[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1777 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.1777

                     One Hundred Fourteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
           the fourth day of January, two thousand and sixteen


                                 An Act


 
  To amend the Act of August 25, 1958, commonly known as the ``Former 
Presidents Act of 1958'', with respect to the monetary allowance payable 
             to a former President, 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 ``Presidential Allowance Modernization 
Act of 2016''.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.
    (a) Former Presidents.--The first section of the Act entitled ``An 
Act to provide retirement, clerical assistants, and free mailing 
privileges to former Presidents of the United States, and for other 
purposes'', approved August 25, 1958 (commonly known as the ``Former 
Presidents Act of 1958'') (3 U.S.C. 102 note), is amended by striking 
the matter preceding subsection (e) and inserting the following:
    ``(a) In General.--Each former President shall be entitled for the 
remainder of his or her life to receive from the United States--
        ``(1) an annuity at the rate of $200,000 per year, subject to 
    subsection (c); and
        ``(2) a monetary allowance at the rate of $200,000 per year, 
    subject to subsections (c) and (d).
    ``(b) Duration; Frequency.--
        ``(1) In general.--The annuity and allowance under subsection 
    (a) shall each--
            ``(A) commence on the day after the date on which an 
        individual becomes a former President;
            ``(B) terminate on the date on which the former President 
        dies; and
            ``(C) be payable by the Secretary of the Treasury on a 
        monthly basis.
        ``(2) Appointive or elective positions.--The annuity and 
    allowance under subsection (a) shall not be payable for any period 
    during which a former President holds an appointive or elective 
    position in or under the Federal Government to which is attached a 
    rate of pay other than a nominal rate.
    ``(c) Cost-of-Living Increases.--Effective December 1 of each year, 
each annuity and allowance under subsection (a) that commenced before 
that date shall be increased by the same percentage by which benefit 
amounts under title II of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401 et 
seq.) are increased, effective as of that date, as a result of a 
determination under section 215(i) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 415(i)).
    ``(d) Limitation on Monetary Allowance.--
        ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
    section, the monetary allowance payable under subsection (a)(2) to 
    a former President for any 12-month period--
            ``(A) except as provided in subparagraph (B), may not 
        exceed the amount by which--
                ``(i) the monetary allowance that (but for this 
            subsection) would otherwise be so payable for such 12-month 
            period, exceeds (if at all)
                ``(ii) the applicable reduction amount for such 12-
            month period; and
            ``(B) shall not be less than the amount determined under 
        paragraph (4).
        ``(2) Definition.--
            ``(A) In general.--For purposes of paragraph (1), the term 
        `applicable reduction amount' means, with respect to any former 
        President and in connection with any 12-month period, the 
        amount by which--
                ``(i) the sum of--

                    ``(I) the adjusted gross income (as defined in 
                section 62 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) of the 
                former President for the most recent taxable year for 
                which a tax return is available; and
                    ``(II) any interest excluded from the gross income 
                of the former President under section 103 of such Code 
                for such taxable year, exceeds (if at all)

                ``(ii) $400,000, subject to subparagraph (C).
            ``(B) Joint returns.--In the case of a joint return, 
        subclauses (I) and (II) of subparagraph (A)(i) shall be applied 
        by taking into account both the amounts properly allocable to 
        the former President and the amounts properly allocable to the 
        spouse of the former President.
            ``(C) Cost-of-living increases.--The dollar amount 
        specified in subparagraph (A)(ii) shall be adjusted at the same 
        time that, and by the same percentage by which, the monetary 
        allowance of the former President is increased under subsection 
        (c) (disregarding this subsection).
        ``(3) Disclosure requirement.--
            ``(A) Definitions.--In this paragraph--
                ``(i) the terms `return' and `return information' have 
            the meanings given those terms in section 6103(b) of the 
            Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and
                ``(ii) the term `Secretary' means the Secretary of the 
            Treasury or the Secretary of the Treasury's delegate.
            ``(B) Requirement.--A former President may not receive a 
        monetary allowance under subsection (a)(2) unless the former 
        President discloses to the Secretary, upon the request of the 
        Secretary, any return or return information of the former 
        President or spouse of the former President that the Secretary 
        determines is necessary for purposes of calculating the 
        applicable reduction amount under paragraph (2) of this 
        subsection.
            ``(C) Confidentiality.--Except as provided in section 6103 
        of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and notwithstanding any 
        other provision of law, the Secretary may not, with respect to 
        a return or return information disclosed to the Secretary under 
        subparagraph (B)--
                ``(i) disclose the return or return information to any 
            entity or person; or
                ``(ii) use the return or return information for any 
            purpose other than to calculate the applicable reduction 
            amount under paragraph (2).
        ``(4) Increased costs due to security needs.--With respect to 
    the monetary allowance that would be payable to a former President 
    under subsection (a)(2) for any 12-month period but for the 
    limitation under paragraph (1), the Administrator of General 
    Services, in coordination with the Director of the United States 
    Secret Service, shall determine the amount of the allowance that is 
    needed to pay the increased cost of doing business that is 
    attributable to the security needs of the former President.''.
    (b) Surviving Spouses of Former Presidents.--
        (1) Increase in amount of monetary allowance.--Subsection (e) 
    of the first section of the Former Presidents Act of 1958 is 
    amended--
            (A) in the first sentence, by striking ``$20,000 per 
        annum,'' and inserting ``$100,000 per year (subject to 
        paragraph (4)),''; and
            (B) in the second sentence--
                (i) in paragraph (2), by striking ``and'' at the end;
                (ii) in paragraph (3)--

                    (I) by striking ``or the government of the District 
                of Columbia''; and
                    (II) by striking the period and inserting ``; 
                and''; and

                (iii) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
        ``(4) shall, after its commencement date, be increased at the 
    same time that, and by the same percentage by which, annuities of 
    former Presidents are increased under subsection (c).''.
        (2) Coverage of widower of a former president.--Subsection (e) 
    of the first section of the Former Presidents Act of 1958, as 
    amended by paragraph (1), is amended--
            (A) by striking ``widow'' each place it appears and 
        inserting ``widow or widower''; and
            (B) by striking ``she'' and inserting ``she or he''.
    (c) Subsection Headings.--The first section of the Former 
Presidents Act of 1958 is amended--
        (1) in subsection (e), by inserting after the subsection 
    enumerator the following: ``Widows and Widowers.--'';
        (2) in subsection (f), by inserting after the subsection 
    enumerator the following: ``Definition.--''; and
        (3) in subsection (g), by inserting after the subsection 
    enumerator the following: ``Authorization of Appropriations.--''.
SEC. 3. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
    Nothing in this Act or an amendment made by this Act shall be 
construed to affect--
        (1) any provision of law relating to the security or protection 
    of a former President or a member of the family of a former 
    President; or
        (2) funding, under the Former Presidents Act of 1958 or any 
    other law, to carry out any provision of law described in paragraph 
    (1).
SEC. 4. TRANSITION RULES.
    (a) Former Presidents.--In the case of any individual who is a 
former President on the date of enactment of this Act, the amendment 
made by section 2(a) shall be applied as if the commencement date 
referred in subsection (b)(1)(A) of the first section of the Former 
Presidents Act of 1958, as amended by section 2(a), coincided with such 
date of enactment.
    (b) Widows.--In the case of any individual who is the widow of a 
former President on the date of enactment of this Act, the amendments 
made by section 2(b)(1) shall be applied as if the commencement date 
referred to in subsection (e)(1) of the first section of the Former 
Presidents Act of 1958, as amended by section 2(b)(1), coincided with 
such date of enactment.
SEC. 5. APPLICABILITY.
    For a former President receiving a monetary allowance under the 
Former Presidents Act of 1958 on the day before the date of enactment 
of this Act, the limitation under subsection (d)(1) of the first 
section of that Act, as amended by section 2(a), shall apply to the 
monetary allowance of the former President, except to the extent that 
the application of the limitation would prevent the former President 
from being able to pay the cost of a lease or other contract that is in 
effect on the day before the date of enactment of this Act and under 
which the former President makes payments using the monetary allowance, 
as determined by the Administrator of General Services.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.