Executive Branch Comprehensive Ethics Enforcement Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 896 To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to provide for reform in the operations of the Office of Government Ethics, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 27, 2019 Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. UDALL, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Ms. DUCKWORTH) 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 Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to provide for reform in the operations of the Office of Government Ethics, 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 ‘‘Executive Branch 4 Comprehensive Ethics Enforcement Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. TENURE OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF 6 GOVERNMENT ETHICS. 7 Section 401(b) of the Ethics in Government Act of 8 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S896.IS S896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 896 IS (1) by inserting after the first sentence the fol- 1 lowing: ‘‘The Director shall be subject to removal 2 only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance 3 in office.’’; and 4 (2) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘The 5 Director may continue to serve beyond the expira- 6 tion of the term until a successor is appointed and 7 has qualified, except that the Director may not con- 8 tinue to serve for more than 1 year after the date 9 on which the term would otherwise expire under this 10 subsection.’’. 11 SEC. 3. DUTIES OF DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF GOVERN- 12 MENT ETHICS. 13 (a) DUTIES GENERALLY.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 402(b) of the Ethics 15 in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is 16 amended— 17 (A) in paragraph (1)— 18 (i) by striking ‘‘developing, in con- 19 sultation with the Attorney General and 20 the Office of Personnel Management,’’ and 21 inserting ‘‘(A) developing’’; 22 (ii) by striking ‘‘title II’’ and inserting 23 ‘‘title I’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S896.IS S896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 896 IS (iii) by adding ‘‘and’’ after the semi- 1 colon; and 2 (iv) by adding at the end the fol- 3 lowing: 4 ‘‘(B) before promulgating rules or regulations 5 under subparagraph (A), consulting with the Attor- 6 ney General;’’; 7 (B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert- 8 ing the following: 9 ‘‘(2) providing mandatory education and train- 10 ing programs for agency ethics counselors and other 11 responsible officials, which may be delegated to each 12 agency or the Counsel to the President, as deter- 13 mined appropriate by the Director;’’; 14 (C) by redesignating paragraph (14) as 15 paragraph (3) and transferring such paragraph, 16 as so redesignated, to after paragraph (2); 17 (D) by redesignating paragraph (3) (relat- 18 ing to monitoring and investigating compliance) 19 and paragraphs (4) through (13) as paragraphs 20 (4) through (14), respectively; 21 (E) in paragraph (3), as redesignated and 22 transferred by subparagraph (C) of this para- 23 graph, by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S896.IS S896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 896 IS (F) in paragraph (4), as so redesignated, 1 by striking ‘‘title II’’ and inserting ‘‘title I’’; 2 (G) in paragraph (5), as so redesignated— 3 (i) by striking ‘‘violations of applicable 4 conflict of interest laws or regulations’’ 5 and inserting ‘‘conflicts of interest or other 6 ethics issues’’; 7 (ii) by striking ‘‘recommending’’ and 8 inserting ‘‘directing’’; and 9 (iii) by striking ‘‘ethical problems’’ 10 and inserting ‘‘ethics issues’’; 11 (H) in paragraph (7), as so redesignated, 12 by striking ‘‘ethical problems’’ and inserting 13 ‘‘ethics issues’’; 14 (I) in paragraph (8), as so redesignated— 15 (i) by striking ‘‘, when requested,’’; 16 and 17 (ii) by striking ‘‘conflict of interest 18 problems’’ and inserting ‘‘conflicts of inter- 19 est and other ethics issues’’; 20 (J) in paragraph (10), as so redesignated, 21 by inserting ‘‘, except that the Director may not 22 order the President to take corrective action’’ 23 before the semicolon; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S896.IS S896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 896 IS (K) in paragraph (12), as so redesignated, 1 by striking ‘‘conflict of interest laws’’ and in- 2 serting ‘‘laws, rules, and regulations relating to 3 conflicts of interest and other ethics issues’’; 4 (L) in paragraph (13), as so redesig- 5 nated— 6 (i) by striking ‘‘evaluating’’ and in- 7 serting ‘‘promulgating’’; 8 (ii) by striking ‘‘the need for’’; and 9 (iii) by striking ‘‘conflict of interest 10 and ethical problems’’ and inserting ‘‘con- 11 flicts of interest and other ethics issues’’; 12 (M) in paragraph (14), as so redesig- 13 nated— 14 (i) by striking ‘‘violations of the con- 15 flict of interest laws’’ and inserting ‘‘con- 16 flicts of interest and other ethics issues’’; 17 and 18 (ii) by striking ‘‘, as required by sec- 19 tion 535 of title 28, United States Code’’; 20 (N) in paragraph (15)— 21 (i) by striking ‘‘title II’’ and inserting 22 ‘‘title I’’; and 23 (ii) by striking the period at the end 24 and inserting a semicolon; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S896.IS S896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 896 IS (O) by adding at the end the following: 1 ‘‘(16) determining whether employees of an 2 agency have violated this Act and issuing appro- 3 priate administrative penalties; 4 ‘‘(17) directing and providing final approval, 5 when determined appropriate by the Director, for 6 agency ethics counselors and other responsible offi- 7 cials regarding the resolution of conflicts of interest 8 and other ethics issues under the purview of this Act 9 in individual cases; and 10 ‘‘(18) reviewing and, when determined appro- 11 priate by the Director, approving any recusals be- 12 cause of, exemptions from, or waivers of the laws, 13 rules, and regulations relating to conflicts of interest 14 and other ethics issues and making approved 15 recusals, exemptions, and waivers publicly avail- 16 able.’’. 17 (2) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND- 18 MENTS.— 19 (A) Section 402(e) of the Ethics in Gov- 20 ernment Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amend- 21 ed, in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 22 striking ‘‘subsection (b)(10)’’ and inserting 23 ‘‘subsection (b)(11)’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S896.IS S896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 896 IS (B) Section 402(f) of the Ethics in Gov- 1 ernment Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amend- 2 ed by striking ‘‘subsection (b)(9)’’ each place it 3 appears and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)(10)’’. 4 (b) WRITTEN PROCEDURES.—Section 402(d)(1) of 5 the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) 6 is amended— 7 (1) by striking ‘‘, by the exercise of any author- 8 ity otherwise available to the Director under this 9 title,’’; and 10 (2) by striking ‘‘the agency is’’. 11 (c) CORRECTIVE ACTION.—Section 402(f) of the Eth- 12 ics in Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amend- 13 ed— 14 (1) in paragraph (1)— 15 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 16 (i) in clause (i)— 17 (I) by inserting ‘‘(or, with respect 18 to the President, recommend)’’ after 19 ‘‘order’’ the first place it appears; and 20 (II) by striking ‘‘of such agency’’; 21 and 22 (ii) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘(or, 23 with respect to the President, rec- 24 ommend)’’ after ‘‘order’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S896.IS S896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 896 IS (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘no- 1 tify the President’’ and all that follows through 2 ‘‘may provide)’’ and inserting ‘‘determine that a 3 violation of this Act has occurred and (except 4 with respect to the President) issue appropriate 5 administrative or legal remedies as prescribed 6 in paragraph (2)’’; 7 (2) in paragraph (2)— 8 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 9 (i) in clause (ii)(II)— 10 (I) by striking ‘‘shall notify the 11 President in writing’’; 12 (II) by striking ‘‘such action;’’ 13 and inserting ‘‘such action—’’; and 14 (III) by adding at the end the 15 following: 16 ‘‘(aa) shall notify the President in 17 writing; and 18 ‘‘(bb) may conduct a formal investiga- 19 tion and hearing in accordance to the pro- 20 cedures described in subparagraph (B); 21 and’’; 22 (ii) in clause (iii)— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S896.IS S896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 896 IS (I) in the matter preceding sub- 1 clause (I), by inserting ‘‘or has vio- 2 lated’’ after ‘‘is violating’’; and 3 (II) by striking subclause (II) 4 and inserting the following: 5 ‘‘(II) shall, if the officer or employee has 6 not complied with the order under subclause (I) 7 within a reasonable period of time— 8 ‘‘(aa) if the officer or employee is the 9 head of an agency, notify the President 10 and Congress of the officer’s or employee’s 11 noncompliance; and 12 ‘‘(bb) in the case of any other officer 13 or employee, order, in writing, that the 14 head of the officer’s or employee’s agency 15 take appropriate disciplinary action, in- 16 cluding reprimand, suspension, demotion, 17 or dismissal against the officer or em- 18 ployee.’’; and 19 (iii) by striking clause (iv); and 20 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 21 (i) in clause (i)— 22 (I) by inserting ‘‘(I)’’ before ‘‘In 23 order to’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S896.IS S896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 896 IS (II) by striking ‘‘(iii) or (iv)’’; 1 and 2 (III) by adding at the end the 3 following: 4 ‘‘(II)(aa) In conducting an investigation, the Director 5 may require by subpoena— 6 ‘‘(AA) the production of information, docu- 7 ments, reports, answers, records, accounts, papers, 8 and other data in any medium and other documen- 9 tary evidence; and 10 ‘‘(BB) a witness to appear at a time or place 11 stated in the subpoena before an individual author- 12 ized to take depositions to be used in the courts of 13 the United States, to give full and true answers to 14 written interrogatories and cross-interrogatories as 15 may be submitted with the application, or to be oral- 16 ly examined or cross-examined on the subject of the 17 claim. 18 ‘‘(bb) In the case of a refusal to obey a subpoena 19 of the Director under item (aa), the subpoena may be en- 20 forced by order of any appropriate United States district 21 court. 22 ‘‘(cc) The Director may secure directly from any 23 agency information necessary to enable the Director to 24 carry out this Act. Upon request of the Director, the head 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S896.IS S896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 896 IS of such agency (except in the case of the President) shall 1 furnish that information to the Director.’’; 2 (ii) in clause (ii)(I)— 3 (I) by striking ‘‘Subject to clause 4 (iv) of this subparagraph, before’’ and 5 inserting ‘‘Before’’; and 6 (II) by striking ‘‘subparagraphs 7 (A) (iii) or (iv)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 8 paragraph (A)(iii)’’; 9 (iii) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘Sub- 10 ject to clause (iv) of this subparagraph, be- 11 fore’’ and inserting ‘‘Before’’; and 12 (iv) in clause (iv)— 13 (I) by striking ‘‘title 2’’ and in- 14 serting ‘‘title I’’; and 15 (II) by striking ‘‘section 206’’ 16 and inserting ‘‘section 104’’; 17 (3) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘(iv),’’; and 18 (4) by striking paragraph (5) and inserting the 19 following: 20 ‘‘(5)(A) The Office of Government Ethics shall be the 21 central repository, by maintaining data or referencing data 22 by internet link that is maintained by agencies or other- 23 wise made publicly available, of all laws, rules and regula- 24 tions relating to conflicts of interest and other ethics 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S896.IS S896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 896 IS issues, recusals, waivers, and exemptions of such laws, 1 rules, and regulations, ethics advisory opinions, ethics 2 agreements of senior executive branch personnel and em- 3 ployee certificates of divestiture, financial disclosure re- 4 ports as required under title I of this Act, compliance re- 5 views, enforcement actions, and any other public records 6 concerning conflicts of interest and other ethics issues for 7 the executive branch required by law. 8 ‘‘(B) All financial disclosure reports and records re- 9 lating to conflicts of interest and other ethics issues deter- 10 mined to be public information by the Director or by law 11 shall be made available to the public— 12 ‘‘(i)(I) by a link to such information if publicly 13 available on a website other than the website of the 14 Office of Government Ethics; or 15 ‘‘(II) at no charge on the website of the Office 16 of Government Ethics in a searchable, sortable, and 17 downloadable format; and 18 ‘‘(ii) subject to a reasonable fee, for reproduc- 19 tion of paper documents at the Office of Government 20 Ethics.’’. 21 (d) DEFINITIONS.—Title IV of the Ethics in Govern- 22 ment Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended by adding 23 at the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Apr 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S896.IS S896 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 13 •S 896 IS ‘‘SEC. 409. DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 1 title— 2 ‘‘(1) the term ‘agency’ includes the Executive 3 Office of the President; 4 ‘‘(2) the term ‘officer or employee’ includes any 5 individual occupying a position, providing any offi- 6 cial services, or acting in an advisory capacity in the 7 White House or the Executive Office of the Presi- 8 dent, regardless of whether the individual receives 9 pay; and 10 ‘‘(3) the term ‘head of an agency’ includes the 11 President or a designee of the President, for pur- 12 poses of applying this title to the White House and 13 the Executive Office of the President.’’. 14 (e) SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION AND VIEWS.—Sec- 15 tion 402 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (5 16 U.S.C. App.) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 17 lowing: 18 ‘‘(g)(1) Upon request by any committee or sub- [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]