IG Testimonial Subpoena Authority Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1794 To amend the Inspector General Act of 1978 to provide testimonial subpoena authority, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 24, 2021 Ms. HASSAN (for herself and Mr. GRASSLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu- rity and Governmental Affairs A BILL To amend the Inspector General Act of 1978 to provide testimonial subpoena authority, 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 ‘‘IG Testimonial Sub- 4 poena Authority Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY PROVISIONS FOR INSPEC- 6 TORS GENERAL. 7 The Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) 8 is amended— 9 (1) by inserting after section 6 the following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1794.IS S1794 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1794 IS ‘‘SEC. 6A. ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY. 1 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF INSPECTOR GENERAL.—In this 2 section, the term ‘Inspector General’— 3 ‘‘(1) means an Inspector General of an estab- 4 lishment or a designated Federal entity (as defined 5 in section 8G(a)); and 6 ‘‘(2) includes— 7 ‘‘(A) the Inspector General of the Central 8 Intelligence Agency established under section 9 17 of the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 10 1949 (50 U.S.C. 3517); 11 ‘‘(B) the Inspector General of the Intel- 12 ligence Community established under section 13 103H of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 14 U.S.C. 3033); 15 ‘‘(C) the Special Inspector General for Af- 16 ghanistan Reconstruction established under sec- 17 tion 1229 of the National Defense Authoriza- 18 tion Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 19 110–181; 122 Stat. 379); 20 ‘‘(D) the Special Inspector General for the 21 Troubled Asset Relief Plan established under 22 section 121 of the Emergency Economic Sta- 23 bilization Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5231); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1794.IS S1794 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1794 IS ‘‘(E) the Inspector General for the Govern- 1 ment Accountability Office established under 2 section 705 of title 31, United States Code; 3 ‘‘(F) the Inspector General for the United 4 States Capitol Police established under section 5 1004 of the Legislative Branch Appropriations 6 Act, 2006 (2 U.S.C. 1909); 7 ‘‘(G) the Inspector General of the Archi- 8 tect of the Capitol established under section 9 1301 of the Architect of the Capitol Inspector 10 General Act of 2007 (2 U.S.C. 1808); 11 ‘‘(H) the Inspector General of the Library 12 of Congress established under section 1307 of 13 the Library of Congress Inspector General Act 14 of 2005 (2 U.S.C. 185); 15 ‘‘(I) the Inspector General of the Govern- 16 ment Publishing Office established under sec- 17 tion 3901 of title 44, United States Code; and 18 ‘‘(J) the Special Inspector General for 19 Pandemic Recovery established under section 20 4018 of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9053). 21 ‘‘(b) TESTIMONIAL SUBPOENA AUTHORITY.— 22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to the authority 23 otherwise provided by this Act and in accordance 24 with the requirements of this section, each Inspector 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1794.IS S1794 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1794 IS General, in carrying out the provisions of this Act or 1 the provisions of the authorizing statute of the In- 2 spector General, as applicable, is authorized to re- 3 quire by subpoena the attendance and testimony of 4 witnesses as necessary in the performance of the 5 functions assigned to the Inspector General by this 6 Act or by the authorizing statute of the Inspector 7 General, as applicable, which in the case of contu- 8 macy or refusal to obey, such subpoena shall be en- 9 forceable by order of any appropriate United States 10 district court. 11 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION.—An Inspector General may 12 not require by subpoena the attendance and testi- 13 mony of an individual who is otherwise obligated to 14 provide testimony and cooperate with the Inspector 15 General, but may use other authorized procedures. 16 ‘‘(c) NOTICE TO ATTORNEY GENERAL.—Not less 17 than 7 days before issuing a subpoena under this section, 18 an Inspector General shall— 19 ‘‘(1) notify the Attorney General of the 20 issuance; and 21 ‘‘(2) take into consideration any objection pro- 22 vided by the Attorney General relating to the sub- 23 poena. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1794.IS S1794 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1794 IS ‘‘(d) TRAINING AND STANDARDS.—The Council of 1 the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency shall 2 promulgate standards and provide training relating to the 3 issuance of subpoenas, conflicts of interest, and any other 4 matter the Council determines necessary to carry out this 5 section. 6 ‘‘(e) APPLICABILITY.—The provisions of this section 7 shall not affect the exercise of authority by an Inspector 8 General of testimonial subpoena authority established 9 under another provision of law.’’; 10 (2) in section 5(a)— 11 (A) in paragraph (21)(B), by striking 12 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 13 (B) in paragraph (22), by striking the pe- 14 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 15 (C) by adding at the end the following: 16 ‘‘(23) a description of the use of subpoenas for 17 the attendance and testimony of certain witnesses 18 authorized under section 6A.’’; and 19 (3) in section 8G(g)(1), by inserting ‘‘6A,’’ be- 20 fore ‘‘and 7’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:30 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1794.IS S1794 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS