[House Report 114-415]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
114th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session } { 114-415
======================================================================
ELIMINATING PORNOGRAPHY FROM AGENCIES ACT
_______
February 4, 2016.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Chaffetz, from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 901]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to whom
was referred the bill (H.R. 901) to prohibit accessing
pornographic web sites from Federal computers, and for other
purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon
without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
Committee Statement and Views.................................... 1
Section-by-Section............................................... 3
Explanation of Amendments........................................ 3
Committee Consideration.......................................... 3
Roll Call Votes.................................................. 3
Application of Law to the Legislative Branch..................... 3
Statement of Oversight Findings and Recommendations of the
Committee...................................................... 4
Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives............ 4
Duplication of Federal Programs.................................. 4
Disclosure of Directed Rule Makings.............................. 4
Federal Advisory Committee Act................................... 4
Unfunded Mandate Statement....................................... 4
Earmark Identification........................................... 4
Committee Estimate............................................... 5
Budget Authority and Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate... 5
Committee Statement and Views
PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
H.R. 901, the Eliminating Pornography from Agencies Act
prohibits the access of pornographic or explicit websites on a
federal computer, with an exception for an investigative
purpose that requires accessing such sites. The bill gives the
Office of Management and Budget 90 days to develop guidelines
for this policy.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
In September 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) Office of Environmental Information informed the EPA
Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that an EPA employee had
been viewing pornography at work.\1\ When the OIG went to
investigate this employee at his office, the OIG found him
viewing pornography.\2\ The employee subsequently told the OIG
that he viewed pornography for an average of two to six hours a
day while at work.\3\ The OIG also found that the employee had
about 20,000 adult pornographic images on his government-issued
laptop.\4\ The case was ultimately referred to the U.S.
Attorney's Office, who declined to prosecute in March 2015.\5\
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\1\``The Office of Inspector General's Cases of Employee Misconduct
at the Environmental Protection Agency,'' Statement of Allan Williams,
Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, Before the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of
Representatives, May 7, 2014, (4), http://oversight.house.gov/wp-
content/uploads/2014/05/Williams-Statement.pdf.
\2\Id.
\3\Id.
\4\``Employee Misconduct at the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency,'' Statement of Patrick Sullivan, Assistant Inspector General
for Investigations, before the Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, April 30, 2015, (2), http://
oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Final-Statement-of-
Sullivan-for-HOGR-Hearing-04-30-2015.pdf.
\5\Id.
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Additional cases of employees viewing pornography at the
EPA have also surfaced. The EPA OIG investigated one EPA
employee in the Office of the Administrator for watching
pornography on his government issued computer during the
workday, after an individual reportedly saw him viewing
pornography at work in April 2014.\6\ The subsequent
investigation found that the employee typically viewed
pornography at work for one to four hours a day and that 30-40
percent of the electronic media on his computer was
pornography.\7\ The case was ultimately referred to the U.S.
Attorney's Office, who declined to prosecute in March 2015.\8\
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\6\Id.
\7\Id.
\8\Id at 3.
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In 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) OIG
provided Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) a summary of
investigations from the past five years of employees who used
their work computer to view pornography at the SEC.\9\ The
summary demonstrated that 33 cases had occurred, some involving
senior employees.
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\9\``Summary of Pornography-Related Investigations Conducted by the
Securities and Exchange Commission Office of Inspector General,''
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/
SECPornSummary.pdf.
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There have been many other instances of federal employees
accessing pornography across the federal government. For
example, cases have been reported at the Department of Housing
and Urban Development, the Department of Commerce, the Federal
Communications Commission, the General Services
Administration,\10\ and the National Science Foundation.\11\
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\10\``Porn-surfing Feds Blame Boredom, Lack of Work for
Misbehavior,'' Jim McElhatton, The Washington Times, July 31, 2014,
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/31/feds-accept-bordom-
lack-of-work-as-excuses-for-sur/.
\11\``Porn Crisis Hits Government Agencies,'' Judicial Watch,
Liberty News Now, February 25, 2015, http://www.libertynewsnow.com/
crisis-hits-government-agencies/article955.
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The cases mentioned above and the many others that are not
discussed here are evidence of the need for action. H.R. 901
addresses the issue of federal employees accessing pornography
on their federal computers, making it clear that accessing
pornographic or explicit sites on a government computer is
completely unacceptable.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC) introduced H.R. 5628, the
``Eliminating Pornography from Agencies Act,'' in the 113th
Congress on September 18, 2014. The bill text is identical to
the current legislation, H.R. 901. H.R. 5628 was referred to
the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. No action was
taken on the bill.
Congressman Meadows reintroduced the legislation as H.R.
901 in the 114th Congress on February 11, 2015. The bill was
referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
On March 25, 2014, the Committee held a Full Committee
Business Meeting to consider H.R. 901. The bill was ordered
favorably reported, without amendment, by voice vote.
Section-by-Section
Section 1. Short title
Designates the short title of the bill as the ``Eliminating
Pornography from Agencies Act''.
Section 2. Prohibition on accessing pornographic web sites from federal
computers
Requires the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget to create guidelines that prohibit access of
pornographic or explicit web sites from a Federal computer.
Provides an exception to the prohibition for investigative
purposes.
Explanation of Amendments
No amendments were offered during Full Committee
consideration of H.R. 901.
Committee Consideration
On March 25, 2015 the Committee met in open session and
ordered reported favorably the bill, H.R. 901, by voice vote, a
quorum being present.
Roll Call Votes
There were no recorded votes during Full Committee
consideration of H.R. 901.
Application of Law to the Legislative Branch
Section 102(b)(3) of Public Law 104-1 requires a
description of the application of this bill to the legislative
branch where the bill relates to the terms and conditions of
employment or access to public services and accommodations.
This bill directs the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget to issue guidelines that prohibit the access of a
pornographic or other explicit website from a federal computer,
except any federal computer that is used for an investigative
purpose that requires accessing such a website. Thus, the bill
does not relate to employment or access to public services and
accommodations.
Statement of Oversight Findings and Recommendations of the Committee
In compliance with clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII and clause
(2)(b)(1) of rule X of the Rules of the House of
Representatives, the Committee's oversight findings and
recommendations are reflected in the descriptive portions of
this report.
Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives
In accordance with clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the Rules
of the House of Representatives, the Committee's performance
goal or objective of the bill is to prohibit accessing
pornographic web sites from Federal computers.
Duplication of Federal Programs
No provision of this bill establishes or reauthorizes a
program of the Federal Government known to be duplicative of
another Federal program, a program that was included in any
report from the Government Accountability Office to Congress
pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139, or a program
related to a program identified in the most recent Catalog of
Federal Domestic Assistance.
Disclosure of Directed Rule Makings
The Committee estimates that enacting this bill does not
direct the completion of any specific rule makings within the
meaning of 5 U.S.C. 551. However, the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget is directed to issue guidelines that
prohibit the access of a pornographic or other explicit web
site from a Federal computer.
Federal Advisory Committee Act
The Committee finds that the legislation does not establish
or authorize the establishment of an advisory committee within
the definition of 5 U.S.C. App., Section 5(b).
Unfunded Mandate Statement
Section 423 of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment
Control Act (as amended by Section 101(a)(2) of the Unfunded
Mandate Reform Act, P.L. 104-4) requires a statement as to
whether the provisions of the reported include unfunded
mandates. In compliance with this requirement the Committee has
received a letter from the Congressional Budget Office included
herein.
Earmark Identification
This bill does not include any congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in
clause 9 of rule XXI.
Committee Estimate
Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives requires an estimate and a comparison by the
Committee of the costs that would be incurred in carrying out
this bill. However, clause 3(d)(2)(B) of that rule provides
that this requirement does not apply when the Committee has
included in its report a timely submitted cost estimate of the
bill prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget
Office under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974.
Budget Authority and Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate
With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) of rule
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section
308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and with respect
to requirements of clause (3)(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules
of the House of Representatives and section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has received
the following cost estimate for this bill from the Director of
Congressional Budget Office:
H.R. 901--Eliminating Pornography From Agencies Act
H.R. 901 would require the Office of Management and Budget
to issue guidelines to prohibit federal computers from
accessing pornographic and other explicit websites. CBO
estimates that implementing the bill would not have a
significant cost because the use of government property for
unauthorized purposes is already prohibited. Enacting the bill
would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-
as-you-go procedures do not apply.
H.R. 901 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal
governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew
Pickford. The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
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