Settlement Agreement Information Database Act of 2019

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 995 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs AN ACT To amend chapter 3 of title 5, United States Code, to require the publication of settlement agreements, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H995.RFS H995 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 HR 995 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Settlement Agreement 2 Information Database Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. INFORMATION REGARDING SETTLEMENT AGREE- 4 MENTS ENTERED INTO BY FEDERAL AGEN- 5 CIES. 6 (a) REQUIREMENTS FOR SETTLEMENT AGREE- 7 MENTS.—Chapter 3 of title 5, United States Code, is 8 amended by adding at the end the following new section: 9 ‘‘§ 307. Information regarding settlement agreements 10 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 11 ‘‘(1) LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘local 12 government’ has the meaning given that term in sec- 13 tion 6501 of title 31. 14 ‘‘(2) ORDER TYPE.—The term ‘order type’ 15 means the type of action or instrument used to set- 16 tle a civil or criminal judicial action. 17 ‘‘(3) SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT.—The term 18 ‘settlement agreement’ means a settlement agree- 19 ment (including a consent decree) that— 20 ‘‘(A) is entered into by an Executive agen- 21 cy; and 22 ‘‘(B) relates to an alleged violation of Fed- 23 eral civil or criminal law. 24 ‘‘(4) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of 25 the several States, the District of Columbia, each 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H995.RFS H995 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 HR 995 RFS territory or possession of the United States, and 1 each federally recognized Indian Tribe. 2 ‘‘(b) SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT INFORMATION 3 DATABASE.— 4 ‘‘(1) EXECUTIVE AGENCY REQUIREMENT.— 5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- 6 graph (B), the head of each Executive agency 7 shall, in accordance with guidance issued pursu- 8 ant to paragraph (2), submit the following in- 9 formation to the database established under 10 paragraph (3): 11 ‘‘(i) A list of each settlement agree- 12 ment, in a categorized and searchable for- 13 mat, entered into by the Executive agency, 14 as a party to a lawsuit, which shall in- 15 clude, for each settlement agreement— 16 ‘‘(I) the order type of the settle- 17 ment agreement; 18 ‘‘(II) the date on which the par- 19 ties entered into the settlement agree- 20 ment; 21 ‘‘(III) a list of specific violations 22 that specify the basis for the action 23 taken, with a description of the claims 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H995.RFS H995 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 HR 995 RFS each party settled under the settle- 1 ment agreement; 2 ‘‘(IV) the amount of attorneys’ 3 fees and other litigation costs award- 4 ed, if any, including a description of 5 the statutory basis for such an award; 6 ‘‘(V) the amount each party set- 7 tling a claim under the settlement 8 agreement is obligated to pay under 9 the settlement agreement; 10 ‘‘(VI) the total amount the set- 11 tling parties are obligated to pay 12 under the settlement agreement; 13 ‘‘(VII) the amount, if any, the 14 settling party is obligated to pay that 15 is expressly specified under the settle- 16 ment agreement as a civil or criminal 17 penalty or fine; 18 ‘‘(VIII) any payment made under 19 the settlement agreement, including a 20 description of any payment made to 21 the Federal Government; 22 ‘‘(IX) the projected duration of 23 the settlement agreement, if available; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H995.RFS H995 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 HR 995 RFS ‘‘(X) a list of State or local gov- 1 ernments that may be directly af- 2 fected by the terms of the settlement 3 agreement; 4 ‘‘(XI) a brief description of any 5 economic data and methodology used 6 to justify the terms of the settlement 7 agreement; 8 ‘‘(XII) any modifications to the 9 settlement agreement, when applica- 10 ble; 11 ‘‘(XIII) notice and comments, 12 when applicable; and 13 ‘‘(XIV) whether the settlement 14 agreement is still under judicial en- 15 forcement and any period of time by 16 which the parties agreed to have cer- 17 tain conditions met. 18 ‘‘(ii) A copy of each— 19 ‘‘(I) settlement agreement en- 20 tered into by the Executive agency; 21 and 22 ‘‘(II) statement issued under 23 paragraph (4). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H995.RFS H995 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 HR 995 RFS ‘‘(B) NONDISCLOSURE.—The requirement 1 to submit information or a copy of a settlement 2 agreement under subparagraph (A) shall not 3 apply to the extent the information or copy (or 4 portion thereof)— 5 ‘‘(i) is subject to a confidentiality pro- 6 vision that prohibits disclosure of the infor- 7 mation or copy (or portion thereof); and 8 ‘‘(ii) would not be disclosed under sec- 9 tion 552, if the Executive agency provides 10 a citation to the applicable exemption. 11 ‘‘(C) CLARIFICATION OF RESPONSIBLE 12 AGENCY.—In a case in which an Executive 13 agency is acting at the request or on behalf of 14 another Executive agency (referred to as the 15 originating agency), the originating agency is 16 responsible for submitting information under 17 subparagraph (A). 18 ‘‘(2) GUIDANCE.—The Director of the Office of 19 Management and Budget shall issue guidance for 20 Executive agencies to implement paragraph (1). 21 Such guidance shall include the following: 22 ‘‘(A) Specific dates by which submissions 23 must be made, not less than twice a year. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H995.RFS H995 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 HR 995 RFS ‘‘(B) Data standards, including common 1 data elements and a common, nonproprietary, 2 searchable, machine-readable, platform inde- 3 pendent format. 4 ‘‘(C) A requirement that the information 5 and documents required under paragraph (1) 6 are publicly available for a period starting on 7 the date of the settlement through not less than 8 5 years after the termination of the settlement 9 agreement. 10 ‘‘(3) ESTABLISHMENT OF DATABASE.—The Di- 11 rector of the Office of Management and Budget, or 12 the head of an Executive agency designated by the 13 Director, shall establish and maintain a public, 14 searchable, downloadable database for Executive 15 agencies to directly upload and submit the informa- 16 tion and documents required under paragraph (1) 17 for immediate publication online. 18 ‘‘(4) STATEMENT OF CONFIDENTIALITY.—If 19 the head of an Executive agency determines that a 20 confidentiality provision in a settlement agreement, 21 or the sealing of a settlement agreement, is required 22 to protect the public interest of the United States, 23 the head of the Executive agency may except the 24 settlement agreement from the requirement in para- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H995.RFS H995 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 HR 995 RFS graph (1) and shall issue a written public statement 1 stating why such action is required to protect the 2 public interest of the United States, which shall ex- 3 plain— 4 ‘‘(A) what interests confidentiality pro- 5 tects; and 6 ‘‘(B) why the interests protected by con- 7 fidentiality outweigh the public’s interest in 8 knowing about the conduct of the Federal Gov- 9 ernment and the expenditure of Federal re- 10 sources.’’. 11 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 12 The table of sections for chapter 3 of title 5, United States 13 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 14 item: 15 ‘‘307. Information regarding settlement agreements.’’. (c) DEADLINE TO ESTABLISH DATABASE.—Not later 16 than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 17 the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 18 shall issue guidance required by section 307(b)(2) of title 19 5, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), and 20 establish the settlement agreement information database 21 required by section 307(b)(3) of title 5, United States 22 Code, as added by subsection (a). 23 (d) DEADLINE FOR FIRST SUBMISSION.—Not later 24 than 90 days after the Director issues guidance under sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H995.RFS H995 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 HR 995 RFS tion 307(b)(2) of title 5, United States Code, as added 1 by subsection (a), the head of each Executive agency (as 2 defined in section 105 of title 5, United States Code) shall 3 begin submitting information to the database established 4 under such section 307. 5 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION 6 ACT. 7 Section 552(a)(2) of title 5, United States Code, is 8 amended— 9 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) 10 through (E) as subparagraphs (C) through (F), re- 11 spectively; and 12 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the fol- 13 lowing new subparagraph: 14 ‘‘(B) each settlement agreement (as defined in 15 section 307) entered into by an Executive agency, 16 with redactions for information that the agency may 17 withhold under paragraph (8) and subsections (b) 18 and (c) of this section;’’. 19 SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 20 Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this 21 Act, shall be construed to require the disclosure of infor- 22 mation or records that any agency may properly withhold 23 from public disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H995.RFS H995 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 HR 995 RFS States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Freedom of Infor- 1 mation Act’’). 2 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY. 3 This Act shall be effective 180 days after the date 4 of the enactment of this Act and shall apply— 5 (1) with respect to any settlement agreement 6 (as such term is defined in section 307 of title 5, 7 United States Code, as added by section 2), entered 8 into on or after the date of the enactment of this 9 Act; and 10 (2) to the extent practicable, any such settle- 11 ment agreement (as such term is defined in section 12 307 of title 5, United States Code, as added by sec- 13 tion 2) that remains in effect on or after the date 14 of the enactment of this Act. 15 SEC. 6. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 16 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 17 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 18 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 19 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 20 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 21 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro- 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H995.RFS H995 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 HR 995 RFS vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 1 vote on passage. 2 Passed the House of Representatives February 13, 2019. Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:04 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H995.RFS H995 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS