ACCOUNT Act

Agency Conferences and Conventions Operating Under Necessary Transparency Act of 2012 or the ACCOUNT Act - Requires the head of a federal agency to: (1) approve in writing any conference costing more than $25,000, (2) approve such a conference only upon determining that it is necessary to the core mission of the agency, and (3) publish a summary on the agency website of the conference that includes the purpose and total cost of the conference and the cost per employee that attended the conference.

[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4454 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4454

  To require the approval by the head of an agency for any conference 
           costing more than $25,000, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 19, 2012

 Mr. Fleischmann introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
            the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the approval by the head of an agency for any conference 
           costing more than $25,000, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Agency Conferences and Conventions 
Operating Under Necessary Transparency Act of 2012'' or the ``ACCOUNT 
Act''.

SEC. 2. AGENCY CONFERENCE REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Agency Head Approval Required.--Any conference costing more 
than $25,000 must be approved in writing by the head of the relevant 
agency before the date on which such conference occurs. The head of an 
agency may only approve such conference if the head determines that the 
conference is necessary to the core mission of the agency.
    (b) Publication of Statement Required.--Not later than 30 days 
after the date of a conference described in subsection (a), the head of 
the agency shall publish on the website of such agency a summary of the 
conference that includes the purpose and total cost of the conference 
and the cost per employee that attended the conference.
    (c) Report to Congress.--Not later than December 31 of each year, 
the head of each agency shall submit a report, for the previous fiscal 
year, to the relevant committees of the Congress that includes a list 
of each conference approved pursuant to subsection (a) and with regard 
to each such conference, the following:
            (1) A summary of the purposes and goals.
            (2) A description of the conference activities that 
        accomplish such purposes and goals.
            (3) The total cost.
            (4) The cost per government employee.
    (d) Exclusion.--The requirements of this section shall not apply--
            (1) to the armed forces;
            (2) with respect to law enforcement activity; and
            (3) with respect to any conference that the head of the 
        agency determines is classified or related to national 
        security.
    (e) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given that 
        term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
            (2) Armed forces.--The term ``armed forces'' has the 
        meaning given that term in section 2101 of title 5, United 
        States Code.
            (3) Conference.--The term ``conference'' means a meeting of 
        40 or more employees that is located more than 50 miles from 
        the workplace of at least 20 or more of such employees.
            (4) Employee.--The term ``employee'' has the meaning given 
        that term in section 2105 of title 5, United States Code.
                                 <all>