Date: 2002-11-14
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. as the federal government has increased its use of the Internet and other information technologies to conduct its business. the need for a comprehensive approach to the management Electronic Government initiatives has become evident. Therefore. Congressman JIM TURNER. the Ranking Member of the Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology and Procurement Policy. introduced H.R. 2458. the Electronic Government Act of 2002. H.R. 2458 is a bipartisan bill to enhance the management and promotion of electronic government services and processes and to increase the electronic availability of information to the public. I worked closely with Congressman TURNER to develop this bill. H.R.. 2458 was reported favorably by the Committee on Government Reform with a unanimous vote. With agreed upon changes reflected in the text before the House today. the bill is sup.ported by the. Science and Armed Services Committees. as well as by the leadership of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Following action by the House. the legislation is expected to be taken up by the Senate and acted on in its present form. The bill contains five titles. covering a broad array of government information management issues. Title I would strengthen governmentwide approaches to improving the use of information technology for service delivery and governmental efficiency and effectiveness by establishing an Office of Electronic Government in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). a statutory interagency Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council. a program to promote contractor innovation and excellence in EGov services and processes. and an interagency EGov Fund to provide funding for innovative EGov initiatives. Title II would mandate a number of specific initiatives to enhance Federal EG6v capabilities. Among its provisions are requirements to support broader use of electronic signatures. a develop a Federal Internet portal. improve public access to public information in Federal agencies and the courts. strengthen privacy protections. improve Federal workforce information technology skills. and make greater use of shareinsavings contracts. Title III. "Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002" (FISMA). would permanently authorize a governmentwide riskbased approach to information security and otherwise strengthen Government Information Security Reform (GISRA) provisions of the FY 2001 Defense Authorization Act. Title IV would provide authorization of appropriations for the legislation and effective dates for its provisions. Title V would reduce paperwork- burdens and improve privacy protections by establishing new procedures for statistical data sharing among key statistical agencies. Following favorable action on the bill by the Committee on Government Reform. the managers renewed discussions with the Administration. including OMB. the Department of Defense. and the Department of Commerce. and the Committees on Science and Armed Services. and the Senate Committee on Government Affairs. The resulting agreement involved making.a number of revisions to the reported bill. The changes are described below. Section 205 of H.R. 2458 is revised at the request of the Administration to ensure that online access to Federal court records not compromise legitimate privacy and security concerns. The revised language would require the judiciary to develop rules to clearly set forth litigant rights and obligations. as well as court responsibilities with regards to the treatment of privacy and security issues associated with court records. Section 209 is revised with the addition of subsection (b) to require the Director of OPM. in consultation with the Director of OMB. the CIO Council. and the Administration of GSA. to analyze. identify. assess. and oversee the governmentwide development of information technology and information resource management training curricula and methods. Agency heads will use these curricula and methods to establish training programs that meet their needs for information technology and information resource management while designing the training to maximize efficiency and economy. Section 210 authorizing the governmentwide use of sharein savings contracts for information technology has been amended to sunset in September 2005. rather than in 2009. The provision has also been amended to prohibit the agency letting the contract to retain any savings attributable to a decrease in the number of employees performing the function and to prolftbit the inclusion in savings of enhanced revenues from the collection of fees. taxes. debts. claims. or other amounts collected by the government. The requirement that the General Accounting Office (GAO) review the Office of Management and Budget report to Congress on the use by the agencies of the shareinsavings authority has been expanded to include an independent assessment by the GAO of the effectiveness of shareinsavings contracts and of whether the authority should be continued. Finally the section now provides for the repeal of the current shareinsavings pilot authority in 40 U.S.C. 11521. Section 213(b) requires a study to evaluate the best practices of community technology centers that receive federal funds. 213(b)(1) is amended to clarify that OMB must ensure that such a study is conducted. Likewise. -Section 214(b)(1) is amended to clarify that OMB must ensure a study is conducted on the use of information technology to enhance crisis management. A new section 216 is added to Title II that calls for the development of protocols for geographic information systems so that industry and government can develop innovative multilayered maps and analyses using the governments massive amount of geographic data. This section is not intended to inappropriately move activity into the government that is best left to the private sector. Furthermore. nothing in this provision is intended to encourage the development of technical standards that would require the procurement of specific hardware or software. A new subsection (c) is added to �3533 in section 301 of the bill. This subsection delegates to the Secretary of the Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence OMB auth9rity under �3533(a)(1) for developing and overseeing the implementation of information security policies. and under �3533(a)(2) for providing riskbased information security protections. for DOD and CIA systems that process information whose unauthorized access. use. disclosure. disruption. modification. or destruction would have a debilitating impact on the missions of the agencies. This revision was requested by the Administration and the Armed Services Committee. �3536(a)(4) in section 301 of the bill is modified to require that the Federal information security incident center described under this section is to keep the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). as well as other appropriate agencies. informed about information security incidents and related matters. Section 303 of the legislation as reported by the Committee on Government Reform would amend 40U.S.C. 11331 to transfer to OMB the authority to promulgate information security standards. which is currently a responsibility of the Secretary of Commerce. After much discussion about the practical consequences of such a transfer. it was agreed to retain the current laws structure while strengthening it in a number of instances. First. FISMAs revision of 40 U.S.C. 11331. at sec.. 303. is modified to maintain standards promulgation by the Secretary of Commerce. largely as currently provided in law. � 11331 is revised. however. to continue FISMA provisions for minimum mandatory security standards. a time limit on promulgation of the standards. and the elimination of waiver authority. Second. FISMAs � 3533(a). in sec. 301. is revised accordingly to strike references to OMB promulgation of the NISTdeveloped standards. In place of that mandate. OMB would be required. at �3533(a)(1). to use its oversight authority to ensure agency use of such standards. and at �3533(a)(8). to include an assessment of the standards in its annual report to Congress. Third. to harmonize other references in the legislation to standards promulgation. a number of provisions in Titles I and II are also revised purely for the sake of consistency: i.e.. in �3602(f)(8) in sec. 101. in sec. 202(a)(2). in sec. 202(f)(2). in sec. 207(d)(2)(iii). in �3534(a)(1)(B)(i) in sec. 301. in �20(c)(3). (e)(1). and (e)(8) in sec. 303. and in sec. 304(6). Finally. sec. 306 is stricken because given the transfer back to Commerce of all standards promulgation. there is no need to address the division in authority between OMB (security standards) and Commerce (system standards). Section 303s amendments to section 20 of the NIST Act. 15 U.S.C. 278g3. are modified in several respects. First. NIST guidance concerning the identification of national security systems. at subsection (b)(3). is to be developed in conjunction with the Department of Defense. including the National Security Agency. Second. as requested by the Administration and the Science Committee. subsections (c)(5). (6). and (7) are modified to be "to the maximum extent practicable." These changes are intended to preserve the policy of reliance on flexible. performancebased. technologyneutral requirements. while recognizing that there likely will be times where needs such as interoperability or the reality of market predominance will require guidance that addresses specific technologies or products. Third. as requested by the Science Committee. the bill drops subsection (d). which would have established a NIST Office for Information Security Programs. Finally. also at the request of the Science Committee. subsection (e) is revised consistent with current law to provide for NIST technical assistance to agencies. at (e)(2). and to authorize NIST to help the private sector. upon request. with NIST guidance and other assistance. at (e-)(6). Title V of this bill is based on H.R. 5215. the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002. introduced by Congressman STEPHEN HORN. Chairman of the Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Efficiency. Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations. Chairman HORN and Ranking Member JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY have worked tirelessly with the Administration to finalize these provisions. This section creates the opportunity for three federal statistical agencies to reduce reporting burdens on businesses while simultaneously making the process of developing economic statistics more efficient. This title provides the statutory changes necessary to allow the Bureau of Economic Analysis. the Bureau of Labor Statistics. and the U.S. Census Bureau to enter into negotiated agreements to share confidential business information. The magnitude of the gains in efficiency and burden reduction will turn on the willingness of these agencies to move swiftly to capitalize on the opportunities presented by these changes. Title V also include language introduced in this Congress by Representatives SAWYER and WAXMAN. which provides strong protection from disclosure for information provided to the government by individuals and businesses. A new provision added to Title V provides a resolution to a longstanding problem of information exchange between the Congressional Budget Office and statistical agencies by making it clear that Congressional intent is for CBO. in fulfilling its statistical service to the Congress. to have access to the necessary information held by statistical agencies in the executive branch. Finally. a number of technical corrections are made: At �3532(b)(2)(A) in sec. 101 to correct a paragraph indentation. and at �3533(a)(8)(D) in sec. 101 to correct a subsection crossreference. With these changes. the managers of H.R. 2458 are able to state that the legislation before the House of Representatives today reflects agreement across the aisle. among key members and committees in both houses of Congress. and with the executive branch. I urge passage of this bill.