110 HR 7211 IH: Minerals Management Service Improvement Act of 2008
U.S. House of Representatives
2008-09-28
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EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.Short title; table of contents
(a)This Act may be cited as the Minerals Management Service Improvement Act of 2008
.
(b)The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Definitions.
TITLE I—Employees of Service
Sec. 101. Employee ethical standards.
TITLE II—Programs of Service
Sec. 201. Suspension of royalty-in-kind program.
Sec. 202. Audits.
Sec. 203. Annual reports.
Sec. 204. Prohibition on use of royalty-in-kind revenues for administrative costs.
2.In this Act:
(1)The term Department means the Department of the Interior.
(2)The term mineral has the meaning given the term minerals in section 2 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331).
(3)
(A)The term mineral mining means—
(i)any activity carried out on Federal land on or off a claim (with or without a discovery) for mineral leasing, preleasing, any related activity, prospecting, exploration, development, mining, extraction, milling, beneficiation, processing, or storage of mined or processed materials with respect to any mineral that is under the jurisdiction of the Service and uses reasonably incident to the activity; and
(ii)any reclamation activity for any mineral and uses reasonably incident to the activity.
(B)The term mineral activity includes the construction and use of roads, transmission lines, pipelines, utility corridors, and other means of access across Federal land for an ancillary facility.
(4)The term royalty-in-kind program means the program established under—
(A)section 342 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15902);
(B)section 36 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 192);
(C)section 27 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1353); or
(D)any other similar provision of law.
(5)The term Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.
(6)The term Service means the Minerals Management Service.
<enum>I</enum><header>Employees of Service</header>
<section commented="no" id="HC157F9795156478E9E76026D0795002E"><enum>101.</enum><header>Employee ethical standards</header>
<subsection id="HA2BBB7375456449880BFC0458B98DECA"><enum>(a)</enum><header>Gifts</header>
<paragraph id="HDE93557CE8F74E359DABECBABA4940A6"><enum>(1)</enum><header>Prohibition</header>
<subparagraph id="HDA424AEE146345ECAF67CA0000496F94"><enum>(A)</enum><header>In general</header><text>An employee of the Service may not knowingly accept a gift from an entity that is engaged in the business of mineral mining.</text></subparagraph>
<subparagraph id="HA30D4CE3FF694A29909214CF783684D4"><enum>(B)</enum><header>Exceptions</header><text>Except for the value exception, the regulations providing exceptions to the gift rules for Federal employees for gifts from outside sources (5 C.F.R. Part 2635) shall apply to subparagraph (A).</text></subparagraph></paragraph>
<paragraph id="HE9A318C8D8F44643B62C22757F234C69"><enum>(2)</enum><header>Violation</header><text>Whoever violates paragraph (1) shall be guilty of a felony and fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both.</text></paragraph></subsection>
<subsection id="HC1990C10492B4FD4880515BA7378C9FB"><enum>(b)</enum><header>Financial disclosure</header><text>The filing requirements of <external-xref legal-doc="usc-act" parsable-cite="usc-act/Ethics in Government Act of 1978 /101">section 101(f)</external-xref> of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 shall apply to an employee of the Service in a position classified at an annual income equivalent to GS–13 or higher.</text></subsection>
<subsection id="H07FA21DF4FF34C21BB9B41F64080476C"><enum>(c)</enum><header>Divestiture requirement</header><text>An employee of the Service may not own stock or any other interest in an entity that is engaged in the business of mineral mining during the period of employment of that employee by the Service.</text></subsection>
<subsection id="HA489B4517AA54486B9CFEBEB825FD252"><enum>(d)</enum><header>Outside employment</header><text>An employee of the Service may not be employed by any entity that is engaged in the business of mineral mining during the period of employment of that employee by the Service.</text></subsection>
<subsection id="HBA62DC048B8848ABB85B44FCD0C7BBD1"><enum>(e)</enum><header>Revolving door</header>
<paragraph id="H23B5AE9DE5324F7D907CA758028BE900"><enum>(1)</enum><header>Any work for the industry</header><text>An employee of the Service shall not work for an entity engaged in the business of mineral mining during the 1-year period after the termination of his or her employment with the Service.</text></paragraph>
<paragraph id="H0141902C4B514EC585ABE400C0B3E800"><enum>(2)</enum><header>Violation</header><text>Whoever violates paragraph (1) shall be guilty of a felony and punished as provided in <external-xref legal-doc="usc" parsable-cite="usc/18/216">section 216</external-xref> of title 18, United States Code.</text></paragraph></subsection></section>
<enum>II</enum><header>Programs of Service</header>
<section id="H87586EC0655C4188BE3787DD3C835FE5"><enum>201.</enum><header>Suspension of royalty-in-kind program</header>
<subsection id="H42AE0FBD25944547ACF6997717B80912"><enum>(a)</enum><header>In general</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the authority of the Secretary to carry out each royalty-in-kind program is suspended during the period—</text>
<paragraph id="HC414DB9034274C279BBFDD4BA1923790"><enum>(1)</enum><text>beginning on the date of enactment of this Act; and</text></paragraph>
<paragraph id="H560F3DBFF57F4B2788295655CEFF82BA"><enum>(2)</enum><text>ending on the date the Secretary certifies to Congress that the Secretary, acting through the Service, has—</text>
<subparagraph id="H3FCB592D7D6F410B97AFCE86FDBBB16"><enum>(A)</enum><text>conducted a comprehensive review to determine if the Service is accurately collecting royalties and reported the results of the review to Congress;</text></subparagraph>
<subparagraph id="HCD8D0545E5AF44C69300F25B14539441"><enum>(B)</enum><text>conducted a thorough review to ensure that metering equipment properly measures what royalties are owed to the Federal Government and reported the results of the review to Congress;</text></subparagraph>
<subparagraph id="HD3452CE87EFF4CB8B6AA89F4FCD7ED8"><enum>(C)</enum><text>implemented a robust training program for employees of the Service that culminates in a certification signed by an employee that the employee understands the ethics laws (including regulations); and</text></subparagraph>
<subparagraph id="HE3DA8BEC3A5E443E81DD15B3D63D6519"><enum>(D)</enum><text>created an ombudsman position that—</text>
<clause id="H7E6FD9CBA83D4C7C80E76B74B488D590"><enum>(i)</enum><text>monitors the progress of the Service in carrying out the actions described in this paragraph; and</text></clause>
<clause id="H0AEF4B8825B349AD94D05E52043978CD"><enum>(ii)</enum><text>is appointed by, and reports exclusively to, the Inspector General of the Department.</text></clause></subparagraph></paragraph></subsection>
<subsection id="H708797BBFF9F45FD91DEAF65F1F3CE12"><enum>(b)</enum><header>Application</header><text>Subsection (a) applies to a contract entered into on or after the date of enactment of this Act.</text></subsection></section>
<section id="H639ED40ED018429491B739A1801C01CF"><enum>202.</enum><header>Audits</header>
<subsection id="H6C8DC1B3A7FD4AB680E267716EDE008C"><enum>(a)</enum><header>Number of audits</header>
<paragraph id="H41F2F2ACDA7C429C9271DD880090E11F"><enum>(1)</enum><header>In general</header><text>The Secretary shall ensure that by fiscal year 2009 the Service shall perform each fiscal year not less that 550 audits of oil and gas leases entered into by the Secretary for which payment is made under a royalty-in-kind program.</text></paragraph>
<paragraph id="HC162E89B09B24336ACF1EFA9422E2CE"><enum>(2)</enum><header>Compliance reviews</header><text>For purposes of paragraph (1), a compliance review shall not be considered an audit.</text></paragraph></subsection>
<subsection id="HACBBB5FF07BC4FFEAAA8BC1F1900CE60"><enum>(b)</enum><header>Standards</header><text>Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations that—</text>
<paragraph id="HFF098F11A27C446A9C262D5241A243C4"><enum>(1)</enum><text>require that all employees that conduct audits or compliance reviews of oil and gas leases entered into by the Secretary shall meet professional auditor qualifications that are consistent with the latest revision of the Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States; and</text></paragraph>
<paragraph id="H54B0595D54B54C74871352599D07B27"><enum>(2)</enum><text>ensure that all audits conducted by the Department are performed in accordance with the Standards.</text></paragraph></subsection></section>
<section id="HF782E9FB10464AAEAE48196000B1EB8"><enum>203.</enum><header>Annual reports</header><text display-inline="no-display-inline">Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act and each year thereafter, the Inspector General of the Department shall submit to Congress a report that evaluates—</text>
<paragraph id="HACA4ADCC9B344BCDA6B765299BEF61E2"><enum>(1)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">the performance of the Secretary in carrying out each royalty-in-kind program; and</text></paragraph>
<paragraph id="H647EC153823846209276955F5EA225F0"><enum>(2)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">whether the royalty-in-kind program costs or saves taxpayer dollars as compared to receiving revenues in cash.</text></paragraph></section>
<section id="HF9A51D761B1C4AF7B03B62423EB3C105"><enum>204.</enum><header>Prohibition on use of royalty-in-kind revenues for administrative costs</header><text display-inline="no-display-inline">Section 342(b)(5) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (<external-xref legal-doc="usc" parsable-cite="usc/42/15902">42 U.S.C. 15902(b)(5)</external-xref>) is amended—</text>
<paragraph id="HAF86831B54ED4E60910900194622E9B5"><enum>(1)</enum><text>by striking <quote><header-in-text level="paragraph" style="OLC">Limitation</header-in-text>.—</quote> and all that follows through <quote>subparagraph (B), the</quote> in subparagraph (A) and inserting <quote><header-in-text level="paragraph" style="OLC">Limitation</header-in-text>.—The</quote>; and</text></paragraph>
<paragraph id="HF259CAD06C4F46389BEAB39034008142"><enum>(2)</enum><text>by striking subparagraph (B).</text></paragraph></section>