House Oversight Committee passes 12 bills affecting agency management

Committee approves major federal management bills

• H.R. 1162, the Government Accountability Office Improvement Act: Gives the Comptroller General the authority to obtain certain records and other information.
• H.R. 1133, the Presidential Library Donation Reform Act: Requires each Presidential library to send to the Archivist electronic information about who donated more than $200 per quarter.
• H.R. 1104, the Federal Advisory Committee Reform Act: Requires agencies not to consider political affiliation when appointing FACA members, to minimize conflicts of interest and requires agency leaders have an open and public nomination process. Agency ethics officers also must review committee members. FACA members are limited to two years.
• H.R. 1246, District of Columbia CFO Vacancy Act: Lets the District of Columbia Treasurer or Deputy CFO become the acting CFO if the CFO leaves.
• H.R.1233, Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments: Establishes procedures for the consideration of claims of constitutionally-based privilege against disclosure of presidential records.
• H.R. 1234, Electronic Message Preservation Act: Requires agencies to preserve certain records, make sure they are accessible electronically and establishes minimum functional requirements for electronic records management systems.
• H.R. 249, the Federal Employees Tax Accountability Act: Requires agencies to fire federal employees with a current serious tax delinquency, and prohibits agencies from hiring people who already have a seriously delinquent tax debt.
• H.R. 882, the Contracting and Tax Accountability Act: Mandates tax compliance as a prerequisite for receiving a federal contract.
• H.R. 313, the Government Spending Accountability Act: Would cap federal non-military travel spending and require detailed itemized report of federal conference spending. The committee accepted an amendment that would require an agency head to issue a waiver for international conferences that would exceed the attendance cap, and an amendment to establish a minimum threshold for detailed conference reporting.
• H.R. 328, the Excess Federal Buildings and Property Disposal Act: Creates a five-year pilot program that expedites the disposal of the most profitable properties, by removing red tape and increasing transparency through creating an online database for all property owned by the federal government. Additionally, the bill would permanently modernize the existing disposal process by reducing administrative overhead, creating new agency incentives and requiring greater accountability from federal agencies.
• H.R. 1163, the Federal Information Security Management Amendments Act: Enhances the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002 by requiring agencies to focus on automated and continuous monitoring of cybersecurity threats and the implementation of regular threat assessments.

The committee also passed:

• H.R. 1211, the FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act of 2013: Provides greater public access to information.

— Compiled by Jason Miller