I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2291
To amend section 7342 of title 5, United States Code, to require agencies
to submit to the Office of Government Ethics and the Department
of State the compiled listing of certain statements relating to the receipt
and disposition of foreign gifts and decorations, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH24, 2025
Mr. D
ONALDS(for himself and Mr. GOLDENof Maine) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Gov-
ernment Reform
A BILL
To amend section 7342 of title 5, United States Code, to
require agencies to submit to the Office of Government
Ethics and the Department of State the compiled listing
of certain statements relating to the receipt and disposi-
tion of foreign gifts and decorations, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Gift Accountability, 4
Reporting, and Disclosures Act’’ or the ‘‘GARD Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. RECEIPT AND DISPOSITION OF FOREIGN GIFTS AND 1
DECORATIONS. 2
(a) R
EVISIONS TO THE PROCESSREQUIRINGCOM-3
PILATION OFSTATEMENTS BY FEDERALEMPLOYEES.— 4
Section 7342 of title 5, United States Code, is amended— 5
(1) in subsection (a)— 6
(A) in paragraph (1)— 7
(i) by redesignating subparagraph (G) 8
as subparagraph (H); 9
(ii) by inserting after subparagraph 10
(F) the following new subparagraph: 11
‘‘(G) a candidate as defined in section 301 12
of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 13
(52 U.S.C. 30101) for nomination or election to 14
the office of President, Vice President, or Mem-15
ber of Congress;’’; 16
(iii) in subparagraph (H) (as 17
resdesignated in clause (i))— 18
(I) by striking ‘‘(F)’’ and insert-19
ing ‘‘(G)’’ in each place it occurs; and 20
(II) by striking ‘‘a dependent 21
(within the meaning of section 152 of 22
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986)’’ 23
and inserting: ‘‘a relative (as defined 24
in section 13101)’’; and 25
(B) in paragraph (2)— 26
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(i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 1
the ‘‘and’’ at the end; 2
(ii) in subparagraph (C), by adding at 3
the end ‘‘and’’; and 4
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-5
lowing new subparagraph: 6
‘‘(D) any individual or entity that is not a 7
United States citizen, a permanent resident 8
alien, or an entity organized under the laws of 9
the United States or any jurisdiction within the 10
United States;’’; 11
(C) in paragraph (6)— 12
(i) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘; 13
and’’; 14
(ii) by redesignating subparagraph 15
(D) as subparagraph (G); and 16
(iii) by inserting after subparagraph 17
(C), the following new subparagraphs: 18
‘‘(D) the Federal Electoral Commission, 19
for candidates in an election for President, Vice 20
President, and Member of Congress, except as 21
provided in subparagraphs (E) and (F); 22
‘‘(E) the Select Committee on Ethics of 23
the Senate, for a candidate in an election for 24
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the Federal office of Senator who is serving as 1
a Senator; 2
‘‘(F) the Committee on Standards of Offi-3
cial Conduct of the House of Representatives, 4
for a candidate in an election for the Federal 5
office of Member of the House of Representa-6
tives who is serving as a Member; and’’; 7
(2) in subsection (b)— 8
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking the ‘‘or’’ 9
at the end; 10
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe-11
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 12
(C) by adding at the end the following new 13
paragraph: 14
‘‘(3) accept a gift from a country of concern as 15
designated by the Secretary of State.’’; 16
(3) in subsection (c)(3), by inserting ‘‘termi-17
nating the official use of a gift under subparagraph 18
(B) or’’ before ‘‘accepting travel’’; 19
(4) in subsection (f)— 20
(A) paragraph (1)— 21
(i) by striking ‘‘January 31’’ and in-22
serting ‘‘May 15’’; 23
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(ii) by inserting ‘‘Office of Govern-1
ment Ethics and the’’ before ‘‘Secretary of 2
State’’; 3
(iii) by striking ‘‘State who shall’’ and 4
inserting ‘‘State. The Secretary of State 5
shall’’; and 6
(iv) by striking the period and insert-7
ing at the end ‘‘within 30 days after May 8
15 of the filing year.’’; 9
(B) in paragraph (2)— 10
(i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 11
‘‘brief’’; 12
(ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 13
‘‘, if known,’’; 14
(iii) by amending subparagraph (E) to 15
read as follows: 16
‘‘(E) the estimated fair market value in 17
the United States of the gift at the time of ac-18
ceptance as determined by retail prices, price of 19
comparable items, or appraisal;’’; 20
(iv) by redesignating subparagraph 21
(F) as subparagraph (G); 22
(v) by inserting after subparagraph 23
(E) the following: 24
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‘‘(F) the Personal Property Management 1
Foreign Gift Inventory Control Number (PPM) 2
of gifts transferred to the Government Services 3
Administration and any internal gift tracking 4
number relevant to the current location and 5
final disposition of the gift; and’’; and 6
(vi) by amending subparagraph (G), 7
as redesignated under clause (iv), to read 8
as follows: 9
‘‘(G) current location and final disposition 10
of the gift using any of the following descrip-11
tions: 12
‘‘(i) Purchased by recipient. 13
‘‘(ii) Deposited with the National Ar-14
chives and Records Administration. 15
‘‘(iii) Retained for official use by 16
agency. 17
‘‘(iv) Approved by employing agency 18
for official use by employee. 19
‘‘(v) Transferred according to agency 20
policy. 21
‘‘(vi) Processed according to agency 22
guidance.’’; 23
(C) in paragraph (3)(B), by striking 24
‘‘brief’’; and 25
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(D) in paragraph (4)— 1
(i) in subparagraph (A)— 2
(I) by striking ‘‘delete’’ and in-3
serting ‘‘redact’’; and 4
(II) by inserting ‘‘Office of Gov-5
ernment Ethics and the’’ after ‘‘in 6
writing to the’’; and 7
(ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 8
‘‘Office of Government Ethics and the’’ 9
after ‘‘provided to the’’; 10
(5) in subsection (g)— 11
(A) in paragraph (1)— 12
(i) by striking ‘‘Each employing agen-13
cy shall’’ and inserting ‘‘Each employing 14
agency, or a designated agency ethics offi-15
cial as defined in section 13101, and in co-16
ordination with the Office of Government 17
Ethics, shall’’; and 18
(ii) by inserting ‘‘the Office of Gov-19
ernment Ethics and’’ before ‘‘the Secretary 20
of State’’; 21
(B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 22
paragraph (3); and 23
(C) by adding after paragraph (1) the fol-24
lowing new paragraph: 25
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‘‘(3) Each employing agency— 1
‘‘(A) shall impose a $200 late fee for any em-2
ployee who files a statement 30 days after the date 3
on which such statement is required to be submitted; 4
and 5
‘‘(B) may waive the fee described in subpara-6
graph (A) if a determination is made by the employ-7
ing agency, or a designated agency ethics official as 8
defined in section 13101, that an employee has good 9
cause for the late submission.’’; and 10
(6) by adding at the end the following new sub-11
section: 12
‘‘(l) Not later than 120 days after enactment of the 13
GARD Act, each employing agency shall adapt systems 14
to enable public access to the listings under this section 15
in a manner similar to the public access of financial disclo-16
sure reports required under chapter 131.’’. 17
(b) A
PPLICATION.—The amendments by this Act 18
shall apply to any individual required to submit a state-19
ment under section 7342 of title 5, United States Code, 20
within 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 21
Æ
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