119-hr2894

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2894 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 2894

 To amend title 18, United States Code, to modify the definition of 
 special Government employee, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 April 10, 2025

 Ms. Stansbury (for herself, Ms. Norton, Mr. Lynch, Ms. McCollum, and 
 Ms. Tlaib) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined 
 by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as 
 fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To amend title 18, United States Code, to modify the definition of 
 special Government employee, 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 ``SGE Ethics Enforcement Reform Act of 
2025'' or the ``SEER Act of 2025''

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

 Congress finds the following:

    (1) Some special Government employees have substantial 
 financial conflicts of interest due to their other business 
 activities while in Federal service.

    (2) Special Government employees are subject to the 
 criminal conflict-of-interest statute applicable to full-time 
 Government employees, 

section 208 of title 18, United States 
 Code. However, Federal employees, including special Government 
 employees, do not have to resolve conflicts under that 
 provision if the relevant work does not constitute a particular 
 matter.

    (3) Unlike senior executive branch employees under chapter 
 131 of title 5, United States Code, the vast majority of 
 special Government employees are not required to make their 
 financial disclosure reports public, thus concealing from the 
 public their potential financial conflicts of interest.

    (4) The vast majority of special Government employees in 
 the Federal Government serve on advisory committees and have a 
 limited role in Government decision-making. But a select number 
 of special Government employees have assumed authority within 
 the Federal Government commensurate with a senior or very 
 senior full-time Federal employee.

    (5) The executive branch has not notified the public or 
 Congress when it uses special Government employees to perform 
 high-level responsibilities.

    (6) The executive branch has permitted employees to retain 
 special Government employee status beyond the statutory limit 
 of 130 days during any period of 365 consecutive days.

SEC. 3. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.

 Title 18, United States Code, is amended--

    (1) in 

section 202

    (a) , in the first sentence, by inserting 
 ``and who has been designated as a special Government employee 
 on a Notification of Personnel Action (Standard Form 50 or 
 equivalent) of the officer or employee,'' after ``basis,''; and

    (2) in 

section 208--
        (A) in subsection

    (a) --
            (i) by striking ``

    (a) Except'' and 
 inserting ``

    (a)

    (1) Except''; and
            (ii) by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (2) In the case of a special Government employee who is not on an 
advisory committee or who serves as the chair or vice chair of an 
advisory committee, paragraph

    (1) shall apply to a discrete and 
identifiable component of a matter that on its own would constitute a 
particular matter in which, to the knowledge of the special Government 
employee, the organization in which the special Government employee is 
serving as officer, director, trustee, general partner, or employee has 
a financial interest.'';
        (B) in subsection

    (b) --
            (i) in paragraph

    (1) , by inserting ``, with 
 the concurrence of a designated official at the 
 Office of Government Ethics if the officer or 
 employee is a special Government employee,'' 
 after ``such official''; and
            (ii) in paragraph

    (3) , by inserting ``, 
 other than the chair or vice chair of the 
 committee,'' after ``committee'';
            (C) in subsection
            (d) --
            (i) in paragraph

    (1) , in the first 
 sentence, by striking ``Upon'' and inserting 
 ``Except as provided in paragraph

    (2) , upon'';
            (ii) by redesignating paragraph

    (2) as 
 paragraph

    (3) ; and
            (iii) by inserting after paragraph

    (1) the 
 following:
 ``

    (2) In the case of a special Government employee who is not 
serving on an advisory committee within the meaning of chapter 10 of 
title 5 or a special Government employee who is serving as chair or 
vice chair on such an advisory committee, any waiver or exemption 
granted under subsection

    (b)

    (1) shall be proactively made publicly 
available via a searchable online database not later than 14 days after 
the date on which the waiver is issued.''.

SEC. 4. RESTRICTION ON COMMUNICATIONS WITH AGENCIES.

    (a) 

=== Definition. ===
-In this section, the term ``large company'' 
means--

    (1) any for-profit company that has greater than an average 
 of $1,000,000,000 in market capitalization or revenue for the 
 previous 3-year period;

    (2) any Federal contractor that received greater than 
 $100,000,000 in annual revenue from the Federal Government 
 during the previous 3-year period; and

    (3) any for-profit company that exerts monopolistic or 
 monopsonistic control over a significant share of the market in 
 its particular industry, as defined by regulation by the 
 Director of the Office of Government Ethics, in consultation 
 with the Attorney General.

    (b) Restriction.--No special Government employee, as defined in 

section 202 of title 18, United States Code, who is not on an advisory 
committee or a chair or vice chair on an advisory committee may have 
direct or indirect communications in their official capacity with an 
agency or office that contracts with, regulates, or has a pending 
enforcement action against a large company--

    (1) that the special Government employee owns; or

    (2) for which the special Government employee serves as a 
 senior executive or director.
            (c) Regulations.--The Office of Government Ethics shall promulgate 
regulations carrying out this section, including to define ownership of 
a large company.

SEC. 5. DATABASE OF SPECIAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.

 

Section 1103 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
 ``
            (d) (1) In this subsection, the term `covered individual'--
 ``
        (A) means an individual who is a special Government 
 employee who is not serving on an advisory committee; and
 ``
        (B) does not include an individual described in paragraph

    (1) or

    (2) of 

section 13107

    (a) .
 ``

    (2) The Director, in coordination with the Office of Government 
Ethics, shall maintain to the extent technically practicable, keep 
current, and make available to the public over the internet, without a 
fee or other access charge, in a searchable, sortable, and downloadable 
manner, an electronic database that contains the name of each covered 
individual, a rolling tally of the number of days the person has served 
as a special Government employee, and a description of why the 
individual was designated as a special Government employee rather than 
a regular employee.''.

SEC. 6. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS OF SPECIAL GOVERNMENT 
 EMPLOYEES.

 Title 5, United States Code, is amended--

    (1) in 

section 13103

    (f) --
        (A) in paragraph

    (8) , by striking ``(other than a 
 special Government employee)'';
        (B) in paragraph

    (11) , by striking ``and at the 
 end'';
            (C) in paragraph

    (12) , by striking the period at 
 the end and inserting ``; and''; and
            (D) by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (13) A special Government employee who--
 ``
        (A) is not serving on an advisory committee or is 
 serving as a chair or vice chair on an advisory 
 committee; and
 ``
        (B) is not serving in a position classified as a 
 general schedule position at the GS-9 level or below, 
 with limited responsibilities, closely supervised by a 
 career Federal employee.
 ``

    (14) For any special Government employee claiming an 
 exemption from filing a public report this subsection, the 
 relevant agency ethics officer shall review to ensure the 
 exemption may be properly applied to that special Government 
 employee.''; and

    (2) in 

section 13109

    (a)

    (1) , by inserting ``, except as 
 provided in 

section 13103

    (f)

    (13) ,'' after ``title 18)''.

SEC. 7. MODIFICATIONS OF ONLINE ACCESS TO CERTAIN FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE 
 STATEMENTS AND RELATED FORMS.

 

Section 1

    (a)

    (2) of the Act entitled ``An Act to modify the 
requirements under the STOCK Act regarding online access to certain 
financial disclosure statements and related forms'', approved April 15, 
2013 (5 U.S.C. 13107 note) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
 ``
        (F) Any special Government employee of the 
 executive branch who--
 ``
            (i) is not serving on an advisory 
 committee or is serving as a chair or vice 
 chair on an advisory committee; or
 ``
            (ii) is not serving in a position 
 classified as a general schedule position at 
 the GS-9 level or below, with limited 
 responsibilities, closely supervised by a 
 career Federal employee.''.

SEC. 8. SPECIAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE RULE.

    (a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection

    (b) , in the case 
of a special Government employee, as defined in 

section 202 of title 
18, United States Code, who has served in their department or agency 
for more than 60 days during the immediately preceding period of 365 
consecutive days, all Federal ethics rules shall apply to such special 
Government employee to the same extent that such rules apply to regular 
Government employees.

    (b) Exception.--In the case of a special Government employee, as 
defined in 

section 202 of title 18, United States Code, who has served 
in their department or agency for more than 130 during the immediately 
preceding period of 365 consecutive days, 

section 209 of title 18, 
United States Code, and subchapter III of chapter 131 of title 5, 
United States Code, shall apply to such special Government employee to 
the same extent that the section applies to regular Government 
employees, except that such 

section 209 shall apply whether the special 
Government employee serves with or without pay.
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