[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14834]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   PERMITTING RELEASE OF INFORMATION REGARDING CERTAIN INVESTIGATIONS

  Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 5420) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit 
the release of information regarding the status of certain 
investigations.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5420

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. RELEASE OF INFORMATION REGARDING THE STATUS OF 
                   CERTAIN INVESTIGATIONS.

       (a) In General.--Section 6103(e) of the Internal Revenue 
     Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following 
     new paragraph:
       ``(11) Disclosure of information regarding status of 
     investigation of violation of this section.--In the case of a 
     person who provides to the Secretary information indicating a 
     violation of section 7213, 7213A, or 7214 with respect to any 
     return or return information of such person, the Secretary 
     may disclose to such person (or such person's designee)--
       ``(A) whether an investigation based on the person's 
     provision of such information has been initiated and whether 
     it is open or closed,
       ``(B) whether any such investigation substantiated such a 
     violation by any individual, and
       ``(C) whether any action has been taken with respect to 
     such individual (including whether a referral has been made 
     for prosecution of such individual).''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section 
     shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Boustany) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Louisiana.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and to include extraneous material on the subject of the bill under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Louisiana?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, tonight I rise in support of H.R. 5420. This bill, which 
I introduced, reforms the Tax Code's rules on information disclosures 
to victims of unauthorized disclosures.
  In recent years, the IRS has leaked the confidential tax information 
of numerous groups: The National Organization for Marriage, Crossroads 
GPS, Americans for Responsible Leadership, Freedom Path, and others. 
Disclosing taxpayer information like this is a crime, but current law 
does not allow the victimized taxpayer to know anything of the status 
of the investigation into the leak.
  H.R. 5420 fixes this by allowing victims of unauthorized disclosures 
to learn about the status of any investigations into their particular 
cases.
  Additionally, some victims of IRS targeting were subject to the 
flagrant disclosure of their confidential tax information to the media. 
Yet these victims are not permitted access to any information about the 
progress on the investigation of these violations.
  This bill provides certainty to taxpayers who have been victimized in 
this manner to inquire about the status of their investigations. It is 
a commonsense bill. It is a good reform.
  I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill, and I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I support this legislation.
  When a taxpayer makes a complaint regarding unlawful disclosure of 
information, current law does not permit the Treasury Department to 
provide the affected taxpayer with information concerning the status or 
resolution of the complaint.
  Under the provision here, the enumerated circumstances in which 
taxpayer information may be lawfully disclosed by the Treasury 
Department would be expanded to include disclosure to certain 
complainants of information regarding the status and results of any 
investigation initiated by their complaint.
  I support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend across the aisle. I 
think if only we could conduct business this way, it might all be good 
and we could solve a lot of problems, so I thank the gentleman.
  This is, again, a commonsense reform, it came out of the 
investigation, I urge its passage.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Boustany) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 5420.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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