[Senate Report 115-195]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 285
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 115-195
_______________________________________________________________________
CONNECTED GOVERNMENT ACT
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
S. 1769
TO REQUIRE A NEW OR UPDATED FEDERAL WEBSITE THAT IS
INTENDED FOR USE BY THE PUBLIC TO BE MOBILE FRIENDLY, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
December 14, 2017.--Ordered to be printed
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
79-010 WASHINGTON : 2017
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
JOHN McCAIN, Arizona CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
RAND PAUL, Kentucky JON TESTER, Montana
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
STEVE DAINES, Montana KAMALA D. HARRIS, California
Christopher R. Hixon, Staff Director
Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Chief Counsel
Catharine A. Bailey, Director of Governmental Affairs
Daniel J. Spino, Research Assistant
Margaret E. Daum, Minority Staff Director
Stacia M. Cardille, Minority Chief Counsel
Charles A. Moskowitz, Minority Senior Legislative Counsel
Katherine C. Sybenga, Minority Counsel
Daniel J. Webb, Minority U.S. Government Accountability Office Detailee
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 285
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 115-195
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CONNECTED GOVERNMENT ACT
_______
December 14, 2017.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 1769]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 1769) to require a
new or updated Federal website that is intended for use by the
public to be mobile friendly, and for other purposes, reports
favorably thereon with an amendment in the nature of a
substitute and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................2
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................2
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................3
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................3
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............4
I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
S. 1769, the Connected Government Act, requires agencies to
ensure that, to the greatest extent practicable, new or
redesigned Government websites that are intended for public use
are mobile-friendly.
II. BACKGROUND AND THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION
As of 2015, 75 percent of households in the United States
have a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, and 77 percent
have a broadband Internet subscription.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Camille Ryan & Jaime M. Lewis, United States Census Bureau, ACS-
37, Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2015 3 (2017).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
While desktop Internet usage is high, utilization of
desktops is trending negative due to more convenient and
assessable devices such as mobile phones and tablets.\2\ A
recent study found that in 2015, 49 percent of U.S. households
used a mobile device as their only means of accessing the
Internet.\3\ In 2016, it was reported that mobile devices were
used more often than desktop computers to access the Internet
for the first time.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\Adam Lella, Smartphone Usage Has Doubled In The Past Three
Years, comScore (Jan. 27, 2017), https://www.comscore.com/Insights/
Blog/Smartphone-Usage-Has-Doubled-in-the-Past-Three-Years.
\3\Freddie Blicher, 2016/2017 Mobile Analysis: Mobile Device Trends
on Government Websites, DigitalGov (Aug. 14, 2017), https://
www.digitalgov.gov/2017/08/14/20162017-mobile-analysis-mobile-device-
trends-on-government-websites/.
\4\Press Release, Statcounter GlobalStats, Mobile and tablet
internet usage exceed desktop for first time worldwide (Nov. 1, 2016),
http://gs.statcounter.com/press/mobile-and-tablet-internet-usage-
exceeds-desktop-for-first-time-worldwide.
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Given the broad and growing use of mobile devices to access
the Internet, it is important for the Federal Government to
ensure that its public websites are easily accessible using a
mobile device and have features that make the websites mobile-
friendly. S. 1769 requires all new and redesigned Federal
Government websites that are intended to be accessed by the
public to be designed in a manner that makes them easily
accessible by mobile devices. A substitute amendment was
adopted to clarify that redesigned, in addition to new,
websites must be mobile-friendly, and that agencies must ensure
that websites are mobile-friendly ``to the greatest extent
practicable.''
The legislation also requires that the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA)
issue a report assessing compliance with provisions of the bill
18 months after enactment.
III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Senator Margaret Hassan (D-NH) introduced S. 1769, the
Connected Government Act, on September 7, 2017, with Senator
Cory Gardner (R-CO). The bill was referred to the Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
The Committee considered S. 1769 at a business meeting on
October 4, 2017. During the business meeting a substitute
amendment was offered by Senator Hassan and accepted by
unanimous consent. The bill, as amended, was ordered reported
favorably en bloc by voice vote. Senators present for the vote
were Johnson, Lankford, Daines, McCaskill, Tester, Heitkamp,
Hassan, and Harris.
IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE BILL, AS REPORTED
Section 1. Short title
This section establishes that the bill may be cited as the
``Connected Government Act.''
Section 2. Federal websites required to be mobile friendly
This section requires that if an agency creates or conducts
a redesign of a website that is intended for public use, that
the agency to the greatest extent practicable make the website
mobile-friendly. This section also requires that the Director
of OMB and the Administrator of GSA submit a report to Congress
not later than 18 months after enactment that provides an
update on the compliance of agencies with this bill.
This section also defines the terms ``agency'' and
``mobile-friendly.''
V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs
on state, local, or tribal governments.
VI. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, October 12, 2017.
Hon. Ron Johnson,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S.
Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 1769, the Connected
Government Act.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew
Pickford.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall,
Director.
Enclosure.
S. 1769--Connected Government Act
S. 1769 would require all federal agencies that create or
update a website intended for use by the public to ensure that
the website is mobile friendly. A mobile friendly website is
defined as one that is configured in such a way that it may be
easily navigated and viewed on a smartphone, tablet computer,
or similar mobile device. In addition, the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA),
would report on the implementation of these requirements within
18 months.
Under current executive branch guidance (see OMB Memorandum
M-17-06, which was issued on November 8, 2016) all new or
redesigned federal websites must allow for access by mobile
devices. In addition, GSA's Digital Government Division works
with agencies to help them provide electronic information and
services to the public in any digital form. Because of those
ongoing efforts, CBO estimates that implementing S. 1769 would
have no significant cost.
Enacting S. 1769 would not affect direct spending or
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 1769 would not increase
direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
S. 1769 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
On September 22, 2017, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for
H.R. 2331, the Connected Government Act, as ordered reported by
the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on
September 13, 2017. The two pieces of legislation are similar,
and CBO's estimates of the budgetary effects are the same.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew
Pickford. This estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss,
Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED
Because this legislation would not repeal or amend any
provision of current law, it would not make changes in existing
law within the meaning of clauses (a) and (b) of paragraph 12
of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate.
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