Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act - Requires the Public Printer to establish and maintain a website accessible by the public for obtaining electronic copies of all congressionally mandated reports in one place.
Requires each federal agency to provide the Public Printer with an electronic copy of congressionally mandated reports for publication on the website.
[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1411 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1411
To require the Public Printer to establish and maintain a website
accessible to the public that allows the public to obtain electronic
copies of all congressionally mandated reports in one place, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 25, 2011
Mr. Lieberman (for himself, Ms. Collins, and Mr. Coburn) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Rules and Administration
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Public Printer to establish and maintain a website
accessible to the public that allows the public to obtain electronic
copies of all congressionally mandated reports in one place, 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 ``Access to Congressionally Mandated
Reports Act''.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF WEBSITE FOR CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED REPORTS.
(a) Requirement To Establish Website.--Not later than one year
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Public Printer shall
establish and maintain a website accessible by the public that allows
the public to obtain electronic copies of all congressionally mandated
reports in one place. The Public Printer may publish other reports on
such website.
(b) Content and Function.--The Public Printer shall ensure that the
website required under subsection (a) includes the following:
(1) With respect to each congressionally mandated report,
each of the following:
(A) A citation to the statute or conference report
requiring the report.
(B) An electronic copy of the report, including any
transmittal letter associated with the report, in an
open format that is platform independent and that is
available to the public without restrictions, including
restrictions that would impede the re-use of the
information in the report.
(C) The ability to retrieve a report, to the extent
practicable, through searches based on each, and any
combination, of the following:
(i) The title of the report.
(ii) The reporting Federal agency.
(iii) The date of publication.
(iv) Each congressional committee receiving
the report, if applicable.
(v) Subject tags.
(vi) The serial number, Superintendent of
Documents number, or other identification
number for the report, if applicable.
(vii) The statute or conference report
requiring the report.
(viii) Key words.
(ix) Full text search.
(x) Any other relevant information
specified by the Public Printer.
(D) The time and date when the report was required
to be submitted, and when the report was submitted, to
the website.
(E) Access to the report not later than 30 calendar
days after its submission to Congress.
(F) To the extent practicable, a permanent means of
accessing the report electronically.
(2) A means for bulk download of all congressionally
mandated reports or a selection of reports retrieved using a
search.
(3) A means for the head of each Federal agency to publish
on the website each congressionally mandated report of the
agency, as required by section 3.
(4) A list form for all congressionally mandated reports
that can be searched, sorted, and downloaded by--
(A) reports submitted within the required time;
(B) reports submitted after the date on which such
reports were required to be submitted; and
(C) reports not submitted.
(c) Free Access.--The Public Printer may not charge a fee, require
registration, or impose any other limitation in exchange for access to
the website required under subsection (a).
(d) Upgrade Capability.--The website required under subsection (a)
shall be enhanced and updated as necessary to carry out the purposes of
this Act.
SEC. 3. FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES.
(a) Submission of Electronic Copies of Reports.--The head of each
Federal agency shall publish congressionally mandated reports of the
agency on the website required under section 2(a)--
(1) in an open format that is platform independent, machine
readable, and available to the public without restrictions
(except the redaction of information described under section
5), including restrictions that would impede the re-use of the
information in the reports; and
(2) in accordance with the guidance issued under subsection
(c).
(b) Submission of Additional Information.--The head of each Federal
agency shall submit to the Public Printer the information required
under subparagraphs (A) through (D) of section 2(b)(1) with respect to
each congressionally mandated report published pursuant to subsection
(a).
(c) Guidance.--Not later than eight months after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget, in consultation with the Public Printer, shall issue guidance
to agencies on the implementation of this Act.
SEC. 4. RELATIONSHIP TO REQUIREMENTS TO SUBMIT REPORTS TO CONGRESS.
(a) Compliance With Statutory Requirement To Submit Reports.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a Federal agency is deemed
to have complied with a statutory requirement to submit a report to
Congress if the agency completes each of the following, with respect to
such report:
(1) Publishes a complete and unredacted copy on the website
required under section 2(a).
(2) Notifies the Clerk of the House of Representatives, the
Secretary of the Senate, and each congressional committee to
which a report must be submitted of the report's availability
on the website.
(b) Removing and Altering Reports.--A report submitted to be
published to the website required under section 2(a) may only be
changed or removed, with the exception of technical changes, by the
Federal agency with the express, written consent of each congressional
committee to which the report must be submitted.
SEC. 5. RELATIONSHIP TO FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require the disclosure of
information or records that are exempt from public disclosure under
section 552 of title 5, United States Code. If any information in a
congressionally mandated report may not be publicly released under
section 552(b) of title 5, United States Code, the Federal agency
concerned shall redact from the report submitted to be published on the
website established under section 2 only such information, shall
indicate where such redactions were made in the report, and shall
identify the exemption under which each such redaction is made.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Congressionally mandated report.--The term
``congressionally mandated report'' means a report that is
required to be submitted to either House of Congress or any
committee of Congress by statute or by a conference report that
accompanies legislation enacted into law.
(2) Federal agency.--The term ``Federal agency'' has the
meaning given that term under section 102 of title 40, United
States Code, but does not include the Government Accountability
Office.
SEC. 7. IMPLEMENTATION.
Except as provided in section 3(c), this Act shall be implemented
not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act and
shall apply with respect to congressionally mandated reports submitted
to Congress on or after the date occurring one year after such date of
enactment.
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Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
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