[House Report 113-323]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


113th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session                                                    113-323
_______________________________________________________________________

                                     

                                                 Union Calendar No. 240


                    ANNUAL REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES

                                 OF THE

                          COMMITTEE ON ETHICS

                                FOR THE

                    ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS

                            (First Session)

                               __________

                              R E P O R T

                                 of the

                          COMMITTEE ON ETHICS




January 2, 2014.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed
                          COMMITTEE ON ETHICS

K. MICHAEL CONAWAY, Texas            LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California
  Chairman                             Ranking Member
CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania        PEDRO R. PIERLUISI, Puerto Rico
PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania         MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts
TREY GOWDY, South Carolina           YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York
SUSAN W. BROOKS, Indiana             TED DEUTCH, Florida

                              Report Staff

          Thomas A. Rust, Interim Chief Counsel/Staff Director
               Jackie M. Barber, Counsel to the Chairman
            Daniel J. Taylor, Counsel to the Ranking Member
                Brittany M. Bohren, Investigative Clerk


                          LETTER OF SUBMITTAL

                              ----------                              

                          House of Representatives,
                                       Committee on Ethics,
                                   Washington, DC, January 2, 2014.
Hon. Karen L. Haas,
Clerk, House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
    Dear Ms. Haas: Pursuant to clause 1(d) of Rule XI of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives, we hereby submit to the 
House an Annual Report on the Activities of the Committee on 
Ethics for the First Session of the 113th Congress.
            Sincerely,
                                   K. Michael Conaway,
                                           Chairman.
                                   Linda T. Sanchez,
                                           Ranking Member.



                                                 Union Calendar No. 240
113th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session                                                    113-323

======================================================================



 
ANNUAL REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMITTEE ON ETHICS FOR THE ONE 
              HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS (FIRST SESSION)

                                _______
                                

January 2, 2014.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

 Mr. Conaway and Ms. Sanchez, from the Committee on Ethics, submitted 
                             the following

                              R E P O R T

    The Committee on Ethics is tasked with interpreting and 
enforcing the House ethics rules. The Committee has sole 
jurisdiction over the interpretation of the Code of Official 
Conduct, which governs the actions of Members and staff. The 
Committee is the only standing House committee with equal 
numbers of Democratic and Republican members. The Committee's 
operative staff is required by rule to be--and it is--
professional and nonpartisan. Every Committee vote during the 
1st Session of the 113th Congress was unanimous. In these and 
other ways, the Committee is unique and distinct from other 
committees and plays a different role in the House than any 
other House entity. This report provides a brief summary of the 
Committee's notable activities, followed by a table summarizing 
the activities.
    Most of the Committee's work is conducted confidentially. 
Members and staff are prohibited, by Committee rule, from 
publicly discussing the Committee's work. Confidentiality 
promotes compliance with the rules and, in the investigative 
context, permits the Committee to independently investigate 
matters fully without interference or undue influence. 
Confidentiality is also a component of fairness to those whose 
conduct may be reviewed by the Committee.
    However, at appropriate times and in the interest of 
transparency and accountability, the Committee may make certain 
activities and information public. Therefore, to the extent 
Committee rules, obligations, and integrity permit, the 
Committee submits this report on its activities.

                  I. THE COMMITTEE'S RESPONSIBILITIES

    The Committee manages five critical responsibilities:
    1. Training. The Committee provides mandatory annual ethics 
training to approximately 10,000 employees of the House. In 
addition, the Committee provides additional, mandatory training 
for senior staff. Trainings take the form of in-person 
briefings and computer-based interactive presentations. The 
Committee regularly updates its online training materials and 
has systems for monitoring and enforcing compliance with the 
House's training requirements.
    2. Advice and Education. The Committee provides both formal 
and informal guidance to Members and employees of the House. 
Through published guidance, the Committee updates the House on 
the ethical standards regulating the conduct of Members and 
staff. It also provides confidential written guidance to 
Members and staff on specific questions. In addition, the 
Committee staff gives informal, confidential advice to Members, 
staff, and the public every day.
    3. Travel. The Committee is responsible for reviewing and 
approving all privately-sponsored travel related to official 
duties offered to Members and staff. At the end of the 112th 
Congress, the Committee adopted revised travel regulations, 
which were made effective for travel beginning on April 1, 
2013.
    4. Financial Disclosure. The Committee reviews and 
certifies all annual financial disclosure statements that 
Members, candidates, and senior staff are required to file, as 
well as all periodic transaction reports that Members and 
senior staff file. These are time-intensive reviews, which 
require the dedication of substantial staff resources to 
complete. In addition, the Committee's financial disclosure 
experts speak and meet regularly with individual Members and 
staff to pre-screen their reports to prevent and avoid the 
necessity of filing amendments, or to provide assistance in 
completing the reports.
    5. Investigations. The Committee investigates and 
adjudicates allegations of impropriety and violations of House 
ethics rules by Members and staff. The Committee actively 
investigates allegations against Members and staff, using a mix 
of informal and formal investigative techniques to determine 
the validity of factual allegations, explore potential rules 
violations and recommend appropriate sanctions and corrective 
actions. Where appropriate, the Committee refers matters to 
federal and state law enforcement authorities.
    In addition, the Committee performs other critical 
functions to ensure compliance with House ethics rules. Several 
of these functions are noted in the table below, which 
summarizes the Committee's activities for 2013.

                    II. SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS


                 A. ORGANIZATION IN THE 113TH CONGRESS

    On January 3, 2013, Representative K. Michael Conaway was 
appointed the new Chairman of the Committee, Representative 
Linda T. Sanchez was reappointed Ranking Member of the 
Committee, and three new Republican Members joined the 
Committee. On January 23, 2013, the Committee gained three new 
Democratic Members. The first Committee meeting of the 113th 
Congress was held on February 5, 2013. At this meeting, the 
Committee adopted its rules and oversight plan and voted to re-
hire its non-partisan, professional staff for the new Congress.

            B. ADVICE TO NEW AND EXISTING MEMBERS AND STAFF

    From the beginning of the 113th Congress to December 31, 
2013, 76 new Members joined the House, as did 3,208 new 
employees. The Committee has worked diligently to advise and 
educate these new House Members and employees on the ethics 
rules that now apply to them. Since the beginning of 2013, 
Committee staff has offered nonpartisan informal guidance to 
Members, officers, and employees in over 14,000 phone calls and 
over 4,500 emails. The Committee encourages all Members and 
staff to call with any ethics questions they may have. In 
addition, the Committee offers frequent opportunities for 
Members and staff to participate in live and online training. 
In 2013, the Committee offered 48 live training seminars and 
over 700 in-person private meetings, many of which involved 
assisting financial disclosure filers.
    In addition, the Committee is continually striving to 
expand the scope of its efforts to educate and assist Members, 
officers, and employees of the House. To that end, the 
Committee issued twelve Pink Sheets or General Advisories to 
the entire House Community, including Ethics Guidance Related 
to Sequestration, Reminder about the Limitation on 
Participating in Initial Public Offerings, and Holiday Guidance 
on the Gift Rule. All twelve of these Pink Sheets, along with 
other guidance issued by the Committee, are available to the 
House community on the Committee's Web site, 
www.ethics.house.gov.

                        C. INVESTIGATIVE MATTERS

    The Committee actively investigates allegations against 
House Members, officers, and employees, using a mix of informal 
and formal investigative techniques to determine the validity 
of factual allegations, explore potential rules violations, and 
recommend appropriate sanctions and corrective actions. The 
Committee's options for investigating a matter include fact-
gathering under Committee Rule 18(a), which may or may not be 
publicly disclosed, the empanelment of investigative 
subcommittees, and the review of transmittals from the Office 
of Congressional Ethics (OCE). The fact that a House Member, 
officer, or employee is referenced in an investigative matter 
should not be construed as a finding or suggestion that the 
Member, officer, or employee has committed any violation of the 
rules, law, or other standard of conduct.
    In 2013, the Committee commenced 23 new investigative 
matters. In addition, the Committee carried over 35 matters 
from the 112th Congress and empaneled 3 new investigative 
subcommittees, in the matters of Representative Robert Andrews, 
Representative Don Young, and Representative Trey Radel. In 
2013, the Committee received eleven referrals from the OCE, 
recommending further review or dismissal. By the end of 2013, 
the Committee completed 27 investigations. Resolutions in five 
of those matters were publicly disclosed, and numerous public 
statements were issued regarding the Committee's investigative 
work. The Committee has publicly released four Committee 
reports, totaling over 1,000 pages, which collectively resolved 
matters involving 11 Members of the House and 3 employees.

        D. REVIEW OF COMMITTEE GUIDANCE ON CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

    In 2013, the Committee formed a bipartisan working group 
led by Representative Susan W. Brooks and Representative Ted 
Deutch to study matters related to the disclosure of and 
handling of personal financial interests in the House of 
Representatives. The working group met formally nine times 
primarily focusing on the Committee's financial disclosure 
guidance regarding modern complex investment vehicles. The 
working group sought input from the House community, as well as 
ethics experts from the government and private sector, during 
its review. In 2014, the working group will continue its work, 
which will focus on a review of the Committee's guidance on the 
various requirements of conflicts of interest rules for 
Members, officers, and employees of the House of 
Representatives

                        E. GREATER TRANSPARENCY

    In 2013 the Committee released nineteen public statements 
regarding various matters. Where appropriate, the Committee 
issued investigative reports for matters, ranging from 1 page 
to more than 400 pages (including attachments). Several of 
these statements announced the resolution of significant 
investigative matters.

                        F. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

    For calendar year 2013, the Legislative Resource Center of 
the Clerk's office referred a total of 2,651 Financial 
Disclosure Statements to the Committee for review under the 
Title I of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (EIGA), as 
amended (5 U.S.C. app. 4 Sec. Sec. 101-111). Of those, 1,988 
were Statements filed by current or new House Members or 
employees, 392 were filed by departing House Members or 
employees, and 246 were Statements filed by candidates for the 
House. Where the Committee's review indicated that a filed 
Statement had a deficiency, such as a failure to include 
required information, the Committee requested an amendment from 
the filer. Such amendments are routine and, without evidence of 
a knowing or willful violation, the Committee will usually take 
no further action. Where the Committee found that a Member or 
staff person had violated a provision of the EIGA, the 
Committee determined the appropriate remedy for the violation.
    For calendar year 2013, the Legislative Resource Center of 
the Clerk's office referred a total of 1,637 PTRs to the 
Committee for review under the statute. Of those, 705 were PTRs 
filed by Members and 932 were PTRs filed by House employees. 
Like FD Statements, where the Committee's review indicated that 
a filed PTR had a deficiency, such as a failure to include 
required information, the Committee requested an amendment from 
the filer. The Committee also followed up with filers whose 
PTRs indicated noncompliance with applicable law, such as 
impermissible participation in an Initial Public Offering or 
late filing of the PTR. Where the Committee found that a Member 
or staff person had violated a provision of the STOCK Act, the 
Committee determined the appropriate remedy for the violation.

    G. IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW PRIVATELY-SPONSORED TRAVEL REGULATIONS

    House Rule XXV, clause 5(d)(2), which was enacted at the 
start of the 110th Congress, charged each House Member or 
employee with obtaining approval of the Committee prior to 
undertaking any travel paid for by a private source on matters 
connected to the individual's House duties.
    House Rule XXV, clause 5(i), charges the Committee with 
undertaking an annual review of its guidelines and regulations 
regarding privately-funded, officially-connected travel. In the 
112th Congress, the Committee carried over a bipartisan travel 
working group to assess and make recommendations regarding its 
process for the review and approval of such travel. Committee 
Members Representatives Charles Dent and Donna F. Edwards 
comprised the working group. As a result of the efforts of the 
working group, the Committee adopted comprehensive revised 
travel regulations for privately-sponsored, officially 
connected travel which were released as a general advisory on 
December 27, 2012. The regulations were made effective for 
travel beginning on April 1, 2013.
    Under the travel approval process established by the 
Committee, the Committee reviewed more than 2,400 requests, and 
issued letters approving nearly 2,200 requests for travel in 
2013. The Committee also reviewed the post-travel disclosure 
forms filed by the traveler on each approved trip pursuant to 
House Rule XXV, clause 5(b)(1)(A)(ii), requesting amendments or 
other remedial action by the traveler when deemed necessary.
    The Committee also produces the following table summarizing 
its activities in the 113th Congress through December 31, 2013.

            COMMITTEE REPORT FROM JANUARY 1-DECEMBER 31, 2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Formal Advice and Approval:
Advisory Opinion Requests Received.........................         465
Advisory Opinions Mailed...................................         416
Percentage of Opinions Mailed within 2 weeks...............         69%
Percentage of Opinions Mailed within 4 weeks...............         80%
Travel Requests Received...................................       2,452
Travel Opinions Mailed.....................................       2,193
Percentage of Travel Opinions Mailed within 2 weeks........         43%
Percentage of Travel Opinions Mailed within 4 weeks........         82%
Informal Advice (including Financial Disclosure):
Phone Calls (approximate)..................................      14,492
Emails (approximate).......................................       4,581
Training:
Total # of House Employees (as of 12/31/2013)..............       9,313
Employees having completed training (approximate)..........       9,132
Training briefings (scheduled training sessions)...........          48
Personal Advisory Meetings with Members and Staff                   710
 (approximate).............................................
Investigations:
Investigative Matters carried over from the 112th Congress.          35
Investigative Matters commenced in 2013....................          23
Investigative Subcommittees carried over from the 112th               0
 Congress..................................................
Investigative Subcommittees commenced in 2013..............           3
Publicly Disclosed Resolutions.............................           5
Confidential Resolutions...................................          22
Referrals received from the Office of Congressional Ethics.          11
Financial Disclosures:
FD Reports filed by Members and Staff......................       1,988
FD Reports filed by Candidates.............................         246
FD Reports and amendments reviewed by Committee staff......       2,982
Committee Publications:
Pink Sheets/General Advisories.............................          12
Public Statements..........................................          19
Investigative Reports......................................           4
Miscellaneous Oversight:
Recusals...................................................          46
Negotiations...............................................          93
Qualified Blind Trusts.....................................           2
Legal Expense Funds........................................           8
Foreign Gifts and Travel Reports...........................           4
Meetings:
Full Committee Meetings....................................          13
Subcommittee Meetings......................................          16
Working Group Meetings.....................................           9
Personnel:
Lowest Total Staff Level in 2013...........................          23
Highest Total Staff Level in 2013..........................          26
------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                  
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