[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 811 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 811

 To reauthorize the independent counsel law for an additional 5 years, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 4, 1993

 Mr. Brooks (for himself, Mr. Bryant, and Mr. Frank of Massachusetts) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To reauthorize the independent counsel law for an additional 5 years, 
                        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 ``Independent Counsel Reauthorization 
Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. FIVE-YEAR REAUTHORIZATION.

    Section 599 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by striking 
``1987'' and inserting ``1993''.

SEC. 3. ADDED CONTROLS.

    (a) Cost Controls and Administrative Support.--Section 594 of title 
28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsection:
    ``(l) Cost Controls and Administrative Support.--
            ``(1) Cost controls.--
                    ``(A) In general.--An independent counsel shall--
                            ``(i) conduct all activities with due 
                        regard for expense;
                            ``(ii) authorize only reasonable and lawful 
                        expenditures; and
                            ``(iii) promptly, upon taking office, 
                        assign to a specific employee the duty of 
                        certifying that expenditures of the independent 
                        counsel are reasonable and made in accordance 
                        with law.
                    ``(B) Department of justice policies.--An 
                independent counsel shall comply with the established 
                policies of the Department of Justice respecting 
                expenditures of funds, except to the extent that 
                compliance would be inconsistent with the purposes of 
                this chapter.
            ``(2) Administrative support.--The Director of the 
        Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall provide 
        administrative support and guidance to each independent 
        counsel. No officer or employee of the Administrative Office of 
        the United States Courts shall disclose information related to 
        an independent counsel's expenditures, personnel, or 
        administrative acts or arrangements without the authorization 
        of the independent counsel.
            ``(3) Office space.--The Administrator of General Services, 
        in consultation with the Director of the Administrative Office 
        of the United States Courts, shall promptly provide appropriate 
        office space for each independent counsel. Such office space 
        shall be within a Federal building unless the Administrator of 
        General Services determines that other arrangements would cost 
        less.''.
    (b) Independent Counsel Per Diem Expenses.-- Section 594(b) of 
title 28, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking ``An independent counsel'' and inserting
            ``(1) In general.--An independent counsel''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
            ``(2) Travel expenses.--Except as provided in paragraph 
        (3), an independent counsel and persons appointed under 
        subsection (c) shall be entitled to the payment of travel 
        expenses as provided by subchapter 1 of chapter 57 of title 5, 
        including travel or transportation expenses in accordance with 
        section 5703 of title 5.
            ``(3) Travel to primary office.--An independent counsel and 
        any person appointed under subsection (c) shall not be entitled 
        to the payment of travel and subsistence expenses under 
        subchapter 1 of chapter 57 of title 5 with respect to duties 
        performed in the city in which the primary office of that 
        independent counsel or person is located after 1 year of 
        service by that independent counsel or person (as the case may 
        be) under this chapter unless the employee assigned duties 
        under subsection (l)(1)(A)(iii) certifies that the payment is 
        in the public interest to carry out the purposes of this 
        chapter. Any such certification shall be effective for 6 
        months, but may be renewed for additional periods of 6-months 
        each if, for each such renewal, the employee assigned duties 
        under subsection (l)(1)(A)(iii) makes a recertification with 
        respect to the public interest described in the preceding 
        sentence. In making any certification or recertification under 
        this paragraph with respect to travel and subsistence expenses 
        of an independent counsel or person appointed under subsection 
        (c), such employee shall consider, among other relevant 
        factors--
                    ``(A) the cost to the Government of reimbursing 
                such travel and subsistence expenses;
                    ``(B) the period of time for which the independent 
                counsel anticipates that the activities of the 
                independent counsel or person, as the case may be, will 
                continue;
                    ``(C) the personal and financial burdens on the 
                independent counsel or person, as the case may be, of 
                relocating so that such travel and subsistence expenses 
                would not be incurred; and
                    ``(D) the burdens associated with appointing a new 
                independent counsel, or appointing another person under 
                subsection (c), to replace the individual involved who 
                is unable or unwilling to so relocate.''.
    (c) Independent Counsel Employee Pay Comparability.--Section 594(c) 
of title 28, United States Code, is amended by striking the last 
sentence and inserting the following: ``Such employees shall be 
compensated at levels not to exceed those payable for comparable 
positions in the Office of United States Attorney for the District of 
Columbia under sections 548 and 550, but in no event shall any such 
employee be compensated at a rate greater than the rate of basic pay 
payable for level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of 
title 5.''.
    (d) Ethics Enforcement.--Section 594(j) of title 28, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(5) Enforcement.--The Attorney General and the Director 
        of the Office of Government Ethics have authority to enforce 
        compliance with this subsection.''.
    (e) Compliance With Policies of the Department of Justice.--Section 
594(f) is amended by striking ``shall, except where not possible, 
comply'' and inserting ``shall, except to the extent that to do so 
would be inconsistent with the purposes of this chapter, comply''.
    (f) Publication of Reports.--Section 594(h) of title 28, United 
States Code, is amended--
            (1) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(3) Publication of reports.--At the request of an 
        independent counsel, the Public Printer shall cause to be 
        printed any report previously released to the public under 
        paragraph (2). The independent counsel shall certify the number 
        of copies necessary for the public, and the Public Printer 
        shall place the cost of the required number to the debit of 
        such independent counsel. Additional copies shall be made 
        available to the public through the Superintendent of Documents 
        sales program under section 1702 of title 44 and the depository 
        library program under section 1903 of such title.''; and
            (2) in the first sentence of paragraph (2), by striking 
        ``appropriate'' the second place it appears and inserting ``in 
        the public interest, consistent with maximizing public 
        disclosure, ensuring a full explanation of independent counsel 
        activities and decisionmaking, and facilitating the release of 
        information and materials which the independent counsel has 
        determined should be disclosed''.
    (g) Annual Reports to Congress.--Section 595(a)(2) of title 28, 
United States Code, is amended by striking ``such statements'' and all 
that follows through ``appropriate'' and inserting ``annually a report 
on the activities of the independent counsel, including a description 
of the progress of any investigation or prosecution conducted by the 
independent counsel. Such report may omit any matter that in the 
judgment of the independent counsel should be kept confidential, but 
shall provide information adequate to justify the expenditures that the 
office of the independent counsel has made''.
    (h) Periodic Reappointment of Independent Counsel.--Section 
596(b)(2) of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following new sentence: ``If the Attorney General has not made 
a request under this paragraph, the division of the court shall 
determine on its own motion whether termination is appropriate under 
this paragraph not later than 3 years after the appointment of an 
independent counsel and at the end of each succeeding 3-year period.''.
    (i) Audits by the Comptroller General.--Section 596(c) of title 28, 
United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
    ``(c) Audits.--By December 31 of each year, an independent counsel 
shall prepare a statement of expenditures for the fiscal year that 
ended on the immediately preceding September 30. An independent counsel 
whose office is terminated prior to the end of the fiscal year shall 
prepare a statement of expenditures by the date that is 90 days after 
the date on which the office is terminated. The Comptroller General 
shall audit each such statement and shall, not later than March 31 of 
the year following the submission of any such statement, report the 
results of each audit to the Committee on the Judiciary and the 
Committee on Government Operations of the House of Representatives and 
to the Committee on Governmental Affairs and the Committee on the 
Judiciary of the Senate.''.

SEC. 4. MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

    Section 591(c) of title 28, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by indenting paragraphs (1) and (2) two ems to the 
        right and by redesignating such paragraphs as subparagraphs (A) 
        and (B), respectively;
            (2) by striking ``The Attorney'' and all that follows 
        through ``if--'' and inserting the following:
            ``(1) In general.--The Attorney General may conduct a 
        preliminary investigation in accordance with section 592 if--
        ''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(2) Members of congress.--When the Attorney General 
        determines that it would be in the public interest, the 
        Attorney General may conduct a preliminary investigation in 
        accordance with section 592 if the Attorney General receives 
        information sufficient to constitute grounds to investigate 
        whether a Member of Congress may have violated any Federal 
        criminal law other than a violation classified as a Class B or 
        C misdemeanor or an infraction.''.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall become effective on the date 
of the enactment of this Act.

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