Title: Modernizing Congressional Reporting Act of 2019
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Modernizing Congressional Reporting Act of 2019
This bill requires that any (1) report or other recorded information required to be submitted to Congress by an agency and any response from an agency to a request by a congressional office shall only be transmitted in an acceptable electronic format; and (2) structured data included in or with, or used to create any chart included in or with, any report or recorded information shall be transmitted in such format. Agencies must publish these reports and associated data on their public websites.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 196 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 196

    To save taxpayer money and improve the efficiency and speed of 
       intragovernmental correspondence, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 19, 2019

   Mr. Portman (for himself, Ms. Hassan, Ms. Harris, Mr. Hoeven, Mr. 
Lankford, Mr. Daines, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Carper) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
             on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To save taxpayer money and improve the efficiency and speed of 
       intragovernmental correspondence, 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 ``Modernizing Congressional Reporting 
Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``acceptable electronic format'' means a file 
        format and metadata elements authorized by the National 
        Archives and Records Administration for the transfer of 
        permanent electronic records--
                    (A) as set forth in--
                            (i) National Archives and Records 
                        Administration Bulletin 2014-04: Revised Format 
                        Guidance for the Transfer of Permanent 
                        Electronic Records, dated January 31, 2014, or 
                        any successor bulletin; and
                            (ii) National Archives and Records 
                        Administration Bulletin 2015-04: Metadata 
                        Guidance for the Transfer of Permanent 
                        Electronic Records, dated September 15, 2015, 
                        or any successor bulletin; and
                    (B) that complies with the requirements of the 
                Office of Management and Budget Memorandum on the 
                Managing Government Records Directive, dated August 24, 
                2012 (M-12-18), or any successor memorandum;
            (2) the term ``agency''--
                    (A) means--
                            (i) a Federal agency, as defined in section 
                        102 of title 40, United States Code; and
                            (ii) an agency, as defined in section 
                        552(f)(1) of title 5, United States Code; and
                    (B) does not include the Government Accountability 
                Office;
            (3) the term ``congressionally mandated report'' means a 
        report that is required to be submitted to either House of 
        Congress or any committee of Congress, or subcommittee thereof, 
        by a statute, resolution, or conference report that accompanies 
        legislation enacted into law;
            (4) the term ``congressional office'' means--
                    (A) an office of any committee or subcommittee of 
                the Senate or the House of Representatives, including 
                any select or special committee;
                    (B) an office of any individual Senator or Member 
                of the House of Representatives;
                    (C) a leadership office of the Senate or the House 
                of Representatives; and
                    (D) Congress or any House of Congress;
            (5) the term ``open format'' means a file format for 
        storing digital data based on an underlying open standard 
        that--
                    (A) is not encumbered by any restrictions that 
                would impede reuse; and
                    (B) is based on an underlying open data standard 
                that is maintained by a standards organization;
            (6) the term ``recorded information'' includes all recorded 
        information, regardless of form or characteristics; and
            (7) the term ``structured data'' has the meaning given the 
        term in National Archives and Records Administration Bulletin 
        2014-04: Revised Format Guidance for the Transfer of Permanent 
        Electronic Records, dated January 31, 2014, or any successor 
        bulletin.

SEC. 3. ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION OF REPORTS.

    (a) In General.--On and after the date that is 30 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, except as provided in subsection (c) and 
to the extent specifically required otherwise by law--
            (1) any report or other recorded information required to be 
        submitted to Congress by an agency under any provision of law, 
        and any response from an agency to a request by a congressional 
        office for any report or other recorded information, shall only 
        be transmitted by the agency in an acceptable electronic 
        format; and
            (2) any structured data included in or with, or used to 
        create any chart included in or with, any report or other 
        recorded information described in paragraph (1) shall be 
        transmitted by the agency in an acceptable electronic format 
        for structured data.
    (b) Format Preference.--
            (1) In general.--In transmitting a report or other recorded 
        information described in subsection (a) to a congressional 
        office, an agency shall, to the extent possible, provide the 
        original electronic file or an electronically converted file 
        rather than a scanned document, even if the document includes a 
        signature.
            (2) Searchable scanned documents.--Each scanned document 
        that is transmitted by an agency to a congressional office 
        shall be made searchable via optical character recognition or 
        other means.
    (c) Other Formats.--An agency that is required to transmit a report 
or other recorded information described in subsection (a) to a 
congressional office in an acceptable electronic format may, if 
requested by, or otherwise agreed to with, the congressional office--
            (1) transmit the report or other recorded information to 
        the congressional office--
                    (A) in an electronic format that is not an 
                acceptable electronic format; or
                    (B) as a physical document;
            (2) allow the report or other recorded information to be 
        reviewed in camera; or
            (3) not transmit the report or other recorded information.
    (d) Routing.--If a congressional office designates a method to 
receive reports and other recorded information described in subsection 
(a) from agencies, each agency shall transmit a report or other 
recorded information to the congressional office using the designated 
method, unless otherwise requested by the congressional office.

SEC. 4. PUBLISHING OF REPORTS.

    (a) In General.--On and after the date that is 30 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, any congressionally mandated report, and 
any structured data described in section 3(a)(2) and any transmittal 
letter associated with the report, shall be posted on the public 
website of the agency submitting the report--
            (1) in an acceptable electronic format;
            (2) in an open format;
            (3) in accordance with the format preference described in 
        section 3(b); and
            (4) at a uniform resource locator or similar locator that 
        is changed as infrequently as possible.
    (b) Free Access.--No fee, registration requirement, or other access 
limitation shall be imposed on access to any report required to be 
posted under subsection (a).
    (c) Open Access.--All reports, data, and other information posted 
under this section shall be available to the public without 
restrictions, including restrictions that would impede reuse of any or 
all elements of the information.
    (d) Ease of Access.--Each agency shall provide in tabular form a 
list of all reports, data, or other information required to be posted 
under subsection (a) that--
            (1) is--
                    (A) accessible via a link posted at the footer of 
                the public website of the agency;
                    (B) accessible at a uniform resource locator or 
                similar locator that is changed as infrequently as 
                practicable;
                    (C) in a structure that is changed as infrequently 
                as practicable and is as consistent with the structure 
                used by other agencies as practicable;
                    (D) searchable and sortable by, at a minimum--
                            (i) the title of the report;
                            (ii) the date of publication of the report;
                            (iii) each congressional office receiving 
                        the report, if applicable;
                            (iv) the statute, resolution, or conference 
                        report requiring the report;
                            (v) the metadata elements of the report;
                            (vi) a unique alphanumeric identifier for 
                        the report that is consistent across report 
                        editions; and
                            (vii) the serial number, Superintendent of 
                        Documents number, or other identification 
                        number for the report, if applicable;
                    (E) available in an acceptable electronic format 
                for structured data, to allow for automated parsing of 
                all data described in subparagraph (D) and download of 
                all reports and associated structured data; and
                    (F) updated immediately upon posting of the report, 
                data, or other information; and
            (2) contains links to download each report, data, and other 
        information.
    (e) Timely Access.--An agency shall post a report, data, or other 
information required to be posted by the agency under subsection (a) 
not later than 30 days after the date on which the agency submits the 
report, data, or other information to Congress.
    (f) Removing and Altering Reports.--An agency may only change or 
remove, with the exception of technical changes, a report, data, or 
other information required to be posted by the agency under subsection 
(a) if--
            (1) the head of the agency consults with each congressional 
        office to which the report, data, or other information is 
        submitted; and
            (2) Congress enacts a joint resolution authorizing the 
        changing or removal of the report, data, or other information.
    (g) Relation to the Freedom of Information Act and Redaction.--
            (1) In general.--Nothing in this section shall be construed 
        to require the disclosure of information or records that are--
                    (A) exempt from disclosure under section 552 of 
                title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the 
                ``Freedom of Information Act''); or
                    (B) otherwise prohibited from disclosure by law.
            (2) Redaction of report.--With respect to each report, 
        data, or other information required to be posted by an agency 
        under subsection (a), the head of the agency shall--
                    (A) redact any information that may not be 
                disclosed under section 552(b) of title 5, United 
                States Code, or is otherwise prohibited from disclosure 
                by law, before posting the report;
                    (B) only redact the information described in 
                subparagraph (A);
                    (C) identify where each redaction is made in the 
                report, data, or other information; and
                    (D) identify the exemption under such section 
                552(b) under which each redaction is made.
    (h) Withholding Information.--An agency--
            (1) may withhold information otherwise required to be 
        disclosed under this section only if--
                    (A) the agency reasonably foresees that disclosure 
                would harm an interest protected by an exemption 
                described in section 552(b) of title 5, United States 
                Code; or
                    (B) disclosure is prohibited by law; and
            (2) shall--
                    (A) consider whether partial disclosure of 
                information otherwise required to be disclosed under 
                this section is possible whenever the agency determines 
                that a full disclosure of the information is not 
                possible; and
                    (B) take reasonable steps necessary to segregate 
                and release nonexempt information.
    (i) Open Data Registration.--Not later than 30 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act, each agency shall make the list described in 
subsection (d) available to the public on Data.gov or a successor 
Federal open government data site, in a structure and format used by 
that system.
    (j) Submission of Reports.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to--
            (1) relieve an agency of any other requirement to publish a 
        congressionally mandated report on the website of the agency or 
        otherwise submit a congressionally mandated report to Congress 
        or specific committees or subcommittees of Congress; or
            (2) impose any additional requirement to redact any 
        submission to or withhold information from any congressional 
        office.
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