Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Royalty Transparency Act”.
Royalty Transparency Act
A BILL
To require executive branch employees to report certain royalties, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Financial disclosure reports of executive branch employees
Contents of reports— Section 13104(a)(1) of title 5, United States Code, is amended—
in subparagraph (A), by inserting “, subject to subparagraph (C)” after “employment by the United States Government”; and
by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:
“(C) Royalties received by Government employees—Notwithstanding section 12(c) of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710a (c)) and section 209 of title 35, if the reporting individual is an officer or employee in the executive branch (including a special Government employee, as defined in section 202 of title 18), the source and amount or value of any royalties received by the reporting individual, the spouse of the reporting individual, or a dependent child of the reporting individual during the reporting period described in subsection (d) or (e) of section 13103, as applicable, that were received as a result of an invention developed by the reporting individual in the course of employment of the reporting individual with the United States Government, including any royalty interest payment made under the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 (Public Law 99–502; 100 Stat. 1785), an amendment made by such Act, or any other applicable authority.”
Review of reports— Section 13107(b) of title 5, United States Code, is amended—
in paragraph (1)—
in the first sentence, by inserting “and shall, notwithstanding section 12 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710a) and section 209 of title 35, publish such report on the internet website of the agency, office, Clerk, or Secretary of the Senate, as the case may be” after “to any person requesting such inspection or copy”; and
in the second sentence—
by inserting “, notwithstanding section 12 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710a) and section 209 of title 35,” after “such report shall”; and
by inserting “and published on the internet website of the agency, office, Clerk, or Secretary of the Senate, as the case may be,” after “made available for public inspection”;
by striking paragraph (2) and the matter following paragraph (2);
by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2); and
by adding at the end the following:
“(3) Procedure for releasing reports to Members of Congress—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, not later than 30 days after receiving a request from a Member of Congress, any agency or supervising ethics office in the executive branch shall furnish to the Member of Congress an unredacted copy of any report received under this subchapter.”
Confidential reports and other additional requirements— Section 13109(a)(2) of title 5, United States Code, is amended—
by striking “Any information” and inserting the following:
“(A) In general—Any information”
by adding at the end the following:
“(B) Special government employees
“(i) Definition—For the purposes of this subparagraph, the term sensitive personal information does not include the source or amount or value of any royalties received by a reporting individual.
“(ii) Redaction and publication—Upon receipt of a confidential financial disclosure report under this section of submitted by a special Government employee, as defined in section 202 of title 18, the recipient supervising ethics office shall—
“(I) redact any sensitive personal information from the confidential financial disclosure report; and
“(II) notwithstanding section 12 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710a(c)) and section 209 of title 35, publish the redacted confidential financial disclosure report on the internet website of the agency by which the special Government employee is employed not later than 120 days after the date on which the recipient supervising ethics office receives the confidential financial disclosure report.”
Sec. 3 General disclosure of royalties
Definitions— In this section:
Agency— The term agency means an agency within the executive branch, as defined in section 13101 of title 5, United States Code.
Applicable person— The term applicable person means any individual or entity that applies to—
receive a grant from the Federal Government; or
serve as a contractor.
Contractor— The term contractor has the meaning given the term in section 7101 of title 41, United States Code.
Covered royalty— The term covered royalty means any royalty received by an applicable person from any party other than the Federal Government.
Agency requirement— Before receiving any Federal grant or contract, each applicable person shall submit to the agency from which the applicable person seeks the grant or for which the applicable person seeks to serve as a contractor, as applicable, a report disclosing the source and amount or value of all covered royalties received by the applicable person during the 10-year period preceding the date on which the applicable person receives such Federal grant or contract.
Procedure for releasing reports to Members of Congress— Notwithstanding any other provision of law, not later than 30 days after receiving a request from a Member of Congress, an agency shall furnish to the Member of Congress an unredacted copy of any report submitted under subsection (b).
Sec. 4 Severability
If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by this Act, or the application of such provision or amendment to any person or circumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act and the amendments made by this Act, and the application of the provision or the amendment to any other person or circumstance, shall not be affected.