[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 394 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.394

                     One Hundred Sixteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Friday,
            the third day of January, two thousand and twenty


                                 An Act


 
To amend the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 to improve the orderly 
    transfer of the executive power during Presidential transitions.

    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 Transition Enhancement 
Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION ENHANCEMENTS.
    (a) In General.--Section 3 of the Presidential Transition Act of 
1963 (3 U.S.C. 102 note) is amended--
        (1) in subsection (a)--
            (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking 
        ``upon request,'' and all that follows through ``including'' 
        and inserting ``upon request, to each President-elect, each 
        Vice-President-elect, and, for up to 60 days after the date of 
        the inauguration of the President-elect and Vice-President-
        elect, each President and Vice President, for use in connection 
        with the preparations for the assumption of official duties as 
        President or Vice President necessary services and facilities, 
        including''; and
            (B) in paragraph (2)--
                (i) by inserting ``, or an employee of a committee of 
            either House of Congress, a joint committee of the 
            Congress, or an individual Member of Congress,'' after 
            ``any branch of the Government''; and
                (ii) by inserting ``, or in the case of an employee in 
            a position in the legislative branch, with the consent of 
            the supervising Member of Congress'' after ``with the 
            consent of the head of the agency'';
        (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following:
    ``(b) The Administrator shall expend funds for the provision of 
services and facilities under this section--
        ``(1) in connection with any obligation incurred by the 
    President-elect or Vice-President-elect, or after the inauguration 
    of the President-elect as President and the inauguration of the 
    Vice-President-elect as Vice President incurred by the President or 
    Vice President, during the period--
            ``(A) beginning on the day after the date of the general 
        elections held to determine the electors of the President and 
        Vice President under section 1 or 2 of title 3, United States 
        Code; and
            ``(B) ending on the date that is 60 days after the date of 
        such inauguration; and
        ``(2) without regard to whether the President-elect, Vice-
    President-elect, President, or Vice President submits to the 
    Administrator a request for payment regarding services or 
    facilities before the end of such period.'';
        (3) in subsection (h)(2)(B)(ii), by striking ``computers'' and 
    inserting ``information technology''; and
        (4) By adding at the end the following:
    ``(i) Memorandums of Understanding.--
        ``(1) In general.--Not later than September 1 of a year during 
    which a Presidential election occurs, the Administrator shall, to 
    the maximum extent practicable, enter into a memorandum of 
    understanding with each eligible candidate, which shall include, at 
    a minimum, the conditions for the administrative support services 
    and facilities described in subsection (a).
        ``(2) Existing resources.--To the maximum extent practicable, a 
    memorandum of understanding entered into under paragraph (1) shall 
    be based on memorandums of understanding relating to previous 
    Presidential transitions.
        ``(3) Transition representative.--
            ``(A) Designation of representative for inquiries.--Each 
        memorandum of understanding entered into under this subsection 
        shall designate a representative of the eligible candidate to 
        whom the Administrator shall direct any inquiries or legal 
        instruments regarding the records of the eligible candidate 
        that are in the custody of the Administrator.
            ``(B) Change in transition representative.--The designation 
        of a new individual as the transition representative of an 
        eligible candidate shall not require the execution of a new 
        memorandum of understanding under this subsection.
            ``(C) Termination of designation.--The designation of a 
        transition representative under a memorandum of understanding 
        shall terminate--
                ``(i) not later than September 30 of the year during 
            which the inauguration of the President-elect as President 
            and the inauguration of the Vice-President-elect as Vice 
            President occurs; or
                ``(ii) before the date described in clause (i), upon 
            request of the President-elect or the Vice-President-elect 
            or, after such inauguration, upon request of the President 
            or the Vice President.
        ``(4) Amendments.--Any amendment to a memorandum of 
    understanding entered into under this subsection shall be agreed to 
    in writing.
        ``(5) Prior notification of deviation.--Each party to a 
    memorandum of understanding entered into under this subsection 
    shall provide written notice, except to the extent prohibited under 
    another provision of law, not later than 3 days before taking any 
    action that deviates from the terms and conditions agreed to in the 
    memorandum of understanding.
        ``(6) Definition.--In this subsection, the term `eligible 
    candidate' has the meaning given that term in subsection (h)(4).''.
    (b) Agency Transitions.--Section 4 of the Presidential Transition 
Act of 1963 (3 U.S.C. 102 note) is amended--
        (1) in subsection (a)--
            (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (B) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (5); and
            (C) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
        ``(4) the term `nonpublic information'--
            ``(A) means information from the Federal Government that a 
        member of a transition team obtains as part of the employment 
        of the member that such member knows or reasonably should know 
        has not been made available to the general public; and
            ``(B) includes information that a member of the transition 
        team knows or reasonably should know--
                ``(i) is exempt from disclosure under section 552 of 
            title 5, United States Code, or otherwise protected from 
            disclosure by law; and
                ``(ii) is not authorized by the appropriate government 
            agency or officials to be released to the public; and'';
        (2) in subparagraphs (C) and (D) of subsection (e)(3), by 
    inserting ``serving in a career position'' after ``senior 
    representative'';
        (3) by striking subsection (f)(2) and inserting the following:
        ``(2) Acting officers.--Not later than September 15 of a year 
    during which a Presidential election occurs, and in accordance with 
    subchapter III of chapter 33 of title 5, United States Code, the 
    head of each agency shall ensure that a succession plan is in place 
    for each senior noncareer position in the agency.''; and
        (4) in subsection (g)--
            (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``November 1'' and 
        inserting ``October 1''; and
            (B) by adding at the end the following:
        ``(3) Ethics plan.--
            ``(A) In general.--Each memorandum of understanding under 
        paragraph (1) shall include an agreement that the eligible 
        candidate will implement and enforce an ethics plan to guide 
        the conduct of the transition beginning on the date on which 
        the eligible candidate becomes the President-elect.
            ``(B) Contents.--The ethics plan shall include, at a 
        minimum--
                ``(i) a description of the ethics requirements that 
            will apply to all members of the transition team, including 
            any specific requirement for transition team members who 
            will have access to nonpublic or classified information;
                ``(ii) a description of how the transition team will--

                    ``(I) address the role on the transition team of--

                        ``(aa) lobbyists registered under the Lobbying 
                    Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) and 
                    individuals who were former lobbyists registered 
                    under that Act; and
                        ``(bb) persons registered under the Foreign 
                    Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 611 et 
                    seq.), foreign nationals, and other foreign agents;

                    ``(II) prohibit a transition team member with 
                conflicts of interest similar to those applicable to 
                Federal employees under section 2635.402(a) and section 
                2635.502(a) of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, 
                related to current or former employment, affiliations, 
                clients, or investments, from working on particular 
                matters involving specific parties that affect the 
                interests of such member; and
                    ``(III) address how the covered eligible candidate 
                will address his or her own conflicts of interest 
                during a Presidential term if the covered eligible 
                candidate becomes the President-elect;

                ``(iii) a Code of Ethical Conduct, which each member of 
            the transition team will sign and be subject to, that 
            reflects the content of the ethics plans under this 
            paragraph and at a minimum requires transition team members 
            to--

                    ``(I) seek authorization from transition team 
                leaders or their designees before seeking, on behalf of 
                the transition, access to any nonpublic information;
                    ``(II) keep confidential any nonpublic information 
                provided in the course of the duties of the member with 
                the transition and exclusively use such information for 
                the purposes of the transition; and
                    ``(III) not use any nonpublic information provided 
                in the course of transition duties, in any manner, for 
                personal or private gain for the member or any other 
                party at any time during or after the transition; and

                ``(iv) a description of how the transition team will 
            enforce the Code of Ethical Conduct, including the names of 
            the members of the transition team responsible for 
            enforcement, oversight, and compliance.
            ``(C) Publicly available.--The transition team shall make 
        the ethics plan described in this paragraph publicly available 
        on the internet website of the General Services 

  
        Administration the earlier of--
                ``(i) the day on which the memorandum of understanding 
            is completed; or
                ``(ii) October 1.''.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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