Title: Agency Accountability Act of 2019
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance

Summary:
Agency Accountability Act of 2019
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 bill also prohibits the funds from being used unless the funding is provided in advance in an appropriations bill.
The bill includes exceptions for funds to be paid to a whistle-blower, loan guarantee programs, and insurance programs.
The requirements do not apply to the U.S. Postal Service or the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The Department of Commerce and the USPTO must report annually to Congress on funds collected by the USPTO from a settlement.
The bill also requires offsetting receipts and collections to be treated as revenue for the purpose of carrying out the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and other laws. (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.)

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1456 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1456

 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

                              May 14, 2019

 Mr. Lee (for himself, Mr. Risch, Mr. Perdue, Mr. Cruz, and Mr. Young) 
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 2019''.

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 Subject to Appropriation.--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.
    (c) Exceptions.--This section shall not apply to any of the 
following:
            (1) 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.
            (2) A loan guarantee program.
            (3) An insurance program.
    (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) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``agency''--
                    (A) has the meaning given that term in section 551 
                of title 5, United States Code; and
                    (B) does not include the United States Postal 
                Service or the United States Patent and Trademark 
                Office; and
            (2) the term ``loan guarantee'' has the meaning given the 
        term in section 502 of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 
        U.S.C. 661a).

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 one year after the date of the enactment of this 
Act.
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