Open Book on Equal Access to Justice Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 217 To amend titles 5 and 28, United States Code, to require the maintenance of databases on awards of fees and other expenses to prevailing parties in certain administrative proceedings and court cases to which the United States is a party, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 24, 2019 Mr. BARRASSO (for himself, Mr. COONS, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. ENZI, and Mr. RISCH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend titles 5 and 28, United States Code, to require the maintenance of databases on awards of fees and other expenses to prevailing parties in certain adminis- trative proceedings and court cases to which the United States is a party, 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 ‘‘Open Book on Equal 4 Access to Justice Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S217.IS S217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 217 IS SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE 1 PROVISIONS. 2 (a) AGENCY PROCEEDINGS.—Section 504 of title 5, 3 United States Code, is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ‘‘, United 5 States Code’’; 6 (2) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub- 7 section (h); and 8 (3) by striking subsection (e) and inserting the 9 following: 10 ‘‘(e) The Chairman of the Administrative Conference 11 of the United States shall create and maintain online a 12 searchable database containing the following information 13 with respect to each award of fees and other expenses 14 under this section: 15 ‘‘(1) The case name and number of the adver- 16 sary adjudication, if available. 17 ‘‘(2) The name of the agency involved in the 18 adversary adjudication. 19 ‘‘(3) A description of the claims in the adver- 20 sary adjudication. 21 ‘‘(4) The name of each party to whom the 22 award was made, as such party is identified in the 23 order or other agency document making the award. 24 ‘‘(5) The amount of the award. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S217.IS S217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 217 IS ‘‘(6) The basis for the finding that the position 1 of the agency concerned was not substantially justi- 2 fied. 3 ‘‘(f) The online searchable database described in sub- 4 section (f) may not reveal any information the disclosure 5 of which is prohibited by law or court order. 6 ‘‘(g) The head of each agency shall provide to the 7 Chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United 8 States all information requested by the Chairman to com- 9 ply with the requirements of subsections (e) and (f) not 10 later than 60 days after the date on which the request 11 is made.’’. 12 (b) COURT CASES.—Section 2412(d) of title 28, 13 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 14 following: 15 ‘‘(5) The Chairman of the Administrative Conference 16 shall create and maintain online a searchable database 17 containing the following information with respect to each 18 award of fees and other expenses under this section: 19 ‘‘(A) The case name and number. 20 ‘‘(B) The name of the agency involved in the 21 case. 22 ‘‘(C) The name of each party to whom the 23 award was made, as such party is identified in the 24 order or other court document making the award. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S217.IS S217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 217 IS ‘‘(D) A description of the claims in the case. 1 ‘‘(E) The amount of the award. 2 ‘‘(F) The basis for the finding that the position 3 of the agency concerned was not substantially justi- 4 fied. 5 ‘‘(6) The online searchable database described in 6 paragraph (5) may not reveal any information the disclo- 7 sure of which is prohibited by law or court order. 8 ‘‘(7) The head of each agency (including the Attorney 9 General of the United States) shall provide to the Chair- 10 man of the Administrative Conference of the United 11 States all information requested by the Chairman to com- 12 ply with the requirements of paragraphs (5) and (6) not 13 later than 60 days after the date on which the request 14 is made.’’. 15 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—Section 2412 of title 16 28, United States Code, is amended— 17 (1) in subsection (d)(3), by striking ‘‘United 18 States Code,’’; and 19 (2) in subsection (e)— 20 (A) by striking ‘‘of section 2412 of title 21 28, United States Code,’’ and inserting ‘‘of this 22 section’’; and 23 (B) by striking ‘‘of such title’’ and insert- 24 ing ‘‘of this title’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S217.IS S217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 217 IS (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 2 subsections (a) and (b) shall first apply with respect 3 to awards of fees and other expenses that are made 4 on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 5 (2) ONLINE DATABASES.—The online databases 6 required by section 504(e) of title 5, United States 7 Code, and section 2412(d)(5) of title 28, United 8 States Code, shall be established as soon as prac- 9 ticable after the date of the enactment of this Act, 10 but in no case later than 1 year after the date of 11 enactment of this Act. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S217.IS S217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS