[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 162 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

  1st Session
S. RES. 162

 To require each accredited member of the Senate Press Gallery to file 
an annual public report with the Secretary of the Senate disclosing the 
member's primary employer and any additional sources of earned outside 
                                income.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

               August 10 (legislative day, July 10), 1995

Mr. Byrd submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                 Committee on Rules and Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 To require each accredited member of the Senate Press Gallery to file 
an annual public report with the Secretary of the Senate disclosing the 
member's primary employer and any additional sources of earned outside 
                                income.
    Whereas the media are a powerful force within our system of 
            government;
    Whereas the media have unequaled influence over the dissemination 
            of information to the American people;
    Whereas public trust of the media is essential to the health and 
            proper functioning of our republican form of government;
    Whereas the media have no industrywide ethical standards regarding 
            the acceptance of earned outside income;
    Whereas members of the media could appear to compromise their 
            objectivity by receiving compensation from the same groups 
            they cover; and
    Whereas it is in the best interests of the American people and the 
            media that any appearance of a conflict of interest 
            regarding a member of the media's receipt of outside earned 
            income be removed: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That (a) not later than May 15 of each year, each 
accredited member of any of the Senate press galleries who was an 
accredited member in the preceding year shall file a report for the 
preceding year with the Secretary of the Senate disclosing the identity 
of--
            (1) the primary employer of the member during the preceding 
        year; and
            (2) the identity of any additional sources of earned 
        outside income received by the member, together with the 
        amounts received from each such source, during the preceding 
        year.
    (b) For purposes of this resolution
            (1) the term ``Senate press galleries'' means--
                    (A) the Senate Press Gallery;
                    (B) the Senate Radio and Television Correspondents 
                Gallery;
                    (C) the Senate Periodical Press Gallery; and
                    (D) the Senate Press Photographers Gallery; and
            (2) the term ``earned outside income'' means any earned 
        income received from sources other than a member's primary 
        employer but does not include interest or dividends received on 
        stocks, bonds, savings accounts, or other forms of passive 
        investment or income from inheritances or rental activities.
    (c) A report filed pursuant to this resolution shall be filed with 
the Secretary of the Senate and available for public inspection as 
provided in section 103 of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 for 
financial reports filed by Members and employees of the Senate.
    (d) An accredited member of any of the Senate press galleries who 
fails to file a report as required by this resolution shall be subject 
to the loss of the member's accreditation or such other penalties as 
the member's Senate press gallery deems appropriate.
                                 <all>