Special Counsel Transparency Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1356 To require a Special Counsel report, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 26, 2019 Mr. DOGGETT (for himself and Mr. CICILLINE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To require a Special Counsel report, 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 ‘‘Special Counsel Trans- 4 parency Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. REPORT. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—A Special Counsel (as described 7 in part 600 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, or 8 any successor thereto), or any other official appointed by 9 the Attorney General who exercises duties commensurate 10 with those of a Special Counsel and exercises a similar 11 degree of independence from the normal chain of com- 12 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1356.IH H1356 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1356 IH mand of the Department, shall prepare a report as de- 1 scribed in subsection (b) if— 2 (1) the Special Counsel determines that he or 3 she has completed his or her investigation; or 4 (2) the Special Counsel is removed from his or 5 her office, transferred to another location or position 6 within the Department of Justice, or resigns before 7 the completion of the investigation. 8 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than 30 days after 9 the date on which an event described in paragraph (1) 10 or (2) of subsection (a) occurs, the Special Counsel shall 11 submit to the Attorney General, the Chairman and Rank- 12 ing Member of the Committee on the Judiciary of the Sen- 13 ate, and the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Com- 14 mittee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives 15 a report that— 16 (1) details the factual findings of the investiga- 17 tion, including any underlying evidence; 18 (2) explains the prosecution or declination deci- 19 sions, if any, reached by the Special Counsel; and 20 (3) contains information regarding significant 21 prosecutorial decisions and significant expenditures 22 by the Office of the Special Counsel. 23 (c) ADDITIONAL CONTENTS.—If, at any time during 24 the course of an investigation conducted by a Special 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1356.IH H1356 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1356 IH Counsel, the Special Counsel consulted with the Attorney 1 General for the purpose of including additional jurisdiction 2 beyond that specified in the original jurisdiction of the 3 Special Counsel, information regarding such consultation 4 shall be included in the report required under subsection 5 (a), including whether the Attorney General determined 6 to include the additional matters within the jurisdiction 7 of the Special Counsel or assign the matters to a different 8 investigator. 9 (d) CLASSIFIED ANNEX.—The report required under 10 subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, and 11 may include a classified annex if necessary. 12 (e) AVAILABILITY TO THE PUBLIC.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The unclassified form of the 14 report shall be made available to the public, con- 15 sistent with section 552a of title 5, United States 16 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Privacy Act of 17 1974’’), other Federal statutes, and the Federal 18 Rules of Procedure. 19 (2) WRITTEN EXPLANATION.—If any informa- 20 tion contained in the report required under sub- 21 section (a) is determined to be classified or is other- 22 wise not made available to the public, the Attorney 23 General shall submit a written statement to Con- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1356.IH H1356 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1356 IH gress that explains the reasons for such determina- 1 tion. 2 (f) REMOVAL OR TRANSFER OF SPECIAL COUN- 3 SEL.—If the Attorney General removes or transfers the 4 Special Counsel, the Attorney General shall communicate 5 to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee 6 on the Judiciary of the Senate, and the Chairman and 7 Ranking Member of the Committee on the Judiciary of 8 the House of Representatives the reasons for such removal 9 or transfer in writing not later than 10 days after the date 10 on which the Special Counsel submits the report required 11 under subsection (a). 12 (g) COMPENSATION; ACCESS TO MATERIALS.—For 13 the purposes of completing the report required under sub- 14 section (a), the Special Counsel shall— 15 (1) continue to receive a salary and shall be 16 provided such resources, including staff, as is nec- 17 essary to complete such report; and 18 (2) have access to all materials of the investiga- 19 tion, unless the access is otherwise restricted by law 20 or court order. 21 (h) ADDITIONAL REPORTS.—In addition to any re- 22 port required under subsection (a) and not later than 180 23 days after the date of enactment of this Act or after the 24 appointment of any Special Counsel who was not ap- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1356.IH H1356 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1356 IH pointed as of the date of enactment of this Act, and every 1 180 days thereafter, the Special Counsel shall submit to 2 the Attorney General, the Chairman and Ranking Member 3 of the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, and the 4 Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on the 5 Judiciary of the House of Representatives a report on— 6 (1) the budgetary requirements and expendi- 7 tures of the Office of Special Counsel; 8 (2) the number and types of personnel, such as 9 trial attorneys, paralegals, and investigators, em- 10 ployed by or assigned to the Office of the Special 11 Counsel; 12 (3) aggregate statistics on the performance of 13 the Office of the Special Counsel, such as the num- 14 ber of— 15 (A) persons charged; 16 (B) persons convicted; and 17 (C) search warrants sought; and 18 (4) any other information the Special Counsel 19 determines is relevant to the nature and cir- 20 cumstances of the investigation or the operations of 21 the Office of the Special Counsel. 22 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 23 It is the sense of Congress that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1356.IH H1356 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1356 IH (1) Congress has an important responsibility 1 under the Constitution of the United States to con- 2 duct oversight of the executive branch, including the 3 Department of Justice; 4 (2) if a Special Counsel determines that he or 5 she possesses information that should be disclosed to 6 Congress, as part of the oversight role of Congress, 7 the Special Counsel should take all steps not prohib- 8 ited by law in order to do so, including information 9 relating to— 10 (A) any decision of a Special Counsel to 11 resign; 12 (B) any decision to remove a Special Coun- 13 sel from office, or transfer a Special Counsel to 14 another location or position within the Depart- 15 ment of Justice; or 16 (C) a determination by a Special Counsel 17 that he or she has become too circumscribed in 18 jurisdiction or authorization to effectively con- 19 tinue the investigation to completion; 20 (3) an investigation undertaken by a Special 21 Counsel is, by its nature, one of great political and 22 civic importance; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1356.IH H1356 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 1356 IH (4) the public has a substantial interest in re- 1 ceiving the conclusions of the Special Counsel at the 2 earliest possible time; and 3 (5) the Special Counsel should conclude the in- 4 vestigation as soon as practicable and to report on 5 his or her findings to the people of the United 6 States. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:27 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1356.IH H1356 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS