Make State Governments More Open, Honest, and Transparent Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3069 To suspend the authority of a State to administer funds under Federal block grant programs if the State does not enact certain conflict of interest protections, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 3, 2019 Mr. KILDEE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Education and Labor, Financial Services, Homeland Security, the Judici- ary, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Ways and Means, for a pe- riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con- sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To suspend the authority of a State to administer funds under Federal block grant programs if the State does not enact certain conflict of interest protections, 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 ‘‘Make State Govern- 4 ments More Open, Honest, and Transparent Act of 5 2019’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3069.IH H3069 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3069 IH SEC. 2. NATIONAL STANDARDS RELATING TO STATE CON- 1 FLICT OF INTEREST PROTECTIONS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The head of a Federal agency 3 that administers a Federal block grant program in a fiscal 4 year shall take the following actions with respect to a 5 State that is in noncompliance as described in subsection 6 (b) on the first day of the fiscal year: 7 (1) Suspend the authority of the State or any 8 political subdivision of the State to administer funds 9 made available to the State or subdivision under the 10 Federal block grant program in that fiscal year. 11 (2) Exercise the authority of the State de- 12 scribed in paragraph (1) in that fiscal year, includ- 13 ing the selection of the projects to be carried out in 14 the State or subdivision under the Federal block 15 grant program. 16 (b) REQUIREMENT.—A State shall be treated as 17 being in noncompliance as described in this subsection 18 with respect to a fiscal year if the Director of the Office 19 of Government Ethics determines that the State has not 20 enacted or is not enforcing one or more of the following 21 laws on the first day of the fiscal year: 22 (1) A law that requires an individual serving as 23 a member of the legislature of the State to prepare 24 and make available to the public an annual report 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3069.IH H3069 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3069 IH disclosing the financial interests of the individual 1 during the preceding year. 2 (2) A law that prohibits an individual serving 3 as a member of the legislature of the State to solicit 4 or require, either directly or indirectly, an employee 5 of the individual to make a financial or in-kind con- 6 tribution to a political party or a political campaign. 7 (3) A law that makes it unlawful for any per- 8 son— 9 (A) who enters into any contract with the 10 State (including any department or agency of 11 the State) either for the rendition of personal 12 services or furnishing any material, supplies, or 13 equipment to the State or for selling any land 14 or building to the State, if payment for the per- 15 formance of such contract or payment for such 16 material, supplies, equipment, land, or building 17 is to be made in whole or in part from funds 18 appropriated by the State, at any time between 19 the commencement of negotiations for and the 20 later of (i) the completion of performance 21 under, or (ii) the termination of negotiations 22 for, such contract or furnishing of material, 23 supplies, equipment, land, or buildings, directly 24 or indirectly to make any contribution of money 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3069.IH H3069 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3069 IH or other things of value, or to promise expressly 1 or impliedly to make any such contribution to 2 any political party, committee, or candidate for 3 State public office or to any person for any po- 4 litical purpose or use; or 5 (B) knowingly to solicit any such contribu- 6 tion from any such person for any such purpose 7 during any such period. 8 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi- 9 nitions apply: 10 (1) FEDERAL BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM.—The 11 term ‘‘Federal block grant program’’ means each of 12 the following: 13 (A) The Student Support and Academic 14 Enrichment Grants program of the Department 15 of Education. 16 (B) The Energy Efficiency and Conserva- 17 tion Block Grant Program of the Department 18 of Energy. 19 (C) The following programs of the Depart- 20 ment of Health and Human Services: 21 (i) The Child Care and Development 22 Block Grant program. 23 (ii) The Community Mental Health 24 Services Block Grant program. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3069.IH H3069 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3069 IH (iii) The Community Services Block 1 Grant program. 2 (iv) The program for Low Income 3 Home Energy Assistance grants. 4 (v) The Maternal and Child Health 5 Services Block Grant program. 6 (vi) The Preventive Health and 7 Health Services Block Grant program. 8 (vii) The Program of Block Grants to 9 States for Social Services under title XX of 10 the Social Security Act. 11 (viii) The Substance Abuse Prevention 12 and Treatment Block Grant program. 13 (ix) The program of Block Grants to 14 States for Temporary Assistance for Needy 15 Families under part A of title IV of the 16 Social Security Act. 17 (x) The Title V Abstinence Education 18 Block Grant program. 19 (D) The Homeland Security Grant Pro- 20 grams (Urban Area Security Initiative, State 21 Homeland Security Grant Program, and Oper- 22 ation Stonegarden) of the Department of 23 Homeland Security. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3069.IH H3069 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3069 IH (E) The following programs of the Depart- 1 ment of Housing and Urban Development: 2 (i) The Community Development 3 Block Grant program. 4 (ii) The Indian Community Develop- 5 ment Block Grant program. 6 (iii) The Emergency Solutions Grant 7 Program. 8 (iv) The HOME Investment Partner- 9 ships Program. 10 (v) The Indian Housing Block Grant 11 program. 12 (vi) The Native Hawaiian Housing 13 Block Grant program. 14 (F) The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice 15 Assistance Grant program of the Department of 16 Justice. 17 (G) The Workforce Innovation and Oppor- 18 tunity Act program of the Department of 19 Labor. 20 (H) The following programs of the Depart- 21 ment of Transportation: 22 (i) The Federal Aviation Administra- 23 tion Airport Improvement State Block 24 Grant Program. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3069.IH H3069 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3069 IH (ii) The Surface Transportation Block 1 Grant Program. 2 (2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of 3 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, or Puerto 4 Rico. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:59 Jun 04, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3069.IH H3069 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS