[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 888 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 888

 To promote accountability and the public interest in the operation of 
          the Federal Reserve System, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 10, 1995

   Mr. Gonzalez (for himself, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Mfume, Mr. Wynn, Mr. 
Traficant, Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, and Mr. DeFazio) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Banking and 
                           Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To promote accountability and the public interest in the operation of 
          the Federal Reserve System, 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 ``Federal Reserve Audit and 
Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT OF FEDERAL RESERVE BANK PRESIDENTS BY THE PRESIDENT 
              BY AND WITH THE CONSENT OF THE SENATE.

    (a) In General.--Section 4 of the Federal Reserve Act is amended by 
inserting after the 4th undesignated paragraph (12 U.S.C. 341; relating 
to general corporate powers) the following new subsection:
    ``(e) Bank Presidents and 1st Vice Presidents.--
            ``(1) Appointment of president.--The President shall 
        appoint, by and with the consent of the Senate, a president for 
        each Federal reserve bank.
            ``(2) Appointment of 1st vice president.--The president of 
        each Federal reserve bank shall appoint a first vice president 
        for the bank.
            ``(3) Terms.--The president and first vice president shall 
        be appointed for terms of 5 years.
            ``(4) Duty of president.--The president of a Federal 
        reserve bank shall be the chief executive officer of the bank.
            ``(5) Duty of 1st vice president.--In addition to any other 
        duties of the first vice president of a Federal reserve bank, 
        the first vice president shall, in the absence or disability of 
        the president or during a vacancy in the office of president, 
        serve as chief executive officer of the bank.
            ``(6) Vacancy.--Whenever a vacancy shall occur in the 
        office of the president or the first vice president, it shall 
        be filled in the manner provided for the original appointment 
        and the person so appointed shall hold office until the 
        expiration of the term to which such person's predecessor was 
        appointed.''.
    (b) Transition.--
            (1) President.--The first appointment of the president for 
        each Federal reserve bank which is made in accordance with the 
        amendment made by subsection (a) shall take place upon the 
        earlier of--
                    (A) the expiration of the term of the president of 
                the bank who is serving in such office on the date of 
                the enactment of this Act; or
                    (B) the occurrence of the first vacancy in the 
                office of president of the bank after the date of the 
                enactment of this Act.
            (2) 1st vice president.--Notwithstanding any provision of 
        the Federal Reserve Act, the term of the first vice president 
        of any Federal reserve bank who was appointed to such position 
        before the date of the enactment of this Act shall end as of 
        the date on which the president of the bank is first appointed 
        in accordance with the amendment made by subsection (a) and a 
        first vice president shall be appointed in the manner provided 
        by such amendment.
    (c) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The subdivision designated 
``Fifth.'' of the 4th undesignated paragraph of section 4 of the 
Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 341) is amended--
            (1) in the 1st sentence, by striking ``a president, vice 
        presidents, and''; and
            (2) by striking the 2d, 3d, and 4th sentences and inserting 
        the following new sentence: ``All executive officers and all 
        employees of the bank shall be directly responsible to the 
        president of the bank.''.

SEC. 3. GAO AUDITS OF FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD AND FEDERAL RESERVE BANKS 
              REQUIRED; ITEMIZED BUDGETS.

    (a) Removal of Limitation on GAO Audits.--Section 714(b) of title 
31, United States Code, is amended by striking the 2d sentence and 
inserting the following new sentence: ``In the case of any audit of the 
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or any Federal reserve 
bank pursuant to the preceding sentence, the audit may not include 
transactions for or with a foreign central bank, government of a 
foreign country, or nonprivate international financing organization or 
any part of any discussion or communication among or between members of 
the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or officers or 
employees of such Board which is related to any such transaction.''.
    (b) Itemized Budgets.--The Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 221 et 
seq.) is amended by inserting after section 11A the following new 
section:

``SEC. 11B. ITEMIZED BUDGETS.

    ``(a) In General.--During the first 15 days of each regular session 
of Congress, the estimated receipts and proposed expenditures of the 
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and all Federal 
Reserve Banks for the following fiscal year and the 2 succeeding fiscal 
years shall be transmitted to the Congress.
    ``(b) Form of Budget.--The budget submitted pursuant to subsection 
(a) shall be transmitted in the same form and shall meet the same 
requirements, other than the requirement relating to the budget 
message, as the budget of the United States Government transmitted in 
accordance with section 1105 of title 31, United States Code.''.

SEC. 4. PROMPT PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF OPEN MARKET COMMITTEE MEETINGS.

    Section 12A of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 263) is amended 
by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d) Prompt Public Disclosures of Meetings.--
            ``(1) Transcription of each meeting.--Subject to paragraph 
        (3), a written verbatim transcript of the discussion at each 
        meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee shall be 
        maintained by the Board and made available to the public before 
        the end of the 1-year period beginning on the date of the 
        meeting and shall be treated as a Government publication for 
        purposes of making such material available to depository 
        libraries through the facilities of the Superintendent of 
        Documents in accordance with chapter 19 of title 41, United 
        States Code.
            ``(2) Prompt disclosure of policy actions.--An explicit, 
        written description of any determination, decision, directive, 
        or other conclusion made by the Federal Open Market Committee 
        at any meeting of the committee, including any directive or 
        instruction sent to any Federal reserve bank or Federal reserve 
        agent in connection with any open market operation, shall be 
        made available to the public by the end of the 1-hour period 
        beginning at the time the Board or any such bank or agent 
        begins to implement any such determination, decision, 
        directive, conclusion, directive, or instruction.
            ``(3) Limited redaction authority.--
                    ``(A) In general.--No verbatim transcript made 
                available to the public pursuant to paragraph (1) may 
                be redacted in any way other than to redact a specific 
                reference to a foreign central bank.
                    ``(B) Compliance audit.--The Comptroller General of 
                the United States shall periodically audit compliance 
                by the Board with the requirements of subparagraph (A).
            ``(4) Release of prior transcripts.--All transcripts 
        maintained by the Board of any meeting of the Federal Open 
        Market Committee which was held more than 1 year before the 
        date of the enactment of the Federal Reserve Audit and 
        Accountability Act shall be made available to the public in the 
        manner provided under paragraph (1) no later than July 1, 1995.
            ``(5) Meeting includes executive session.--For purposes of 
        this subsection, the term `meeting' includes any executive 
        session of the Federal Open Market Committee or any informal 
        meeting, teleconference call, or other occasion at which a 
        quorum of the members of the committee are participating.''.

SEC. 5. STUDY OF PRIVATIZATION OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE PAYMENT SYSTEM.

    (a) In General.--The Comptroller General of the United States shall 
conduct a study, in consultation with all interested parties, on--
            (1) whether or not the Board of Governors of the Federal 
        Reserve System has set prices for payment system services 
        provided by such Board in a manner which fully and accurately 
        reflects all direct and indirect costs incurred by the Board in 
        providing such services; and
            (2) the ability of the private sector to fully provide 
        payment system services, including the services being provided 
        as of the date of the enactment of this Act by the Board, and 
        the costs and benefits of privatizing the services which are 
        being provided by the Board as of such date.
    (b) Report.--The Comptroller General shall prepare and submit a 
report to the Congress before the end of the 12-month period beginning 
on the date of the enactment of this Act on the findings and 
conclusions of the Comptroller General in connection with the study 
conducted pursuant to subsection (a).

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