[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3415 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3415

 To require the disclosure of all payments made under the Equal Access 
                            to Justice Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 19, 2012

Mr. Inhofe (for himself and Mr. Vitter) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the disclosure of all payments made under the Equal Access 
                            to Justice Act.

    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 ``Government Transparency and 
Recordkeeping Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF PAYMENTS.

    Section 1304 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
    ``(d) Disclosure of Payments.--
            ``(1) In general.--
                    ``(A) Past payments.--Except as provided in 
                paragraph (3), not later than 90 days after the date of 
                enactment of the Government Transparency and 
                Recordkeeping Act of 2012, the Secretary of the 
                Treasury shall make all records of individual payments 
                made under this section since January 1, 2003, 
                available to Congress and the public in accordance with 
                paragraph (2).
                    ``(B) Annual update.--Beginning 1 year after the 
                date on which the Secretary of the Treasury makes the 
                records available under subparagraph (A), and each year 
                thereafter, the Secretary of the Treasury shall make 
                all records of individual payments made under this 
                section during the previous year available to Congress 
                and the public in accordance with paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Requirements.--In making records available under 
        paragraph (1), the Secretary of the Treasury shall ensure 
        that--
                    ``(A) the records are made available on a publicly 
                accessible Internet website; and
                    ``(B) each record contains--
                            ``(i) information that clearly identifies 
                        the entity receiving the payment;
                            ``(ii) a copy of the settlement or judgment 
                        under which the payment was made;
                            ``(iii) the amount of the total payment to 
                        each entity; and
                            ``(iv) a breakdown of the payment showing 
                        the specific amount of the damages, interest, 
                        and attorneys' fees.
            ``(3) Prohibition.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary of the Treasury 
                may not make a record of individual payment available 
                under this subsection if--
                            ``(i) the payment was not the result of any 
                        executive branch, Federal department, agency, 
                        or instrumentality statutory or regulatory 
                        approval or permit related case, court order, 
                        consent decree, or Federal department, agency, 
                        or instrumentality settlement; or
                            ``(ii) the disclosure of the information is 
                        otherwise prohibited by law or court order, or 
                        is not in the best interest of national 
                        security.
                    ``(B) Rationale.--For each record of individual 
                payment not disclosed under subparagraph (A), the 
                Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to Congress a 
                statement explaining the rationale for not disclosing 
                the record.''.
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