[Senate Report 115-333]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 565
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 115-333
_______________________________________________________________________
MODERNIZING CONGRESSIONAL REPORTING ACT OF 2018
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
S. 3027
TO SAVE TAXPAYER MONEY AND IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY AND
SPEED OF INTRAGOVERNMENTAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
September 4, 2018.--Ordered to be printed
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
79-010 WASHINGTON : 2018
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 HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota KAMALA D. HARRIS, California
STEVE DAINES, Montana DOUG JONES, Alabama
Christopher R. Hixon, Staff Director
Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Chief Counsel
Daniel J. Spino, Research Assistant
Margaret E. Daum, Minority Staff Director
Charles A. Moskowitz, Minority Senior Legislative Counsel
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 565
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 115-333
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MODERNIZING CONGRESSIONAL REPORTING ACT OF 2018
_______
September 4, 2018.--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. 3027]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 3027) to save
taxpayer money and improve the efficiency and speed of
intragovernmental correspondence, and for other purposes,
having considered the same, 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..............................................3
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................3
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................4
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................4
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............5
I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
S. 3027, the Modernizing Congressional Reporting Act of
2018 (MCRA), requires Federal agencies to send congressionally-
mandated reports and other documents electronically to Congress
unless congressional offices specifically request a physical
copy. The bill also requires Federal agencies to post
congressionally-mandated reports on agency websites, in an
easily searchable database, to provide the public with greater
access to such materials.
II. BACKGROUND AND THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION
The standing rules of the United States Senate task the
Committee with studying the ``efficiency, economy, and
effectiveness of all agencies and departments of the
Government.''\1\ In executing these duties, the Committee seeks
to identify areas of waste, fraud, and abuse within the Federal
Government through oversight of programs and activities carried
out by Federal agencies and departments.
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\1\Standing Rules of the Senate; Rule XXV(k).
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The Committee has identified unnecessary printing by the
Federal Government as an area in which we can improve
efficiencies. In 2017 alone, the Committee's majority staff
received an estimated 20,000 sheets of physical mail
transmitted by Federal agencies.\2\ The production of
congressionally-mandated physical correspondence and reports
comes at a cost to the taxpayers. For example, the Department
of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General reports that
just one edition of its Semiannual Report to Congress costs
nearly $3,600 to print and mail.\3\
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\2\S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental Aff. Majority holds in
its archive 19 boxes of reports and communications transmitted in 2017.
Ninety percent of these archived communications are identified by the
Committee Chief Clerk as having been transmitted from Federal agencies
and departments. Each box is 4.75" wide, and contains roughly 500
sheets of paper per 2".
\3\Transmittal letter (May 29, 2018), U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs Office of Inspector General, Semiannual Report to Congress,
Issue 79 (Oct 1, 2017 through Mar 31, 2018) https://www.va.gov/oig/
pubs/sars/VAOIG-SAR-2018-1.pdf.
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S. 3027 addresses wasteful, unnecessary printing by
requiring that any report an agency is required to submit to
Congress, and any responses by agencies to a formal request by
a congressional office for any report or other recorded
information, be transmitted via acceptable electronic format--
unless such committee or office otherwise requests a physical
copy. The bill also provides greater transparency to the
American public by requiring that all congressionally-mandated
reports, and associated structured data and transmittal
letters, be posted on the agency's public website.
S. 3027 builds on previous Committee efforts to curb
unnecessary printing to save resources and taxpayer dollars. On
July 26, 2017, the Committee favorably reported H.R. 195, the
Federal Register Printing Savings Act, introduced by
Representative Steve Russell (R-OK). The bill, signed into law
on January 22, 2018, prohibits the Government Printing Office
(GPO) from distributing printed copies of the Federal Register
to offices of the federal government and Members of Congress
unless the office specifically requests either a single issue
or a subscription.\4\
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\4\Pub. L. No. 115-120.
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During the Committee's consideration of H.R. 195, Senator
James Lankford (R-OK) noted that measures such as H.R. 195 are
commonsense proposals. Senator Lankford remarked, ``We all see
the exact same thing, things that are printed, passed out,
never touched. For those of us that get all of our information
on an iPad or on a computer, we are not going to the printed
paper at the same level.''\5\
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\5\S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental Aff., transcript of
July 26, 2017 business meeting.
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The Committee's approval of S. 3027 is the next step in an
ongoing process to root out waste and inefficiencies in
government.
III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
S. 3027 was introduced by Ranking Member Claire McCaskill
on June 7, 2018. The bill was referred to the Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Original cosponsors
include Senators Portman, Peters, Carper, Hassan, Tester,
Hoeven, Heitkamp, Jones, Harris, Lankford, Daines, and Ernst.
Senator Klobuchar later joined as a cosponsor.
The Committee considered S. 3027 at a business meeting on
June 13, 2018. Senator McCaskill offered a substitute amendment
that includes a definition for the term ``open format,'' and
adds section 4 to the bill which establishes that agencies
shall post all reports on a public website in an open, free,
and easily accessed format. The Committee approved the
substitute amendment, and the bill as amended, by voice vote en
bloc and ordered the bill, as amended, reported favorably.
Senators present for both votes were Senators Johnson, Portman,
Lankford, Enzi, McCaskill, Carper, Peters, Hassan, Harris and
Jones.
IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE BILL, AS REPORTED
Section 1. Short title
This section specifies that the bill may be cited as the
``Modernizing Congressional Reporting Act of 2018.''
Section 2. Definitions
This section provides definitions for the terms
``acceptable electronic format,'' ``agency,'' ``congressional
office,'' and ``structured data.''
Section 3. Electronic transmission of reports
This section requires any report an agency is required to
submit to Congress, and any responses by agencies to a formal
request by a congressional office for any report or other
recorded information, to be transmitted via acceptable
electronic format. Structured data, such as tables, must also
be provided in an acceptable format. It stipulates that files
transmitted to Congress should be in their original electronic
format, or electronically converted format, rather than scanned
copies. Subsection (b) requires that any scanned documents must
be made searchable via optical character recognition or other
means. Subsection (c) allows agencies to deviate from the
requirements of this section if the receiving congressional
office prefers a different format or method. Subsection (d)
requires agencies to abide by any preferred method to receive
correspondence that congressional offices designate.
Section 4. Publishing of reports
This section requires that any congressionally-mandated
report, and any associated structured data or transmittal
letter, must be posted on the agency's public website. The file
must be in an open, searchable, and acceptable electronic
format. The database of reports and associated files should be
easily accessible by the public without limiting information
via registration or fee requirements. Agencies are required to
post the reports on their website within 30 days of submitting
them to Congress. Agencies may not remove or alter these
reports, beyond technical edits, without a joint Congressional
resolution authorizing such a change. Section 4 continues by
clarifying that this bill does not apply to information that is
exempt from disclosure through the Freedom of Information Act,
as well as any information that is otherwise prohibited from
disclosure by law. Reports should be redacted accordingly, and
the agency should identify where the redactions are made in the
report, and where appropriate, should identify the exemption
under section 552(b) of title 5, United States Code, pursuant
to which each redaction is made.
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
July 9, 2018.
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. 3027, the
Modernizing Congressional Reporting Act of 2018.
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. 3027--Modernizing Congressional Reporting Act of 2018
S. 3027 would require that all information federal agencies
provide to the Congress be submitted in an electronic format.
In addition, the bill would direct each agency to make all
information provided to the Congress available online in a free
searchable database.
Using information from agencies that produce the thousands
of Congressionally mandated reports, CBO estimates that
implementing the bill would cost about $2 million over the
2019-2023 period. CBO estimates that implementing the bill
would require about 15 percent of the time of one federal
employee and cost about $15,000 for each of the 26 major
agencies to provide all reports and data electronically, as
well as to create and update an online searchable database of
that information at every agency. That spending would be
subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
S. 3027 would affect direct spending by agencies not funded
through annual appropriations; therefore, pay-as-you-go
procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that any net increase
in spending by those agencies would be negligible. Enacting the
bill would not affect revenues.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 3027 would not increase net
direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
S. 3027 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
On April 24, 2018, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R.
4631, Access to Congressional Mandated Reports, as ordered
reported by the Committee on House Administration on April 12,
2018. On March 1, 2018, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for
H.R. 4631 as ordered reported by the House Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform on February 6, 2018. H.R. 4631
contains requirements similar to those in S. 3027 and the CBO
cost estimates for the bills are similar.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew
Pickford. This estimate was reviewed by Theresa Gullo,
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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