Federal Employee Access to Information Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2042 To amend title 5, United States Code, to protect Federal employees from retaliation for the lawful use of Federal records, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 18, 2021 Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York (for herself and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To amend title 5, United States Code, to protect Federal employees from retaliation for the lawful use of Federal records, 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 ‘‘Federal Employee Ac- 4 cess to Information Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:25 Apr 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2042.IH H2042 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2042 IH SEC. 2. PROTECTIONS AGAINST RETALIATION FOR LAWFUL 1 USE OF FEDERAL RECORDS BY FEDERAL EM- 2 PLOYEES. 3 (a) PROTECTION AGAINST RETALIATION.—Section 4 2302(b)(9) of title 5, United States Code, is amended— 5 (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 6 the end; 7 (2) in subparagraph (D), by inserting ‘‘or’’ 8 after the semicolon; and 9 (3) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(E) the employee or applicant for employ- 11 ment— 12 ‘‘(i) making a request for information 13 pursuant to section 552 (commonly re- 14 ferred to as the ‘Freedom of Information 15 Act’) or subsection (d) of section 552a 16 (commonly referred to as the ‘Privacy Act 17 of 1974’); or 18 ‘‘(ii) pursuing any administrative or 19 judicial action with respect to such request, 20 including seeking assistance or to engage 21 in dispute resolution, as described in sec- 22 tion 552.’’. 23 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 24 (1) TITLE 5.—Sections 1214, 1215(a)(3)(B), 25 1221, 2302, and 7703 of title 5, United States 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:25 Apr 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2042.IH H2042 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2042 IH Code, are amended by striking ‘‘or (D)’’ in each in- 1 stance and inserting ‘‘(D), or (E)’’. 2 (2) WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION ENHANCE- 3 MENT ACT OF 2012.—Section 116(b)(1)(A) of the 4 Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 5 (Public Law 112–199) is amended by striking ‘‘or 6 (D)’’ and inserting ‘‘(D), or (E)’’. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:25 Apr 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2042.IH H2042 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS