Reining in Irresponsible Decorating Expenses Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1181 To require certain individuals employed by the Federal Government to give 30 days written notice to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate for certain obligations or ex- penditures over $5,000 to furnish or redecorate the office of such indi- vidual, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 13, 2019 Mrs. BUSTOS (for herself, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. COOPER, Mr. ROSE of New York, Mr. VAN DREW, Mr. HARDER of California, Ms. SHERRILL, Mrs. AXNE, Ms. WILD, Ms. HAALAND, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. CASTEN of Illinois, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Mrs. LEE of Nevada, Mr. STANTON, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Ms. HILL of California, Ms. TORRES SMALL of New Mexico, Mrs. CRAIG, Mr. O’HALLERAN, and Mr. CROW) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To require certain individuals employed by the Federal Gov- ernment to give 30 days written notice to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate for certain obligations or expenditures over $5,000 to furnish or redecorate the office of such indi- vidual, 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 03:03 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1181.IH H1181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1181 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reining in Irrespon- 2 sible Decorating Expenses Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. NOTICE REQUIREMENT FOR OBLIGATIONS AND EX- 4 PENDITURES TO FURNISH OR REDECORATE 5 OFFICES IN EXCESS OF $5,000. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsections 7 (d) and (e), during the period in which an individual is 8 the head of an agency or occupies a position in the Federal 9 Government that requires confirmation by the Senate, 10 funds may not be obligated or expended in excess of 11 $5,000 to furnish or redecorate the office of such indi- 12 vidual, or to purchase furniture or make improvements for 13 any such office, unless written notice of such furnishing 14 or redecoration is transmitted to the Committees on Ap- 15 propriations of the House of Representatives and the Sen- 16 ate not later than 30 days before the date on which such 17 obligation or expenditure occurs. 18 (b) NOTICE REQUIREMENTS.—The written notice re- 19 quired under subsection (a) shall include— 20 (1) a statement containing— 21 (A) a justification for the obligation or ex- 22 pense that relates to health, safety, or 23 accessability; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1181.IH H1181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1181 IH (B) an explanation of how the obligation or 1 expense aligns with and advances the mission of 2 the agency; and 3 (2) an overview of the current state of agency 4 affairs, including— 5 (A) whether a hiring freeze is in place at 6 the agency at the time of the notice; 7 (B) information on agency staffing levels, 8 including a list of positions that have been va- 9 cant for longer than 120 days and an expla- 10 nation for why such positions have not been 11 filled; 12 (C) a list of delays longer than 30 days in 13 the administration of grants with the potential 14 to impact public health or safety; 15 (D) the number of pending requests for in- 16 formation under section 552 of title 5, United 17 States Code (commonly known as the Freedom 18 of Information Act), including the number of 19 requests that the agency failed to respond to 20 within 20 days after the date on which the ini- 21 tial request is received; and 22 (E) a list of any recommendation that has 23 not been implemented from the Government Ac- 24 countability Office that relates to the agency. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1181.IH H1181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1181 IH (c) REPAYMENT FOR FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH 1 NOTICE REQUIREMENT.— 2 (1) FINDING OF A FAILURE TO COMPLY.—If an 3 inspector general of an agency finds that the indi- 4 vidual described in subsection (a) for that agency 5 has failed to comply with the notice required under 6 subsection (a), such individual shall make a payment 7 to the Treasury of the United States in an amount 8 equal to any obligation or expense in excess of the 9 $5,000 limitation under that subsection, increased 10 by an interest rate equal to the interest rate for a 11 Federal Direct PLUS Loan on the date on which 12 the purchase was made. 13 (2) REPAYMENT TIMING.—Repayment, or an 14 agreement on a payment plan with the Secretary of 15 the Treasury, shall occur not later than 90 days 16 after the date on which an inspector general finds a 17 violation of the notice requirement under subsection 18 (a). 19 (d) EXCEPTION TO NOTICE RULE.—Notwithstanding 20 subsection (a) and except as provided in subsection (e), 21 an individual may not exceed the $5,000 limitation under 22 subsection (a) in the following circumstances: 23 (1) The individual is in violation of section 24 1341 of title 31, United States Code, and, if applica- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1181.IH H1181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1181 IH ble, the individual has not taken remedial action 1 pursuant to an agreement with the Government Ac- 2 countability Office. 3 (2) The individual is under investigation by the 4 inspector general for an agency for corruption- or 5 spending-related misconduct. 6 (3) The individual is under investigation by the 7 Office of Special Counsel for conduct including retal- 8 iation or harassment in the workplace. 9 (4) The individual has outstanding amounts 10 due under subsection (c) for previous furnishing or 11 redecorating. 12 (e) EXCEPTION FOR ACCOMMODATIONS FOR DIS- 13 ABILITIES AND HEALTH RISKS.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (d) does not 15 apply to expenses related to— 16 (A) reasonable accommodations for individ- 17 uals with disabilities; and 18 (B) the elimination of health risks. 19 (2) NOTICE TIMING.—The 30-day notice re- 20 quirement under subsection (a) does not apply to ex- 21 penses related to reasonable accommodations for in- 22 dividuals with disabilities or the elimination of 23 health risks, provided written notice is transmitted 24 in advance of an obligation or expense. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1181.IH H1181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1181 IH (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 1 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 2 meaning given the term in section 105 of title 5, 3 United States Code. 4 (2) INSPECTOR GENERAL.—The term ‘‘inspec- 5 tor general’’ includes the head of the office that 6 most closely resembles the audit and investigation 7 functions of an inspector general, in the case that an 8 agency does not have an inspector general. 9 (3) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘office’’ includes the 10 entire suite of Government offices assigned to the in- 11 dividual, as well as any other space used primarily 12 by the individual or the use of which is directly con- 13 trolled by the individual. 14 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply to 15 any obligation or expenditure occurring after the date that 16 is 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1181.IH H1181 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS