To require senior officials to report payments received from the Federal Government and to improve the filing and disclosure of financial disclosures by Members of Congress, congressional staff, and very senior employees.

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8362 To require senior officials to report payments received from the Federal Government and to improve the filing and disclosure of financial disclo- sures by Members of Congress, congressional staff, and very senior employees. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 Ms. PORTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To require senior officials to report payments received from the Federal Government and to improve the filing and disclosure of financial disclosures by Members of Con- gress, congressional staff, and very senior employees. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. IMPROVED REPORTING OF PAYMENTS AND FI- 3 NANCIAL DISCLOSURES. 4 (a) REPORTING OF APPLICATIONS FOR AND PAY- 5 MENTS RECEIVED FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.— 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 Oct 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8362.IH H8362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8362 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 101 of the Ethics in 1 Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amend- 2 ed by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(j)(1) In this subsection— 4 ‘‘(A) the term ‘covered payment’— 5 ‘‘(i) means a payment of money or any- 6 thing else of value made or promised to be by 7 the Federal Government, including a loan 8 agreement, contract, or grant (including relat- 9 ing to agricultural activity); 10 ‘‘(ii) includes any other type of payment of 11 money or anything else of value as the Sec- 12 retary of the Treasury, in consultation with the 13 Director of the Office of Government Ethics, 14 may by regulation establish; and 15 ‘‘(iii) does not include— 16 ‘‘(I) any salary or compensation for 17 service performed as, or reimbursement of 18 personal outlay by, an officer or employee 19 of the Federal Government; or 20 ‘‘(II) any tax refund (including a re- 21 fundable tax credit); and 22 ‘‘(B) the term ‘covered person’ means a person 23 described in paragraphs (1) through (10) of section 24 103(l). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 Oct 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8362.IH H8362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8362 IH ‘‘(2) Not later than 30 days after receiving notifica- 1 tion of any application for or receipt of a covered payment 2 by a covered person, the spouse of the covered person, or 3 a dependent child of the covered person (including any 4 business owned and controlled by the covered person, the 5 spouse of the covered person, or a dependent child of the 6 covered person), but in no case later than 45 days after 7 the covered payment is made or promised to be made, the 8 covered person shall file a report of the covered payment.’’. 9 (2) CONTENTS.—Section 102 of the Ethics in 10 Government Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amend- 11 ed by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(j) A report filed pursuant to section 101(j) shall— 13 ‘‘(1) identify the type of payment or thing of 14 value applied for or received; 15 ‘‘(2) include the name of the recipient and the 16 relation to the person required to file the report; 17 ‘‘(3) provide the date of the application for and 18 the date of receipt of the payment or thing of value; 19 and 20 ‘‘(4) indicate the amount of the payment or 21 thing of value.’’. 22 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 23 by paragraphs (1) and (2) shall apply to payments 24 made or promised to be made on or after the date 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 Oct 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8362.IH H8362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8362 IH that is 90 days after the date of enactment of this 1 Act. 2 (b) UPDATING THE PUBLIC FILING AND DISCLO- 3 SURE OF FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE FORMS.— 4 (1) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND CONGRES- 5 SIONAL STAFF.—Section 8(b)(1)(B) of the STOCK 6 Act (5 U.S.C. App. 105 note) is amended to read as 7 follows: 8 ‘‘(B) public access— 9 ‘‘(i) through databases that are main- 10 tained on the official websites of the House 11 of Representatives and the Senate; 12 ‘‘(ii) to— 13 ‘‘(I) each financial disclosure re- 14 port filed by a Member of Congress or 15 a candidate for Congress; 16 ‘‘(II) each report filed by a Mem- 17 bers of Congress or a candidate for 18 Congress of a transaction disclosure 19 required by section 103(l) of the Eth- 20 ics in Government Act of 1978 (5 21 U.S.C. App); and 22 ‘‘(III) notice of any extension, 23 amendment, or blind trust, with re- 24 spect to a report described in sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 Oct 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8362.IH H8362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8362 IH clause (I) or (II), pursuant to title I 1 of the Ethics in Government Act of 2 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.); and 3 ‘‘(iii) in a manner that— 4 ‘‘(I) allows the public to search, 5 sort, and download data contained in 6 the reports described in subclause (I) 7 or (II) of clause (ii) by criteria re- 8 quired to be reported, including by 9 filer name, asset, transaction type, 10 ticker symbol, notification date, 11 amount of transaction, and date of 12 transaction; 13 ‘‘(II) allows access through an 14 application programming interface; 15 and 16 ‘‘(III) is fully compliant with sec- 17 tion 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 18 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d) and the most 19 recent Web Content Accessibility 20 Guidelines, or successor guidelines.’’. 21 (2) VERY SENIOR EXECUTIVE BRANCH EMPLOY- 22 EES.—Section 11(b)(1)(B) of the STOCK Act (5 23 U.S.C. App. 105 note) is amended to read as fol- 24 lows: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 Oct 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8362.IH H8362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8362 IH ‘‘(B) public access— 1 ‘‘(i) through a database that is main- 2 tained on the official website of the Office 3 of Government Ethics; 4 ‘‘(ii) to— 5 ‘‘(I) each financial disclosure re- 6 port filed by the President, the Vice 7 President, or any officer occupying a 8 position listed in section 5312 or sec- 9 tion 5313 of title 5, United States 10 Code, having been nominated by the 11 President and confirmed by the Sen- 12 ate to that position; 13 ‘‘(II) each report filed by an indi- 14 vidual described in subclause (I) of a 15 transaction disclosure required by sec- 16 tion 103(l) of the Ethics in Govern- 17 ment Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App); 18 and 19 ‘‘(III) notice of any extension, 20 amendment, or blind trust, with re- 21 spect to a report described in sub- 22 clause (I) or (II), pursuant to title I 23 of the Ethics in Government Act of 24 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 Oct 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8362.IH H8362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8362 IH ‘‘(iii) in a manner that— 1 ‘‘(I) allows the public to search, 2 sort, and download data contained in 3 the reports described in subclause (I) 4 or (II) of clause (ii) by criteria re- 5 quired to be reported, including by 6 filer name, asset, transaction type, 7 ticker symbol, notification date, 8 amount of transaction, and date of 9 transaction; 10 ‘‘(II) allows access through an 11 application programming interface; 12 and 13 ‘‘(III) is fully compliant with sec- 14 tion 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 15 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d) and the most 16 recent Web Content Accessibility 17 Guidelines, or successor guidelines.’’. 18 (3) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made 19 by this subsection shall— 20 (A) take effect on the date of enactment of 21 this Act; and 22 (B) apply on and after the date that is 18 23 months after the date of enactment of this Act. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 Oct 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8362.IH H8362 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS