White House Ethics Transparency Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1461 To provide transparency regarding waivers granted to individuals from Execu- tive orders related to ethics commitments or compliance, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 1, 2021 Mr. LYNCH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To provide transparency regarding waivers granted to indi- viduals from Executive orders related to ethics commit- ments or compliance, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘White House Ethics 4 Transparency Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. PROCEDURE FOR WAIVERS AND AUTHORIZATIONS 6 RELATING TO ETHICS REQUIREMENTS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 8 sion of law, not later than 30 days after an officer or em- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:44 Apr 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1461.IH H1461 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1461 IH ployee issues or approves a waiver or authorization pursu- 1 ant to any Executive order related to ethics commitments 2 or compliance by covered employees, such officer or em- 3 ployee shall— 4 (1) transmit a written copy of such waiver or 5 authorization to the Director of the Office of Gov- 6 ernment Ethics; and 7 (2) make a written copy of such waiver or au- 8 thorization available to the public on the website of 9 the employing agency of the covered employee. 10 (b) OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS PUBLIC 11 AVAILABILITY.—Not later than 30 days after receiving a 12 written copy of a waiver or authorization under subsection 13 (a)(1), the Director of the Office of Government Ethics 14 shall make such waiver or authorization available to the 15 public on the website of the Office of Government Ethics. 16 (c) DEFINITION OF COVERED EMPLOYEE.—In this 17 section, the term ‘‘covered employee’’— 18 (1) means a non-career Presidential or Vice 19 Presidential appointee, non-career appointee in the 20 Senior Executive Service (or other SES-type sys- 21 tem), or an appointee to a position that has been ex- 22 cepted from the competitive service by reason of 23 being of a confidential or policymaking character 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:44 Apr 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1461.IH H1461 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1461 IH (Schedule C and other positions excepted under com- 1 parable criteria) in an executive agency; and 2 (2) does not include any individual appointed as 3 a member of the Senior Foreign Service or solely as 4 a uniformed service commissioned officer. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:44 Apr 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1461.IH H1461 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS