White House Open Data Act
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on oversightCongress's review of how the executive branch carries out the laws it passed: hearings, document demands, investigations, and the spending power behind them.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) and Reform.
White House Open Data Act
This bill requires the White House to maintain a publicly accessible website that includes a visitor's log and salary and financial disclosure information for White House employees.
Specifically, the Executive Office of the President shall make available on such website
visitor records for any location where the President or Vice President regularly conducts official business, including the name of each visitor, the name of each individual with whom the visitor met, and the purpose of the visit, updated every 30 days;
the annual salary of each White House employee, updated quarterly; and
the most recent financial disclosure statement for each White House employee filed pursuant to the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, updated annually.
The bill (1) lists exceptions to these requirements, including those involving a national security threat and personal visits that do not involve official or political business; and (2) requires specified disclosure of records that are withheld.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on July 13, 2020. 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 July 13, 2020: Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
- 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 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 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?
David Cicilline (D-RI) introduced it on July 13, 2020. No cosponsors are recorded.
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 July 13, 2020, 2250 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2250 days ago, on July 13, 2020.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 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