Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Agency Accountability Act of 2016”.
Agency Accountability Act of 2016
A BILL
To require the appropriation of funds to use a fee, fine, penalty, or proceeds from a settlement received by a Federal agency, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Appropriation of funds required
Definition— In this section, the term agency—
has the meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code; and
does not include the United States Postal Service or the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Requirement— Notwithstanding any other provision of law, each agency that receives a fee, fine, penalty, or proceeds from a settlement shall deposit such amount in the general fund of the Treasury.
Use of amounts—
Subject to appropriation— Consistent with paragraph (2), any amounts deposited pursuant to subsection (b) shall only be available to the extent, and in such amounts, as are provided in advance in appropriation Acts.
Obligation limitation; deficit reduction— Of the amounts deposited pursuant to subsection (b) during the fiscal year in which this Act is enacted, those amounts—
may not be available for obligation during the fiscal year; and
shall be used for purposes of deficit reduction.
USPTO report to congress required— Not later than March 1 of each year, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office shall submit to Congress a report that describes any fee, fine, penalty, or proceeds from a settlement collected by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the previous fiscal year.
Sec. 3 Offsetting receipts and collections as revenue
In general— The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 621 et seq.) is amended—
in section 3(2)(A)(iv) (2 U.S.C. 622(2)(A)(iv)), by inserting “except as provided in section 316,” before “offsetting receipts”; and
by inserting after section 315 (2 U.S.C. 645a) the following:
“316. Treatment of offsetting receipts and collections
“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, offsetting receipts and collections shall be treated as revenue for purposes of carrying out this or any other Act. The preceding sentence shall not apply to the United States Postal Service or the United States Patent and Trademark Office.”
Clerical amendment— The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 315 the following:
Application— The amendments made by this section shall apply during budget years (as that term is defined in section 250(c)(12) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900(c)(12))) beginning in 2018.