Title: A bill to require senior officials to report payments received from the Federal Government and to improve the filing and disclosure of financial disclosures by Members of Congress, congressional staff, and very senior employees.
Policy area: Congress

Summary:
This bill requires senior government officials to report certain payments received from the federal government by the officials or certain immediate family members, and it revises availability requirements for certain financial disclosures.
Specifically, the bill requires senior government officials, including the President, Members of Congress, and certain government employees, to file a report of certain payments made or promised to be made by the federal government (e.g., loan agreements, contracts, and grants). This report must include (1) an identification of the type of payment or thing of value applied for or received, (2) the name of the recipient and the recipient's relation to the person required to file the report, (3) the dates of the application for and receipt of the payment or thing of value, and (4) the amount of the payment or thing of value.
Further, the bill requires that certain financial disclosure reports that must be filed by senior government officials be available in a manner that (1) allows the public to search, sort, and download report data using specified criteria; (2) allows access through an application programming interface (i.e., a mobile application); and (3) complies fully with accessibility guidelines for online content.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4665 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4665

   To require senior officials to report payments received from the 
    Federal Government and to improve the filing and disclosure of 
financial disclosures by Members of Congress, congressional staff, and 
                         very senior employees.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 23, 2020

Mrs. Gillibrand introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require senior officials to report payments received from the 
    Federal Government and to improve the filing and disclosure of 
financial disclosures by Members of Congress, congressional staff, and 
                         very senior employees.

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

SECTION 1. IMPROVED REPORTING OF PAYMENTS AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES.

    (a) Reporting of Applications for and Payments Received From the 
Federal Government.--
            (1) In general.--Section 101 of the Ethics in Government 
        Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended by adding at the end the 
        following:
    ``(j)(1) In this subsection--
            ``(A) the term `covered payment'--
                    ``(i) means a payment of money or anything else of 
                value made or promised to be by the Federal Government, 
                including a loan agreement, contract, or grant 
                (including relating to agricultural activity);
                    ``(ii) includes any other type of payment of money 
                or anything else of value as the Secretary of the 
                Treasury, in consultation with the Director of the 
                Office of Government Ethics, may by regulation 
                establish; and
                    ``(iii) does not include--
                            ``(I) any salary or compensation for 
                        service performed as, or reimbursement of 
                        personal outlay by, an officer or employee of 
                        the Federal Government; or
                            ``(II) any tax refund (including a 
                        refundable tax credit); and
            ``(B) the term `covered person' means a person described in 
        paragraphs (1) through (10) of section 103(l).
    ``(2) Not later than 30 days after receiving notification of any 
application for or receipt of a covered payment by a covered person, 
the spouse of the covered person, or a dependent child of the covered 
person (including any business owned and controlled by the covered 
person, the spouse of the covered person, or a dependent child of the 
covered person), but in no case later than 45 days after the covered 
payment is made or promised to be made, the covered person shall file a 
report of the covered payment.''.
            (2) Contents.--Section 102 of the Ethics in Government Act 
        of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended by adding at the end the 
        following:
    ``(j) A report filed pursuant to section 101(j) shall--
            ``(1) identify the type of payment or thing of value 
        applied for or received;
            ``(2) include the name of the recipient and the relation to 
        the person required to file the report;
            ``(3) provide the date of the application for and the date 
        of receipt of the payment or thing of value; and
            ``(4) indicate the amount of the payment or thing of 
        value.''.
            (3) Effective date.--The amendments made by paragraphs (1) 
        and (2) shall apply to payments made or promised to be made on 
        or after the date that is 90 days after the date of enactment 
        of this Act.
    (b) Updating the Public Filing and Disclosure of Financial 
Disclosure Forms.--
            (1) Members of congress and congressional staff.--Section 
        8(b)(1)(B) of the STOCK Act (5 U.S.C. App. 105 note) is amended 
        to read as follows:
                    ``(B) public access--
                            ``(i) through databases that are maintained 
                        on the official websites of the House of 
                        Representatives and the Senate;
                            ``(ii) to--
                                    ``(I) each financial disclosure 
                                report filed by a Member of Congress or 
                                a candidate for Congress;
                                    ``(II) each report filed by a 
                                Members of Congress or a candidate for 
                                Congress of a transaction disclosure 
                                required by section 103(l) of the 
                                Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 
                                U.S.C. App); and
                                    ``(III) notice of any extension, 
                                amendment, or blind trust, with respect 
                                to a report described in subclause (I) 
                                or (II), pursuant to title I of the 
                                Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 
                                U.S.C. App.); and
                            ``(iii) in a manner that--
                                    ``(I) allows the public to search, 
                                sort, and download data contained in 
                                the reports described in subclause (I) 
                                or (II) of clause (ii) by criteria 
                                required to be reported, including by 
                                filer name, asset, transaction type, 
                                ticker symbol, notification date, 
                                amount of transaction, and date of 
                                transaction;
                                    ``(II) allows access through an 
                                application programming interface; and
                                    ``(III) is fully compliant with 
                                section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act 
                                of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d) and the most 
                                recent Web Content Accessibility 
                                Guidelines, or successor guidelines.''.
            (2) Very senior executive branch employees.--Section 
        11(b)(1)(B) of the STOCK Act (5 U.S.C. App. 105 note) is 
        amended to read as follows:
                    ``(B) public access--
                            ``(i) through a database that is maintained 
                        on the official website of the Office of 
                        Government Ethics;
                            ``(ii) to--
                                    ``(I) each financial disclosure 
                                report filed by the President, the Vice 
                                President, or any officer occupying a 
                                position listed in section 5312 or 
                                section 5313 of title 5, United States 
                                Code, having been nominated by the 
                                President and confirmed by the Senate 
                                to that position;
                                    ``(II) each report filed by an 
                                individual described in subclause (I) 
                                of a transaction disclosure required by 
                                section 103(l) of the Ethics in 
                                Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App); 
                                and
                                    ``(III) notice of any extension, 
                                amendment, or blind trust, with respect 
                                to a report described in subclause (I) 
                                or (II), pursuant to title I of the 
                                Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 
                                U.S.C. App.); and
                            ``(iii) in a manner that--
                                    ``(I) allows the public to search, 
                                sort, and download data contained in 
                                the reports described in subclause (I) 
                                or (II) of clause (ii) by criteria 
                                required to be reported, including by 
                                filer name, asset, transaction type, 
                                ticker symbol, notification date, 
                                amount of transaction, and date of 
                                transaction;
                                    ``(II) allows access through an 
                                application programming interface; and
                                    ``(III) is fully compliant with 
                                section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act 
                                of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d) and the most 
                                recent Web Content Accessibility 
                                Guidelines, or successor guidelines.''.
            (3) Applicability.--The amendments made by this subsection 
        shall--
                    (A) take effect on the date of enactment of this 
                Act; and
                    (B) apply on and after the date that is 18 months 
                after the date of enactment of this Act.
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