Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Modernizing Congressional Reporting Act of 2018”.
Modernizing Congressional Reporting Act of 2018
A BILL
To save taxpayer money and improve the efficiency and speed of intragovernmental correspondence, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Definitions
In this Act—
the term acceptable electronic format means a file format and metadata elements authorized by the National Archives and Records Administration for the transfer of permanent electronic records—
as set forth in—
National Archives and Records Administration Bulletin 2014–04: Revised Format Guidance for the Transfer of Permanent Electronic Records, dated January 31, 2014, or any successor bulletin; and
National Archives and Records Administration Bulletin 2015–04: Metadata Guidance for the Transfer of Permanent Electronic Records, dated September 15, 2015, or any successor bulletin; and
that complies with the requirements of the Office of Management and Budget Memorandum on the Managing Government Records Directive, dated August 24, 2012 (M–12–18), or any successor memorandum;
the term agency has the meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code;
the term congressional office means—
an office of any committee or subcommittee of the Senate or the House of Representatives, including any select or special committee;
an office of any individual Senator or Member of the House of Representatives; and
a leadership office of the Senate or the House of Representatives; and
the term structured data has the meaning given the term in National Archives and Records Administration Bulletin 2014–04: Revised Format Guidance for the Transfer of Permanent Electronic Records, dated January 31, 2014, or any successor bulletin.
Sec. 3 Electronic transmission of reports
In general— On or after the date that is 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, except as provided in subsection (c) and to the extent specifically required otherwise by law—
any report or written communication required to be submitted to Congress by an agency under any provision of law, and any response from an agency to a request by a congressional office for written information, shall only be transmitted by the agency in an acceptable electronic format; and
any structured data included in or with any report, written communication, or written information described in paragraph (1) shall be transmitted by the agency in an acceptable electronic format for structured data.
Format preference—
In general— In transmitting a report, written communication, or written information described in subsection (a) to a congressional office, an agency shall, to the extent possible, provide the original electronic file or an electronically converted file rather than a scanned document, even if the document includes a signature.
Searchable scanned documents— Each scanned document that is transmitted by an agency to a congressional office shall be made searchable via optical character recognition or other means.
Other formats— An agency that transmits a report, written communication, or written information described in subsection (a) to a congressional office in an acceptable electronic format may, if requested by the congressional office, transmit the report, written communication, or written information to the congressional office—
in an electronic format that is not an acceptable electronic format;
as a physical document; or
in camera.