Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act
Latest action. Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 503.
Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act - (Sec. 2) Requires the Public Printer (GPO) to establish and maintain a website accessible by the public for obtaining electronic copies of all congressionally mandated reports in one place. Prohibits GPO from charging a fee, requiring registration, or imposing any other limitation in exchange for access to the website.
Requires that such website provide, with respect to each congressionally mandated report: (1) a citation to the statute or conference report requiring the report; (2) an electronic copy of the report, including any transmittal letter; (3) the ability to retrieve a report through searches based on the title of the report, the reporting federal agency, the date of publication, each congressional committee receiving the report, and other search data; (4) the time and date when the report was required to be submitted and when it was submitted to the website; (5) access to the report not later than 30 calendar days after its submission to Congress; and (6) a permanent means of accessing the report electronically.
Requires such website to include: (1) a means for bulk download of all congressionally mandated reports or a selection of reports retrieved using a search; (2) a means for each agency head to publish on the website each congressionally mandated agency report; and (3) a list form for all reports that can be searched, sorted, and downloaded by reports submitted within the required time, reports submitted after their required date of submission, and reports not submitted.
(Sec. 3) Requires the head of each federal agency to publish the agency's congressionally mandated reports on the website in an open format that is platform independent, machine readable, and available to the public without restrictions, including restrictions that would impede the reuse of information in the reports. Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to issue guidance to agencies on the implementation of this Act.
(Sec. 4) Deems a federal agency to have complied with a statutory requirement to submit a report to Congress if the agency: (1) publishes a complete and unredacted copy on the website established by this Act; and (2) notifies the Clerk of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Senate, and each congressional committee to which a report must be submitted of the report's availability on the website. Prohibits any report posted on the website from being changed or removed, with the exception of technical changes, without the express, written consent of each such congressional committee.
The summary continues for 3 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to House amended, Part I" stage on September 10, 2012. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on October 1, 2012: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 503.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Mike Quigley (D-IL) introduced it on May 24, 2011, and 17 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 14 Democrats, 3 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 24, 2011, 5588 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5092 days ago, on October 1, 2012.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers