[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
======================================================================



 
                        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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    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.

                                  [all]