for whom 
        the individual has within the 2 years prior to the date of 
        appointment served as an employee, officer, director, trustee, 
        or general partner, but does not include any agency or other 
        entity of the Federal Government, Native American tribe, or any 
        United States territory or possession.
            ``(6) The term `lobbying contact' has the meaning given 
        such term in section 3(8) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 
        1995 (2 U.S.C. 1602(8)).
            ``(7) The term `particular matter' has the meaning given 
        that term in section 207 and section 2635.402(b)(3) of title 5, 
        Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation.
            ``(8) The term `participate' means to participate 
        personally and substantially.
            ``(9) The term `particular matter involving specific 
        parties' has the meaning as set forth in section 2641.201(h) of 
        title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 
        regulation, except that it shall also include any meeting or 
        other communication relating to the performance of an 
        individual's official duties with a former employer or former 
        client, unless the communication applies to a particular matter 
        of general applicability and participation in the meeting or 
        other event is open to all interested parties.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections of chapter 11 of 
title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item 
relating to section 219 the following new item:

``220. Prohibition on participation in matter relating to previous 
                            employment.''.
    (c) Application.--The amendments made after subsection (a) shall 
apply to any individual appointed to a covered position (as that term 
is defined in section 220(d)(2) of title 18, United States Code, as 
added by such subsection) after the date of enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>