[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 196 Reported in Senate (RS)]
<DOC>
Calendar No. 68
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 196
[Report No. 116-32]
To save taxpayer money and improve the efficiency and speed of
intragovernmental correspondence, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 19, 2019
Mr. Portman (for himself, Ms. Hassan, Ms. Harris, Mr. Hoeven, Mr.
Lankford, Mr. Daines, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Carper) introduced
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
April 10, 2019
Reported by Mr. Johnson, with amendments
[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To save taxpayer money and improve the efficiency and speed of
intragovernmental correspondence, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Modernizing Congressional Reporting
Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act--
(1) the term ``acceptable electronic format'' means a file
format and metadata elements authorized by the National
Archives and Records Administration for the transfer of
permanent electronic records--
(A) as set forth in--
(i) National Archives and Records
Administration Bulletin 2014-04: Revised Format
Guidance for the Transfer of Permanent
Electronic Records, dated January 31, 2014, or
any successor bulletin; and
(ii) National Archives and Records
Administration Bulletin 2015-04: Metadata
Guidance for the Transfer of Permanent
Electronic Records, dated September 15, 2015,
or any successor bulletin; and
(B) that complies with the requirements of the
Office of Management and Budget Memorandum on the
Managing Government Records Directive, dated August 24,
2012 (M-12-18), or any successor memorandum;
(2) the term ``agency''--
(A) means--
(i) a Federal agency, as defined in section
102 of title 40, United States Code; and
(ii) an agency, as defined in section
552(f)(1) of title 5, United States Code; and
(B) does not include the Government Accountability
Office;
<DELETED> (3) the term ``congressionally mandated report''
means a report that is required to be submitted to either House
of Congress or any committee of Congress, or subcommittee
thereof, by a statute, resolution, or conference report that
accompanies legislation enacted into law;</DELETED>
(4)(3) the term ``congressional office'' means--
(A) an office of any committee or subcommittee of
the Senate or the House of Representatives, including
any select or special committee;
(B) an office of any individual Senator or Member
of the House of Representatives;
(C) a leadership office of the Senate or the House
of Representatives; and
(D) Congress or any House of Congress;
(4) the term ``congressionally mandated report'' means a
report that is required to be submitted to either House of
Congress or any committee of Congress, or subcommittee thereof,
by a statute, resolution, or conference report that accompanies
legislation enacted into law;
(5) the term ``open format'' means a file format for
storing digital data based on an underlying open standard
that--
(A) is not encumbered by any restrictions that
would impede reuse; and
(B) is based on an underlying open data standard
that is maintained by a standards organization;
(6) the term ``recorded information'' includes all recorded
information, regardless of form or characteristics; and
(7) the term ``structured data'' has the meaning given the
term in National Archives and Records Administration Bulletin
2014-04: Revised Format Guidance for the Transfer of Permanent
Electronic Records, dated January 31, 2014, or any successor
bulletin.
SEC. 3. ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION OF REPORTS.
(a) In General.--On and after the date that is 30 days after the
date of enactment of this Act, except as provided in subsection (c) and
to the extent specifically required otherwise by law--
(1) any report or other recorded information required to be
submitted to Congress by an agency under any provision of law,
and any response from an agency to a request by a congressional
office for any report or other recorded information, shall only
be transmitted by the agency in an acceptable electronic
format; and
(2) any structured data included in or with, or used to
create any chart included in or with, any report or other
recorded information described in paragraph (1) shall be
transmitted by the agency in an acceptable electronic format
for structured data.
(b) Format Preference.--
(1) In general.--In transmitting a report or other recorded
information described in subsection (a) to a congressional
office, an agency shall, to the extent possible, provide the
original electronic file or an electronically converted file
rather than a scanned document, even if the document includes a
signature.
(2) Searchable scanned documents.--Each scanned document
that is transmitted by an agency to a congressional office
shall be made searchable via optical character recognition or
other means.
(c) Other Formats.--An agency that is required to transmit a report
or other recorded information described in subsection (a) to a
congressional office in an acceptable electronic format may, if
requested by, or otherwise agreed to with, the congressional office--
(1) transmit the report or other recorded information to
the congressional office--
(A) in an electronic format that is not an
acceptable electronic format; or
(B) as a physical document;
(2) allow the report or other recorded information to be
reviewed in camera; or
(3) not transmit the report or other recorded information.
(d) Routing.--If a congressional office designates a method to
receive reports and other recorded information described in subsection
(a) from agencies, each agency shall transmit a report or other
recorded information to the congressional office using the designated
method, unless otherwise requested by the congressional office.
SEC. 4. PUBLISHING OF REPORTS.
(a) In General.--On and after the date that is 30 days after the
date of enactment of this Act, any congressionally mandated report, and
any structured data described in section 3(a)(2) and any transmittal
letter associated with the report, shall be posted on the public
website of the agency submitting the report--
(1) in an acceptable electronic format;
(2) in an open format;
(3) in accordance with the format preference described in
section 3(b); and
(4) at a uniform resource locator or similar locator that
is changed as infrequently as possible.
(b) Free Access.--No fee, registration requirement, or other access
limitation shall be imposed on access to any report required to be
posted under subsection (a).
(c) Open Access.--All reports, data, and other information posted
under this section shall be available to the public without
restrictions, including restrictions that would impede reuse of any or
all elements of the information.
(d) Ease of Access.--Each agency shall provide in tabular form a
list of all reports, data, or other information required to be posted
under subsection (a) that--
(1) is--
(A) accessible via a link posted at the footer of
the public website of the agency;
(B) accessible at a uniform resource locator or
similar locator that is changed as infrequently as
practicable;
(C) in a structure that is changed as infrequently
as practicable and is as consistent with the structure
used by other agencies as practicable;
(D) searchable and sortable by, at a minimum--
(i) the title of the report;
(ii) the date of publication of the report;
(iii) each congressional office receiving
the report, if applicable;
(iv) the statute, resolution, or conference
report requiring the report;
(v) the metadata elements of the report;
(vi) a unique alphanumeric identifier for
the report that is consistent across report
editions; and
(vii) the serial number, Superintendent of
Documents number, or other identification
number for the report, if applicable;
(E) available in an acceptable electronic format
for structured data, to allow for automated parsing of
all data described in subparagraph (D) and download of
all reports and associated structured data; and
(F) updated immediately upon posting of the report,
data, or other information; and
(2) contains links to download each report, data, and other
information.
(e) Timely Access.--An agency shall post a report, data, or other
information required to be posted by the agency under subsection (a)
not later than 30 days after the date on which the agency submits the
report, data, or other information to Congress.
(f) Removing and Altering Reports.--An agency may only change or
remove, with the exception of technical changes, a report, data, or
other information required to be posted by the agency under subsection
(a) if--
(1) the head of the agency consults with each congressional
office to which the report, data, or other information is
submitted; and
(2) Congress enacts a joint resolution authorizing the
changing or removal of the report, data, or other information.
(g) Relation to the Freedom of Information Act and Redaction.--
(1) In general.--Nothing in this section shall be construed
to require the disclosure of information or records that are--
(A) exempt from disclosure under section 552 of
title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the
``Freedom of Information Act''); or
(B) otherwise prohibited from disclosure by law.
(2) Redaction of report.--With respect to each report,
data, or other information required to be posted by an agency
under subsection (a), the head of the agency shall--
(A) redact any information that may not be
disclosed under section 552(b) of title 5, United
States Code, or is otherwise prohibited from disclosure
by law, before posting the report;
(B) only redact the information described in
subparagraph (A);
(C) identify where each redaction is made in the
report, data, or other information; and
(D) identify the exemption under such section
552(b) under which each redaction is made.
(h) Withholding Information.--An agency--
(1) may withhold information otherwise required to be
disclosed under this section only if--
(A) the agency reasonably foresees that disclosure
would harm an interest protected by an exemption
described in section 552(b) of title 5, United States
Code; or
(B) disclosure is prohibited by law; and
(2) shall--
(A) consider whether partial disclosure of
information otherwise required to be disclosed under
this section is possible whenever the agency determines
that a full disclosure of the information is not
possible; and
(B) take reasonable steps necessary to segregate
and release nonexempt information.
(i) Open Data Registration.--Not later than 30 days after the date
of enactment of this Act, each agency shall make the list described in
subsection (d) available to the public on Data.gov or a successor
Federal open government data site, in a structure and format used by
that system.
(j) Submission of Reports.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed to--
(1) relieve an agency of any other requirement to publish a
congressionally mandated report on the website of the agency or
otherwise submit a congressionally mandated report to Congress
or specific committees or subcommittees of Congress; or
(2) impose any additional requirement to redact any
submission to or withhold information from any congressional
office.
Calendar No. 68
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 196
[Report No. 116-32]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To save taxpayer money and improve the efficiency and speed of
intragovernmental correspondence, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
April 10, 2019
Reported with amendments
Modernizing Congressional Reporting Act of 2019
#196 | S Congress #116
Policy Area: Government Operations and Politics
Last Action: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 68. (4/10/2019)
Bill Text Source: Congress.gov
Summary and Impacts
Original Text