Executive Branch Emissions Transparency Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 761 To require the publication of fossil-fuel powered travel by the President, the Vice President, and political appointees, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 16, 2021 Ms. ERNST (for herself, Mr. COTTON, Mrs. CAPITO, and Mr. SCOTT of Flor- ida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To require the publication of fossil-fuel powered travel by the President, the Vice President, and political ap- pointees, 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 ‘‘Executive Branch 4 Emissions Transparency Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DATABASE ON FOSSIL FUEL-POWERED TRAVEL BY 6 THE PRESIDENT, THE VICE PRESIDENT, AND 7 POLITICAL APPOINTEES. 8 (a) DEFINITIONS.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:15 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S761.IS S761 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 761 IS (1) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘covered 1 individual’’ means— 2 (A) the President; 3 (B) the Vice President; and 4 (C) a political appointee. 5 (2) COVERED TRAVEL.—The term ‘‘covered 6 travel’’ means— 7 (A) travel that is powered by fossil fuels by 8 a covered individual on official business; and 9 (B) travel that is powered by fossil fuels by 10 a covered individual that is paid for by a third 11 party, if the covered individual is appearing in 12 their official capacity. 13 (3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 14 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg- 15 et. 16 (4) POLITICAL APPOINTEE.—The term ‘‘polit- 17 ical appointee’’ means any individual— 18 (A) occupying a position in the Executive 19 Office of the President or in the Office of the 20 Vice President for which appointment is made 21 by the President or Vice President, without re- 22 gard to whether the appointment is made by 23 and with the advice and consent of the Senate; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:15 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S761.IS S761 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 761 IS (B) occupying position on the executive 1 schedule under sections 5312 through 5316 of 2 title 5, United States Code; 3 (C) who is a limited term appointee, lim- 4 ited emergency appointee, or noncareer ap- 5 pointee in the Senior Executive Service as de- 6 fined in paragraphs (5), (6), and (7) of section 7 3132(a) of title 5, United States Code, respec- 8 tively; 9 (D) occupying a position in the executive 10 branch of the Government of a confidential or 11 policy-determining character under Schedule C 12 of subpart C of part 213 of title 5, Code of 13 Federal Regulations; 14 (E) occupying a position for which ap- 15 pointment is made by the President and does 16 not require the advice and consent of the Sen- 17 ate; 18 (F) who is an Ambassador; or 19 (G) who is— 20 (i) a member of the staff of an Am- 21 bassador; 22 (ii) not a member of the Foreign 23 Service; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:15 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S761.IS S761 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 761 IS (iii) occupying a position for which 1 appointment is made by the President, 2 without regard to whether the appointment 3 is made by and with the advice and con- 4 sent of the Senate. 5 (5) RELEVANT HEAD.—The term ‘‘relevant 6 head’’ means— 7 (A) with respect to a political appointee de- 8 scribed in subparagraph (B), (C), (D), or (E), 9 the head of the Federal entity in which the po- 10 litical appointee occupies their position; 11 (B) with respect to the President, the Vice 12 President, or a political appointee described in 13 paragraph (4)(A), the White House Office of 14 Management and Administration; and 15 (C) with respect to a political appointee de- 16 scribed in subparagraph (F) or (G) of para- 17 graph (4), the Secretary of State. 18 (b) DATABASE.— 19 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days 20 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 21 shall establish and maintain a publicly accessible 22 and searchable database of covered travel. 23 (2) SUBMISSION TO RELEVANT HEAD.—Not 24 later than 30 days after the date on which a covered 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:15 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S761.IS S761 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 761 IS individual has taken covered travel and has returned 1 to the origin of the trip, the covered individual shall 2 submit to the relevant head a report on the covered 3 travel, which shall include— 4 (A) the name of each covered individual on 5 the covered travel; 6 (B) the mode of travel; 7 (C) the origin and destination; 8 (D) a description of the covered travel; 9 (E) miles traveled; 10 (F) the estimated carbon emissions result- 11 ing from the covered travel; and 12 (G) a description of any action taken to 13 limit the carbon emissions associated with the 14 covered travel. 15 (3) SUBMISSION TO OMB.—Not later than the 16 1st of each month, each relevant head shall submit 17 to the Director a report that includes the informa- 18 tion received under paragraph (2) during the pre- 19 ceding month relating to covered travel. 20 (4) PUBLICATION BY OMB.—Not later than the 21 15th of each month, the Director shall update the 22 database established under this subsection with the 23 reports submitted under paragraph (3) during the 24 preceding month. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:15 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S761.IS S761 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 761 IS (5) EXCEPTION FOR NATIONAL SECURITY 1 RISK.—The Director shall not publish on the data- 2 base established under this subsection information 3 described in paragraph (2) if the publication of that 4 information could be deemed a national security 5 risk. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:15 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S761.IS S761 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS