[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2136 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2136

   To amend title 31, United States Code, to ensure that the General 
Accounting Office performs its functions in an impartial, complete, and 
    timely manner in investigating issues of concern to the public.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 17, 1993

 Mr. Thomas of Wyoming (for himself, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Walker, Ms. 
 Pryce of Ohio, Mr. Royce, Mr. Ewing, Mr. Bunning, Mr. Ballenger, and 
Mr. Everett) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly 
          to the Committees on Government Operations and Rules

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 31, United States Code, to ensure that the General 
Accounting Office performs its functions in an impartial, complete, and 
    timely manner in investigating issues of concern to the public.

    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 ``General Accounting Office Reform and 
Reorganization Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to ensure that in conducting evaluations 
and preparing reports pursuant to an order or request of the Congress, 
the General Accounting Office performs its functions in an impartial, 
complete, and timely manner.

SEC. 3. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE INVESTIGATIONS 
              AND REPORTS.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter II of chapter 7 of title 31, United 
States Code, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating section 720 as section 721; and
            (2) by inserting after section 719 the following new 
        section:
``Sec. 720. Review, approval, and conduct of investigations, 
              evaluations, assessments, and reports requested by 
              Congress
    ``(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Comptroller 
General may not make a report pursuant to a request of a Member or 
committee of the Congress, unless--
            ``(1) the Oversight Board approves in accordance with this 
        section a methodology for preparing the report; and
            ``(2) the report is prepared in accordance with the 
        methodology as approved by the Oversight Board.
    ``(b) Upon receiving a request from a committee of the Congress for 
a report, the Comptroller General shall notify the ranking minority 
member of that committee that the request has been received.
    ``(c) A Member of Congress who requests that the Comptroller 
General make a report, the staff of the Member, and a Member and the 
staff of a committee of the Congress that requests that the Comptroller 
General make a report, may not advise, consult, confer, or otherwise 
communicate with the Comptroller General or any personnel of the 
General Accounting Office regarding the report until after the date on 
which the final report is issued.
    ``(d) The Comptroller General may not issue any final report 
pursuant to a request of a Member or committee of Congress unless the 
final report is approved--
            ``(1) by the subcommittee under subsection (h)(3) that has 
        responsibility for the subject area of the report; and
            ``(2) after approval under subparagraph (A), by the 
        Oversight Board.
    ``(e)(1) Any Member of Congress may submit to the Oversight Board 
comments challenging the findings or recommendations of any final 
report issued by the Comptroller General.
    ``(2) Upon receipt of comments under paragraph (1), the Oversight 
Board may--
            ``(A) refer the comments to the Comptroller General for 
        further investigation; or
            ``(B) refer the final report and comments to an outside 
        entity (including a college or university) for peer review of 
        the findings of the report and the data used.
    ``(f)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), there shall be 
printed in the Congressional Record--
            ``(A) on a quarterly basis, a list of the names of all 
        Members of Congress who requested, in the quarter covered by 
        the list, that the Comptroller General make any report; and
            ``(B) by not later than 90 days after the last day of each 
        session of the Congress, a brief summary of the status and 
        results of each investigation conducted by the General 
        Accounting Office in that session.
    ``(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to requests by Members of 
Congress for a report dealing with a national security issue.
    ``(g)(1) No hearing may be held by a committee or subcommittee of 
the Congress regarding a report by the General Accounting Office before 
the end of the 7-day period beginning on the date of the release of the 
final report.
    ``(2) Before the 7-day period ending on the date on which a person 
is required to testify to a committee or subcommittee of the Congress 
regarding an investigation conducted by the General Accounting Office, 
the Chairman of the committee or subcommittee shall provide to the 
person a copy of the final report of the General Accounting Office 
relating to the investigation.
    ``(h)(1) There is established the General Accounting Office 
Oversight Board. The Oversight Board shall review in accordance with 
this section requests by Members and committees of the Congress for the 
performance of investigations by the Comptroller General.
    ``(2) The Oversight Board shall be comprised of 21 members 
appointed as follows:
            ``(A) 5 Members of the House of Representatives appointed 
        by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
            ``(B) 5 Members of the House of Representatives appointed 
        by the minority leader of the House of Representatives.
            ``(C) 5 Members of the Senate appointed by the majority 
        leader of the Senate.
            ``(D) 5 Members of the Senate appointed by the minority 
        leader of the Senate.
            ``(E) The Comptroller General, who shall be a nonvoting 
        member.
    ``(3)(A) The Oversight Board shall have a subcommittee for each 
division in the General Accounting Office, and each subcommittee shall 
be responsible for the subject area of that division.
    ``(B) Each subcommittee shall consist of 9 members of the Oversight 
Board, of whom--
            ``(i) 2 shall be members of the Oversight Board appointed 
        by each of the officials referred to in paragraph (2)(A) 
        through (D); and
            ``(ii) one shall be the Comptroller General, who shall be a 
        nonvoting member.
    ``(C) Each subcommittee shall select a chairman and a vice chairman 
from among its members. No member of the Oversight Board may serve as 
chairman or vice chairman of more than one subcommittee. No member of 
the Oversight Board may serve on more than 2 subcommittees at any time 
unless granted a waiver by the Oversight Board.
    ``(4) A vacancy in the membership of the Oversight Board shall not 
affect the power of the remaining members to execute the functions of 
the Oversight Board and shall be filled in the same manner as in the 
case of the original appointment.
    ``(5) The Oversight Board shall select a chairman and a vice 
chairman from among its members at the beginning of each Congress. The 
vice chairman shall act in the place of the chairman in the absence of 
the chairman. The chairmanship and vice chairmanship shall alternate 
between the Senate and the House of Representatives with each Congress. 
The chairman during each even-numbered Congress shall be selected by 
the members of the House of Representatives on the Oversight Board, 
from among those members. The chairman during each odd-numbered 
Congress shall be selected by the members of the Senate on the 
Oversight Board, from among those members. The vice chairman during 
each Congress shall be selected by the members on the Oversight Board 
who are members of the House of Congress of which the chairman for that 
Congress is not a Member.
    ``(i) In this section, the term `report' includes an investigation, 
evaluation, assessment, or report, including one under section 712(4) 
or (5) or section 717.''.
    (b) Initial Subcommittees.--
            (1) Number.--The General Accounting Office Oversight Board 
        established by section 720 of title 31, United States Code, as 
        amended by this Act, shall have 7 subcommittees until such time 
        as there is a different number of divisions in the General 
        Accounting Office.
            (2) Subject areas.--Each subcommittee of the General 
        Accounting Office Oversight Board shall be responsible for one 
        of the following subject areas, until such time as there is any 
        change in the subject areas of the divisions of the General 
        Accounting Office and the Oversight Board alters the subject 
        areas of the subcommittee to coincide with that change:
                    (A) Accounting and financial management.
                    (B) General government.
                    (C) Human resources.
                    (D) Information management and technology.
                    (E) National security and international affairs.
                    (F) Program evaluation and methodology.
                    (G) Resources, community, and economic development.
    (c) Oversight Board Defined.--Section 701 of title 31, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) `Oversight Board' means the General Accounting Office 
        Oversight Board established by section 720.''.
    (d) Clerical Amendment.--Title 31, United States Code, is amended 
in the table of sections at the beginning of chapter 7 by striking the 
item relating to section 720 and inserting the following:

``720. Review, approval, and conduct of investigations, evaluations, 
                            assessments, and reports requested by 
                            Congress.
``721. Agency reports.''.

SEC. 4. GAO DETAILEES AND ASSIGNEES.

    Section 734 of title 31, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a)'' before ``The Comptroller''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) The Comptroller General may not detail or assign an officer 
or employee of the General Accounting Office to a committee of the 
Congress--
            ``(1) more than twice in any Congress; or
            ``(2) for a period longer than 3 months.
    ``(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, the 
Comptroller General may not make any investigation, evaluation, 
assessment, or report pursuant to a request from a committee of the 
Congress or the Chairman of a committee of the Congress if an officer 
or employee of the General Accounting Office was detailed or assigned 
to the committee in the 3-month period ending on the date of the 
submittal of the request.''.

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