[Senate Report 116-31]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 67
116th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 116-31
_______________________________________________________________________
ACCESS TO CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED REPORTS ACT
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
S. 195
TO REQUIRE THE DIRECTOR OF THE GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING
OFFICE TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN A WEBSITE ACCESSIBLE
TO THE PUBLIC THAT ALLOWS THE PUBLIC TO OBTAIN
ELECTRONIC COPIES OF ALL CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED REPORTS IN ONE PLACE,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
April 10, 2019.--Ordered to be printed
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
89-010 WASHINGTON : 2018
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
RAND PAUL, Kentucky THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
MITT ROMNEY, Utah KAMALA D. HARRIS, California
RICK SCOTT, Florida KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri
Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Staff Director
Joseph C. Folio, III, Chief Counsel
Daniel J. Spino, Professional Staff Member
David M. Weinberg, Minority Staff Director
Zachary I. Schram, Minority Chief Counsel
Ashley E. Poling, Minority Director of Governmental Affairs
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 67
116th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 116-31
======================================================================
ACCESS TO CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED REPORTS ACT
_______
April 10, 2019.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 195]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 195) to require the
Director of the Government Publishing Office to establish and
maintain a website accessible to the public that allows the
public to obtain electronic copies of all congressionally
mandated reports in one place, and for other purposes, having
considered the same, reports favorably thereon with amendment
and recommends that the bill as amended do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................2
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................2
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................4
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................4
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............5
I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
The purpose of S. 195, Access to Congressionally Mandated
Reports Act, is to increase transparency of Federal Government
operations by requiring the Government Publishing Office (GPO)
to publish online all congressionally-mandated government
reports issued by Federal agencies.
II. BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR THE LEGISLATION
Congress often mandates in legislation for an agency to
provide it with a report of particular information or policies.
From 2014-2015, Congress expected to receive 4,291 written
reports from 466 Federal agencies and nonprofit groups.\1\
However, the reports are typically only provided to
congressional offices in hard copy, and ``stored in the
abyss.''\2\ Agencies expend taxpayer-funded time and resources
to produce these reports which are intended to inform
legislation or congressional oversight of agency operations,
yet the general public and Congress itself faces obstacles to
locate and review these reports.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\David Fahrenthold, Unrequired Reading, Washington Post (May 3,
2014), https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/05/03/
unrequired-reading/?utm_term=.44fe005eb16e. See also U.S. House of
Representatives, Office of the Clerk, Reports to be Made to Congress,
House Document No. 116-4 (Jan. 3, 2019).
\2\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agencies are not always required to publicly post
congressionally-mandated reports. Without such a requirement,
agencies decide whether or not to make them accessible to the
public. Moreover, there is no central database for the public
to locate congressionally-mandated reports. If an individual or
organization sought to compile congressionally-mandated
reports, they would have to manually search through each
Federal agency's website to determine what is publicly
available.
S. 195 facilitates the public's access to congressionally-
mandated reports by requiring all Federal agencies to send any
such reports to the GPO for publication on its website.
III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
S. 195 was introduced on January 19, 2019, by Senators Rob
Portman (R-OH), Margaret Hassan (D-NH), and Amy Klobuchar (D-
MN). The bill was referred to the Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs.
The Committee considered S. 195 at a business meeting on
February 13, 2019. S. 195 passed by voice vote en bloc with
Senators Johnson, Portman, Paul, Lankford, Romney, Scott, Enzi,
Hawley, Peters, Carper, Hassan, Harris, Sinema, and Rosen
present.
IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE BILL, AS REPORTED
Section 1. Short title
This section establishes the short title of the bill as the
``Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act''.
Sec. 2. Definitions
This section provides definitions for the terms
``congressionally mandated report,'' ``Director,'' ``Federal
agency,'' ``open format,'' and ``reports website.''
Sec. 3. Establishment of website for congressionally mandated reports
This section establishes a website for the public to access
congressionally-mandated reports.
Subsection (a) requires GPO to establish and maintain a
website for publication of electronic copies of all
congressionally-mandated reports. This subsection requires GPO
to consult with the Clerk of the House of Representatives, the
Secretary of the Senate, and the Librarian of Congress on the
maintenance and collection of congressionally-mandated reports.
Subsection (b) describes the requirements for the website
required under subsection (a). This subsection requires GPO to
ensure that each report has a citation to the statue,
conference report, or resolution requiring the report. Each
electronic copy must be easily accessible and available to the
public. This subsection requires that reports on the website
are searchable by title, Federal agency, date of publication,
receiving congressional committee, legislation requiring the
report, subject tags, an alpha-numeric identifier for each
report, key words, and full text searches. A congressionally-
mandated report must be published on the GPO website a month
after it is submitted to Congress. All reports on the GPO
website must be downloadable either individually or in bulk.
The website must also indicate whether an agency submitted a
congressionally mandated report by the required deadline or
whether an agency did not submit such a report.
Subsection (c) requires GPO to maintain a list of
congressionally-mandated reports that Federal agencies fail to
submit along with their due dates. If an agency fails to
provide a report in an open format, GPO must attempt to convert
it to an open format.
Subsection (d) prohibits GPO from charging a fee, requiring
registration, or imposing any other limitation for access the
reports website.
Subsection (e) requires GPO to update the website as
necessary.
Sec. 4. Federal agency responsibilities
This section establishes protocols for agencies to submit
congressionally mandated reports to GPO.
Subsection (a) requires Federal agencies to submit an
electronic copy of each congressionally mandated report to GPO,
as well as other information required under this bill. This
subsection does not remove any requirement for a Federal agency
to publish the report on its agency website.
Subsection (b) requires OMB to issue guidance to agencies
within 240 days of the implementation of this bill.
Subsection (c) requires agencies to submit the reports in
an open format.
Subsection (d) requires each agency to designate a point of
contact for congressionally-mandated reports.
Subsection (e) requires the Librarian of Congress and the
Clerk of the House of Representatives to annually submit to GPO
a list of Federal agency reports mandated by Congress that
year. All such reports must be submitted to GPO by April 1 of
the following year and can be submitted on a rolling basis.
Sec. 5. Removing and altering reports
Section 5 allows a Federal agency to change or remove a
congressionally-mandated report on the GPO website only if the
agency consults with each congressional committee that received
the report and if Congress enacts a joint resolution
authorizing the change or removal. This section exempts
technical corrections from this requirement.
Sec. 6. Relationship to the Freedom of Information Act
This section establishes procedures for exempting certain
information in congressionally-mandated reports from disclosure
on the GPO website.
Subsection (a) clarifies that compliance with the
provisions in the bill does not interfere with an agency's
requirements under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) nor
does the bill require GPO to review congressionally-mandated
reports for identifying and redacting information exempt from
disclosure under FOIA.
Subsection (b) requires Federal agencies to redact
information from a congressionally-mandated report only if the
information is exempt from disclosure under FOIA before
submitting the report to GPO. Agencies must identify each
redaction from the report and the exemption under which the
redaction is made.
Subsection (c) allows a Federal agency to withhold
information from publication on the GPO website only if the
agency reasonably foresees that disclosure violates a privacy
interest under FOIA or is prohibited by law. In such
circumstances, the agency must consider whether a partial
disclosure of information is permissible, and if so, take the
necessary steps to separate and release nonexempt information.
Sec. 7. Implementation
Section 7 requires implementation of this bill within one
year of enactment. This section applies the requirements of
this bill to all congressionally-mandated reports submitted to
Congress on or after the implementation deadline.
V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs
on state, local, or tribal governments.
VI. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATES
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, March 8, 2019.
Hon. Ron Johnson, Chairman,
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 195, the Access to
Congressionally Mandated Reports Act.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is David Hughes.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall,
Director.
Enclosure.
S. 195 would require the Government Publishing Office (GPO)
to establish and maintain a website for the public to obtain
electronic copies of all Congressionally mandated reports.
Under S. 195, all federal agencies would be required to provide
GPO with electronic copies of reports required by law each
year. The Library of Congress (LOC) would be required to submit
to GPO a list of Congressionally mandated reports that must be
submitted during a year.
Using information from GPO, LOC, and federal agencies that
produce thousands of Congressionally mandated reports, CBO
estimates that implementing the bill would cost $400,000 a year
or $2 million over the 2019-2024 period. Those costs primarily
consist of the salaries and expenses associated with four
employees who would establish and maintain the website. In
addition, there would be some costs for the agencies to collect
and submit Congressionally mandated reports. Any spending would
be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
Enacting S. 195 could affect direct spending by some
agencies (such as the Tennessee Valley Authority) because they
are authorized to use receipts from fees, the sale of goods,
and other collections to cover their operating costs. Because
most of those agencies can adjust the amounts they collect as
operating costs change, CBO estimates that any net changes in
direct spending by those agencies would be negligible.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is David Hughes.
This estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED
Because this legislation would not repeal or amend any
provision of current law, it would not make changes in existing
law within the meaning of clauses (a) and (b) of paragraph 12
of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate.
[all]