The public comment period for this legislation has now ended.

TITLE I - Access to Information About Members of Congress

Sec. 103. Electronic filing of and timely public access to gift reports. (2 Comments) subscribe to the comments feed

Electronic posting of gift reports 48 hours after they are filed provides the public with access to whether a Member is receiving gifts from individuals or groups who may have an interest in upcoming legislation.

  1. The Rules of the House and the Senate are amended to provide the following: `each person required to file a gift report under this provision shall be required to maintain and file such report in electronic form accessible by computers.'

  2. The Secretary of the Senate, and the Clerk of the House shall make required gift reports available on the Internet for purposes of access and retrieval by the public within 48 hours days (Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays excepted) after they are received in a format that is searchable, sortable, and downloadable.

  3. Retention- The Clerk and the Secretary shall maintain the information posted on the public Internet site of the Office of the Clerk or Secretary, respectively, under this section for a period of six years after receiving the information.

  4. DIRECTORY- The Superintendent of Documents, under the Direction of the Public Printer in the Government Printing Office, shall include information about the documents made available on the Internet under this section in the electronic directory of Federal electronic information required by section 4101(a)(1) of title 44, United States Code.

2 comments on Sec. 103. Electronic filing of and timely public access to gift reports.

  • Gifts from individuals or groups that have an interest in upcoming legislation or any other time should just be illegal. Officeholders should not accept gifts for doing the job for which they were elected. That is not an accepted perk. If you don't like the pay--give up the job!

    posted by Louis Bernard at April 4, 2008

  • Public disclosure of any/all conflicts of interest prior to voting for a bill. These disclosure should be determined by any gifts(campaign or otherwise)/ payments(speeches etc.) made in the prior 24 mo. Also there should be a hard prohibition from any office holder from receiving any gifts, payments or other remuneration from donors for the succeeding 24 mo.

    posted by james sheridan at April 5, 2008
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