Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act

Bill: 115-s-317
Sponsor: Sen. Lankford, James [R-OK]
Introduced: 2017-02-06 in the Senate
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Accounting and auditing
Congressional oversight
Executive agency funding and structure
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Government information and archives
Government studies and investigations
Performance measurement

Summary:
action_date: 2017-02-06
text: 

Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act

 
This bill requires that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) website include an inventory that identifies each federal program for which there is more than $1 million in annual budget authority.
 
For programs for which there is more than $1 million but not more than $10 million in annual budget authority (smaller programs), the inventory must include: 
 
 
an identification of the program activities that are aggregated, disaggregated, or consolidated; 
 
for each such program activity, the amount of funding for the current fiscal year and the previous two fiscal years; 
 
an identification of the statutes that authorize the program and any major regulations specific to the program; 
 
a description of the individuals served by a program and beneficiaries who received financial assistance under a program for the most recent fiscal year; and 
 
links to any evaluation, assessment, or program performance reviews by the agency, an Inspector General, or the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released during the preceding five years. 

 
For programs for which there is more than $10 million in annual budget authority (larger programs), the inventory must also include specified additional information, including financial information for each program activity required to be reported under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006. 
 
The OMB shall archive and preserve the program inventory.
 
The bill requires the OMB to issue initial guidance to assist agencies in identifying how the program activities used in budget or appropriations accounts correspond with programs identified in the program inventory. The OMB may: (1) issue initial guidance to agencies to ensure that programs are presented at a similar level of detail across agencies and are not duplicative; (2) exempt from the requirements of this bill, based on an analysis of the costs of implementation, agencies that are not required to have a chief financial officer and that have not more than $10 million in budget authority; and (3) based on an analysis of the costs of implementation, extend the bill's implementation deadline (June 30, 2019) in one-year increments and by not more than two years. 

action_date: 2017-05-01
text: 

Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act

 
(Sec. 2) This bill requires that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) website include an inventory that identifies each federal program for which there is more than $1 million in annual budget authority.
 
For programs for which there is more than $1 million but not more than $10 million in annual budget authority (smaller programs), the inventory must include: 
 
 
an identification of the program activities that are aggregated, disaggregated, or consolidated; 
 
for each such program activity, the amount of funding for the current fiscal year and the previous two fiscal years; 
 
an identification of the statutes that authorize the program and any major regulations specific to the program; 
 
a description of the individuals served by a program and beneficiaries who received financial assistance under a program for the most recent fiscal year; and 
 
links to any evaluation, assessment, or program performance reviews by the agency, an Inspector General, or the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released during the preceding five years.
 
 
For programs for which there is more than $10 million in annual budget authority (larger programs), the inventory must also include specified additional information, including financial information for each program activity required to be reported under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006. 
 
The OMB shall archive and preserve the program inventory.
 
(Sec. 3) The bill requires the OMB to issue initial guidance to assist agencies in identifying how the program activities used in budget or appropriations accounts correspond with programs identified in the program inventory. The OMB may: (1) issue initial guidance to agencies to ensure that programs are presented at a similar level of detail across agencies and are not duplicative; (2) exempt from the requirements of this bill, based on an analysis of the costs of implementation, agencies that are not required to have a chief financial officer and that have not more than $10 million in budget authority; and (3) based on an analysis of the costs of implementation, extend the bill's implementation deadline (June 30, 2019) in one-year increments and by not more than two years.
 
The Government Accountability Office must report to Congress by five years after this bill's enactment regarding its implementation.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-05-01
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 43.
action_date: 2017-05-01
text: Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Reported by Senator Johnson with an amendment. With written report No. 115-34.
action_date: 2017-05-01
text: Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Reported by Senator Johnson with an amendment. With written report No. 115-34.
action_date: 2017-03-15
text: Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment favorably.
action_date: 2017-02-06
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
action_date: 2017-02-06
text: Introduced in Senate