Transparency in Government Act 2008

TITLE I - Access to Information About Members of Congress

Summary:

Requires that mandatory annual financial disclosure statements include the exact dollar amounts.

Requires the reporting of affiliations of Members, their spouses, and adult children with PACs, 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations.

Requires mandatory electronic filing of all reports and requires that the reports be made publicly available on the Internet within 48 hours of filing in a searchable, sortable, downloadable format.

Requires mandatory electronic filing of and public access to official travel and gift reports.

Requires the complete written statements Members file in respect to earmarks be made publicly available on the Internet in a searchable, sortable, downloadable format.

Requires Members to report the actual recipient of an earmark rather than an intermediary.

Requires Members to post earmark requests on their Web sites.

Requires each committee with jurisdiction over any earmarked program to make publicly available on the Internet in a searchable sortable, downloadable database the historical funding levels for the program.

Requires electronic filing of Senate campaign finance disclosure reports.

Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act to require monthly reports by all political committees.

Additional Information:

See also the Open House Project chapter on the Clerk of the House.

The Rules of the House are available from the House Rules Committee, or from Congresspedia, and the Rules of the Senate are available from the Senate Rules Committee, or from Congresspedia.

For regulations on the disclosure of Federal Election Campaigns, see Title 2, Chapter 14 of the US Code.

The House Ethics Committee has posted the Ethics In Government Act, as amended.

  1. Sec. 101. Greater disclosure and electronic filing of personal financial information. (10 Comments)

    1. Financial Disclosures- Section 102(d) of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph: `(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, in the case of reports of Members of Congress and officers and employees of Congress filed pursuant to sections 101(d) and (e), references to the categories for reporting the amount or value of the items covered in paragraphs (1), (3), (4), (5), and (8) of subsection (a) shall be deemed to be exact dollar amounts as determined by fair market value, tax returns, bank statements, or other means.'

    2. Personal Financial Disclosure reports shall disclose:

      1. the affiliations of Members (and their spouses and adult children) with political action committees and other political organizations such as "Leadership" PACs, whether registered at the Federal or state level, as well as with any 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) organizations, and

      2. the employment or other economic relationships with entities, of the spouse, siblings, and adult children of Members of Congress.

    3. Mandatory Electronic Filing of Personal Financial Reports.

      1. IN GENERAL- The Rules of the House and the Senate are amended to provide the following: `each person required to file a report under this Act shall be required to maintain and file such report in electronic form accessible by computers.'

    4. Availability of Reports on the Internet- Section 103 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

      `(l) A copy of each report filed under this title with the Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate shall be made available to the general public on the Internet within 48 hours of filing in a format that is searchable, sortable, and downloadable.'

    5. Effective Date- The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply to reports filed for calendar years beginning after the date of enactment of this Act.

    6. DIRECTORY- The Superintendent of Documents, under the Direction of the Public Printer in the Government Printing Office, shall include information about the documents made available on the Internet under this section in the electronic directory of Federal electronic information required by section 4101(a)(1) of title 44, United States Code.

    Rationale:

    Current rules relating to personal financial disclosure reports allow for broad and imprecise reporting of the value of assets and liabilities. Requiring lawmakers to report precise values would provide a clearer understanding of the financial interests a Member might have in a particular issue. Electronic filing of the reports would save time and resources by eliminating the need to re-enter information that is already entered and maintained in a database, and would streamline the process to allow the reports to be available for public access on the Internet in a timely fashion. The reports were designed to be public, but, so far, only the House has agreed to post its Members' reports on the Web. In the Senate, the reports are only available to people with the means to photocopy the reports in Washington, DC. See HR 170, 110th Congress.

    Recent comments on Sec. 101

    (View all 10 comments | Add a comment)
    1. John Q. Public:

      So as to accomodate 99% of Americans not trained in law, I suggest a simple procedure that all can understand and evaluate: Require every person in or running for any public office, under the penalty of perjury, to: 1.Post on one special gov website all of their assets over $300,000; 2.Update the post each July they are in office; 3.During ...

      April 13, 2008

    2. Terry ODonnell:

      I am a little confused by the language of b.2, specifically, the word "entities" seems to hang out there all by itself with no prior definition or reference. Is it supposed to refer to the organizations described in b.1? Also,I wonder why it is necessary to try for an exact dollar valuation of assets. I should think it sufficient that ...

      April 4, 2008

    3. John Wonderlich, Sunlight Foundation:

      To anonymous, above: Thanks for your comments. You'll notice that the entire point of the site is to take the input of people who are "amateurish", and don't actually "know how to draft ANYTHING", and turn it into something effective and useful, since even amateurs without legislative drafting experience have valuable input, as is obvious by the value of the ...

      April 4, 2008

  2. Sec. 102. Electronic filing of and timely public access to official travel reports. (3 Comments)

    1. Mandatory Electronic Filing of travel reports. The Rules of the House and the Senate are amended to provide the following: `each person required to file a travel report under this provision shall be required to maintain and file such report in electronic form accessible by computers.'

    2. Requiring Posting on Internet- The Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate shall post on the public Internet site of the Office of the Clerk, or the Office of the Secretary, respectively, the reports filed under paragraph (a) within 48 hours (Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays excepted) after they are received in a format that is searchable, sortable, and downloadable.

    3. Retention- The Clerk and the Secretary shall maintain the information posted on the public Internet site of the Office of the Clerk or Secretary, respectively, under this section for a period of six years after receiving the information.

    4. DIRECTORY- The Superintendent of Documents, under the Direction of the Public Printer in the Government Printing Office, shall include information about the documents made available on the Internet under this section in the electronic directory of Federal electronic information required by section 4101(a)(1) of title 44, United States Code.

    Rationale:

    Electronic filing of required reports saves resources by eliminating the need for staff to input information that is already stored electronically. Additionally, putting this information online provides the public with a better understanding of the type of travel a Member is taking, where he or she is going, and who is paying for it. A 48-hour requirement ensures the information is available in a timely manner, instead of weeks or months after the travel has taken place.

    Recent comments on Sec. 102

    (View all 3 comments | Add a comment)
    1. John Wonderich, Sunlight Foundation:

      On (c) and archiving, I would expect that the National Archives (NARA's) Center for Legislative Archives would be responsible for archiving the documents after the period during which the Clerk of the House or Secretary of the Senate are responsible for handling them, but this point should be clarified. It probably would only ADD cost, though, to suggest that the ...

      April 8, 2008

    2. Terry ODonnell:

      1. In a., I think "to maintain and file such report in electronic form accessible by computers" should be changed to "to file such report(s) in electronic form with the Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate, whichever is appropriate." We don't really care whether the person making the report "maintains" it as long as ...

      April 4, 2008

    3. Joshua Tauberer, GovTrack.us:

      Why allow documents to be lost after 6 years?

      March 27, 2008

  3. Sec. 103. Electronic filing of and timely public access to gift reports. (2 Comments)

    1. The Rules of the House and the Senate are amended to provide the following: `each person required to file a gift report under this provision shall be required to maintain and file such report in electronic form accessible by computers.'

    2. The Secretary of the Senate, and the Clerk of the House shall make required gift reports available on the Internet for purposes of access and retrieval by the public within 48 hours days (Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays excepted) after they are received in a format that is searchable, sortable, and downloadable.

    3. Retention- The Clerk and the Secretary shall maintain the information posted on the public Internet site of the Office of the Clerk or Secretary, respectively, under this section for a period of six years after receiving the information.

    4. DIRECTORY- The Superintendent of Documents, under the Direction of the Public Printer in the Government Printing Office, shall include information about the documents made available on the Internet under this section in the electronic directory of Federal electronic information required by section 4101(a)(1) of title 44, United States Code.

    Rationale:

    Electronic posting of gift reports 48 hours after they are filed provides the public with access to whether a Member is receiving gifts from individuals or groups who may have an interest in upcoming legislation.

    Recent comments on Sec. 103

    (View all 2 comments | Add a comment)
    1. james sheridan:

      Public disclosure of any/all conflicts of interest prior to voting for a bill. These disclosure should be determined by any gifts(campaign or otherwise)/ payments(speeches etc.) made in the prior 24 mo. Also there should be a hard prohibition from any office holder from receiving any gifts, payments or other remuneration from donors for the succeeding 24 mo.

      April 5, 2008

    2. Louis Bernard:

      Gifts from individuals or groups that have an interest in upcoming legislation or any other time should just be illegal. Officeholders should not accept gifts for doing the job for which they were elected. That is not an accepted perk. If you don't like the pay--give up the job!

      April 4, 2008

  4. Sec. 104. Enhancing public access to information about earmarks. (14 Comments)

    1. A Senator or Representative who requests a congressionally directed spending item, a limited tax benefit, or a limited tariff benefit in any bill or joint resolution (or an accompanying report) or in any conference report (or an accompanying joint statement of managers) shall provide a written statement to the chairman and ranking member of the committee of jurisdiction, including--

      1. the name of the Senator or Representative;

      2. in the case of a congressionally directed spending item, the name and location of the intended recipient or, if there is no specifically intended recipient, the intended location of the activity;

        1. Where there is an intended recipient, each member shall report, to the best of his or her knowledge, the name of the actual recipient of a congressionally directed spending item, and shall not name an intermediary.

      3. in the case of a limited tax or tariff benefit, identification of the individual or entities reasonably anticipated to benefit, to the extent known to the Senator or Representative;

      4. the purpose of such congressionally directed spending item or limited tax or tariff benefit; and

      5. a certification that neither the Member nor the Members immediate family has a pecuniary interest in the item.

    2. Each Senate and House committee shall maintain the written statements transmitted under subparagraph (a). The written statements transmitted under subparagraph (a) for any congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits or limited tariff benefits included in any measure reported by the committee or conference report filed by the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee thereof shall be published in a searchable, sortable, downloadable format on the committees or subcommittees Web site not later than 48 hours after inclusion in any measure.

    3. Each Member of Congress who maintains an official public Internet site shall provide a clearly presented electronic link to the Member's earmark request statements described in paragraph (a).

    4. Each committee or subcommittee with jurisdiction over any earmarked program for which funding is provided will provide historical funding levels for earmarked programs over the last 10 years, and will make the information available to the public in a searchable, sortable, downloadable database available through the committees Web site.

    Recent comments on Sec. 104

    (View all 14 comments | Add a comment)
    1. Lisa Rosenberg, The Sunlight Foundation:

      Thanks for commenting, all! To clarify, (c), above was intended to get at disclosure of all requests, not just successful requests. Thanks to Steve's comments I took a second look at that provision and can see how it needs to be clarified or strengthened to do what we intended it to do!

      April 25, 2008

    2. Ari Schwartz, CDT:

      I'm a little torn on whether earmarks should be posted on Members' Web sites or in a central place. The advantage to a central place is that they will be universally formatted and, perhaps, that will provide more utility to those who want to use the information. On the other hand, it would be great to require Members to use ...

      April 24, 2008

    3. Steve Ellis (Taxpayers for Common Sense):

      (a)(5) "immediate family" needs to be defined. In the lobby and ethics bill from last year (S.1) this was an element that was significantly scaled back and in the earmark section it was not defined at all. I would recommend a broad, multi-generation, "Step-" and "In-Law" inclusive definition. 104 (b). This only requires disclosure of successful earmark requests - letters ...

      April 21, 2008

  5. Sec. 105. Electronic filing of Senate campaign finance disclosure reports. (3 Comments)

    1. In General- Section 304(a)(11)(D) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434(a)(11)(D)) is amended to read as follows:

      `(D) As used in this paragraph, the terms `designation', `statement', or `report' mean a designation, statement or report, respectively, which--

      `(i) is required by this Act to be filed with the Commission, or

      `(ii) is required under section 302(g) to be filed with the Secretary of the Senate and forwarded by the Secretary to the Commission.'.

    2. Conforming Amendments-

      1. Section 302(g)(2) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 432(g)(2)) is amended by inserting `or 1 working day in the case of a designation, statement, or report filed electronically' after `2 working days'.

      2. Section 304(a)(11)(B) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 434(a)(11)(B)) is amended by inserting `or filed with the Secretary of the Senate under section 302(g)(1) and forwarded to the Commission' after `Act'.

    3. Effective Date- The amendments made by this section shall apply to any designation, statement, or report required to be filed after the date of enactment of this Act.

    Rationale:

    Requiring Senators to electronically file their campaign finance disclosure reports puts them in the same position as House candidates, who already file campaign finance information electronically. It speeds the time in which information about campaigns' receipts and expenditures is made available to the public. Electronic filing saves taxpayer resources by eliminating the need for campaign finance disclosure information to be re-entered. See S. 223, 110th Congress.

    Recent comments on Sec. 105

    (View all 3 comments | Add a comment)
    1. Fred Bichl (citizen):

      Senate and House political campaigns should be totally and exclusively financed by the federal government. Federal financing will enable the really qualified, but non wealthy candidates to replace the wealthy or privately financed incumbents and their special interest sponsors. Federal financing would be electronically available, transparent and equal for all candidates, and would demonstrate the candidates real ability to present ...

      April 4, 2008

    2. Paul Blumenthal, Sunlight Foundation:

      I agree with Dan, however, the first step would be to require both Houses to file the current reports electronically.

      April 1, 2008

    3. Dan Newman, MAPLight.org:

      March 27, 2008

  6. Sec. 106. Monthly filing of FECA reports.

    1. Receipts and disbursements by treasurers of political committees; filing requirements. The Federal Election Campaign Act is amended to provide that all reports of receipts and disbursements required to be filed by treasurers of political committees shall be filed no later than the 15th day of the last day of each month and shall be complete as of the last day of each month.

    Rationale:

    More frequent reporting of campaign finance information by candidates, PACs, and political parties would put all campaigns the same monthly filing schedule, providing timely access to vital information about campaign contributors, instead of forcing the public to wait months for access to the reports.

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