GovTrack’s Bill Summary
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H.R. 1162: Government Accountability Office Improvement Act
- Introduced:
- Mar 14, 2013 (113th Congress, 2013–2015)
- Sponsor:
- Rep. Darrell Issa [R-CA49]
- Status:
- Passed House
The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.
- Full Title
To amend title 31, United States Code, to make improvements in the Government Accountability Office.
- Summary
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No summaries available.
- Text
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Last updated Apr 16, 2013.
5 pages
- Primary Source
-
View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)
GovTrack gets most information from THOMAS, which is updated generally one day after events occur. Activity since the last update may not be reflected here.
- Citation
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Click a format for a citation suggestion:
Library of Congress Summary
The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.
3/14/2013--Introduced.
Government Accountability Office Improvement Act - Authorizes the Comptroller General to:
(1) obtain federal agency records required to discharge his or her duties, including through bringing civil actions under this Act,
(2) make and retain copies of agency records, and
(3) administer oaths when investigating fraud or federal employee misconduct.
States that no provision of the Social Security Act, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (including any information disclosed to the Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for purposes of pre-merger review under the Clayton Act) shall be construed to limit, amend, or supersede the Comptroller General's authority to obtain any information, inspect, or copy any record under this Act. Requires the Comptroller General to prescribe policies and procedures to protect from public disclosure proprietary or trade secret information obtained pursuant to the authority of the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed to:
(1) alter or amend the prohibitions against the disclosure of trade secret or other sensitive information prohibited by federal and other applicable laws; or
(2) affect the applicability of this Act, including the protections against unauthorized disclosure to obtained information.
Requires agency statements on actions taken or planned in response to Comptroller General recommendations to be submitted to the congressional committees with jurisdiction over the pertinent agency program or activity and to GAO.
House Republican Conference Summary
The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.
This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/113/1/hr1162.
Background
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch agency that examines how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars and investigates waste, fraud and abuse in federal programs. However, due to a lack of certain specified authorities, the GAO has at times found it difficult to obtain the information needed to perform its mission. H.R. 1162 intends to increase the effectiveness of the GAO by removing restrictions to necessary information when performing audits and investigations for the legislative branch.
Summary
H.R. 1162 expands the authority of the GAO to obtain information from the Executive Branch. Specifically, the bill allows the Comptroller General to pursue civil action to obtain agency records; expands GAO’s ability to obtain sworn testimony; expands access to specific categories of records that have been denied to GAO previously; requires GAO to prescribe policies to protect proprietary or trade secret information from public disclosure; and requires agency heads to send GAO report responses to all oversight committees of jurisdiction.
Cost
CBO estimates that H.R. 1162 would “have no significant impact on the federal budget.”
House Democratic Caucus Summary
The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.
So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.
We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.
The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:
United States Code
The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)
- Title 21: FOOD AND DRUGS
- Chapter 9: FEDERAL FOOD, DRUG, AND COSMETIC ACT
- Subchapter III: PROHIBITED ACTS AND PENALTIES
- Section 331: Prohibited acts
- Title 31: MONEY AND FINANCE
- Subtitle I: GENERAL
- Chapter 7: GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE
- Subchapter II: GENERAL DUTIES AND POWERS
- Section 711: General authority
- Section 716: Availability of information and inspection of records
- Section 720: Agency reports
- Title 42: THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
- Chapter 7: SOCIAL SECURITY
- Subchapter IV: GRANTS TO STATES FOR AID AND SERVICES TO NEEDY FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN AND FOR CHILD-WELFARE SERVICES
- Part D: Child Support and Establishment of Paternity
- Section 653: Federal Parent Locator Service
Other Citations
- 31 U.S.C. Chapter 7