II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 855
To require executive branch employees to report certain royalties, and for
other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH5, 2025
Mr. P
AUL(for himself and Mr. SCOTTof Florida) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To require executive branch employees to report certain
royalties, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Royalty Transparency 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE REPORTS OF EXECUTIVE 6
BRANCH EMPLOYEES. 7
(a) I
NDIVIDUALSREQUIREDTOFILE.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 13103 of title 5, 9
United States Code, is amended— 10
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•S 855 IS
(A) in subsection (f)— 1
(i) in paragraph (11), by striking ‘‘; 2
and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 3
(ii) in paragraph (12), by striking the 4
period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 5
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-6
lowing: 7
‘‘(13) any member of— 8
‘‘(A) the National Science Advisory Board 9
for Biosecurity; 10
‘‘(B) the Advisory Committee on Immuni-11
zation Practices; 12
‘‘(C) the Advisory Commission on Child-13
hood Vaccines; 14
‘‘(D) the National Vaccine Advisory Com-15
mittee; 16
‘‘(E) the Vaccines and Related Biological 17
Products Advisory Committee; 18
‘‘(F) the Defense Science Board; 19
‘‘(G) the Board of Scientific Advisors of 20
the National Cancer Institute; 21
‘‘(H) the Homeland Security Science and 22
Technology Advisory Committee; 23
‘‘(I) the Medical Review Board Advisory 24
Committee; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•S 855 IS
‘‘(J) the President’s Council of Advisors on 1
Science and Technology; or 2
‘‘(K) any other advisory committee, as de-3
fined in section 1001, including a successor to 4
a committee described in this paragraph, that 5
the Government Accountability Office deter-6
mines, in accordance with subsection (j)— 7
‘‘(i) makes recommendations relating 8
to public health to an agency or the Presi-9
dent; and 10
‘‘(ii) has had any recommendation 11
fully or partially implemented during the 12
10 years preceding the determination.’’; 13
and 14
(B) by adding at the end the following: 15
‘‘(j) D
ETERMINATION REGARDINGADVISORYCOM-16
MITTEES.—Not later than 180 days after the date of en-17
actment of the Royalty Transparency Act, and annually 18
thereafter, the Government Accountability Office shall 19
publish a list of each advisory committee that the Govern-20
ment Accountability Office determines— 21
‘‘(1) makes recommendations relating to public 22
health to an agency or the President; and 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•S 855 IS
‘‘(2) has had any recommendation fully or par-1
tially implemented during the 10 years preceding the 2
determination.’’. 3
(2) S
UNSET.—Effective on the date that is 5 4
years after the date of enactment of this Act, section 5
13103 of title 5, United States Code, as amended by 6
this Act, is amended— 7
(A) in subsection (f)(13), by striking sub-8
paragraph (K) and inserting the following: 9
‘‘(K) a successor to a committee described 10
in subparagraphs (A) through (J) of this para-11
graph.’’; and 12
(B) by striking subsection (j). 13
(b) N
OTIFICATION OFWAIVER.— 14
(1) T
ITLE 5.—Section 13103(i) of title 5, 15
United States Code, is amended— 16
(A) by moving the matter preceding para-17
graph (1) two ems to the left; 18
(B) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 19
through (4) as subparagraphs (A) through (D), 20
respectively; 21
(C) in the matter preceding subparagraph 22
(A), as so redesignated, by striking ‘‘the super-23
vising ethics office determines’’ and inserting 24
‘‘the supervising ethics office— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
•S 855 IS
‘‘(1) determines’’; 1
(D) in subparagraph (D), as so redesig-2
nated, by striking the period at the end and in-3
serting ‘‘; and’’; and 4
(E) by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(2) provides notification of such waiver to the 6
Committees on Homeland Security and Govern-7
mental Affairs and Commerce, Science, and Trans-8
portation of the Senate and the Committees on 9
Oversight and Government Reform and Energy and 10
Commerce of the House of Representatives.’’. 11
(2) T
ITLE 18.—Section 208 of title 18, United 12
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 13
following: 14
‘‘(e) Any exemption— 15
‘‘(1) granted under paragraph (1) or (3) of sub-16
section (b) shall be immediately reported to the 17
Committees on Homeland Security and Govern-18
mental Affairs and Commerce, Science, and Trans-19
portation of the Senate and the Committees on 20
Oversight and Government Reform and Energy and 21
Commerce of the House of Representatives, includ-22
ing a detailed justification for granting the waiver; 23
or 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
•S 855 IS
‘‘(2) granted under subpart (C) of part 2640 of 1
title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations, or any 2
successor regulation, shall be immediately reported 3
to the Committees on Homeland Security and Gov-4
ernmental Affairs and Commerce, Science, and 5
Transportation of the Senate and the Committees on 6
Oversight and Government Reform and Energy and 7
Commerce of the House of Representatives, includ-8
ing a detailed justification for granting the waiver.’’. 9
(c) C
ONTENTS OFREPORTS.—Section 13104(a)(1) of 10
title 5, United States Code, is amended— 11
(1) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, subject 12
to subparagraph (C)’’ after ‘‘employment by the 13
United States Government’’; and 14
(2) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the fol-15
lowing: 16
‘‘(C) R
OYALTIES RECEIVED BY GOVERN -17
MENT EMPLOYEES AND COMMITTEE FILERS .— 18
Notwithstanding section 12(c) of the Stevenson- 19
Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 20
U.S.C. 3710a(c)) and section 209 of title 35, if 21
the reporting individual is an officer or em-22
ployee in the executive branch (including a spe-23
cial Government employee, as defined in section 24
202 of title 18), or an individual described in 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7
•S 855 IS
section 13103(f)(13), the original source and 1
amount or value of any royalties received by the 2
reporting individual, the spouse of the reporting 3
individual, or a dependent child of the reporting 4
individual during the reporting period described 5
in subsection (d) or (e) of section 13103, as ap-6
plicable, that were received as a result of an in-7
vention developed by the reporting individual in 8
the course of employment of the reporting indi-9
vidual with the United States Government, in-10
cluding any royalty interest payment made 11
under the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 12
1986 (Public Law 99–502; 100 Stat. 1785), an 13
amendment made by such Act, or any other ap-14
plicable authority.’’. 15
(d) R
EVIEW OFREPORTS.—Section 13107(b) of title 16
5, United States Code, is amended— 17
(1) in paragraph (1)— 18
(A) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘and 19
shall, in the case of an agency or office and not-20
withstanding section 12 of the Stevenson- 21
Wydler Technology Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 22
3710a) and section 209 of title 35, publish such 23
report on the internet website of the agency or 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8
•S 855 IS
office, as the case may be’’ after ‘‘to any person 1
requesting such inspection or copy’’; and 2
(B) in the second sentence— 3
(i) by inserting ‘‘, notwithstanding 4
section 12 of the Stevenson-Wydler Tech-5
nology Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710a) and 6
section 209 of title 35,’’ after ‘‘such report 7
shall’’; and 8
(ii) by inserting ‘‘and, in the case of 9
an agency or office, published on the inter-10
net website of the agency or office, as the 11
case may be,’’ after ‘‘made available for 12
public inspection’’; 13
(2) by striking paragraph (2) and the matter 14
following paragraph (2); 15
(3) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para-16
graph (2); and 17
(4) by adding at the end the following: 18
‘‘(3) P
ROCEDURE FOR RELEASING REPORTS TO 19
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS .—Notwithstanding any 20
other provision of law, not later than 30 days after 21
receiving a request from a Member of Congress, any 22
agency or supervising ethics office in the executive 23
branch shall furnish to the Member of Congress a 24
copy of any report submitted under subsection (b), 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9
•S 855 IS
which shall be unredacted, except with respect to so-1
cial security numbers, dates of birth, home address-2
es, rental property addresses, phone numbers, email 3
addresses, financial account numbers, signatures, 4
and the personally identifiable information of de-5
pendent children.’’. 6
(e) C
ONFIDENTIALREPORTS AND OTHERADDI-7
TIONALREQUIREMENTS.—Section 13109 of title 5, 8
United States Code, is amended— 9
(1) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as 10
subsections (f) and (g), respectively; and 11
(2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-12
lowing: 13
‘‘(b) R
OYALTIESRECEIVED BYCONFIDENTIALFIL-14
ERS.—Notwithstanding section 12(c) of the Stevenson- 15
Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 16
3710a(c)) and section 209 of title 35, the information re-17
quired to be reported under this section shall include the 18
original source and amount or value of any royalties re-19
ceived by the reporting individual, or the spouse or any 20
dependent child of the reporting individual, that were re-21
ceived as a result of an invention, including any royalty 22
interest payment made under the Federal Technology 23
Transfer Act of 1986 (Public Law 99–502; 100 Stat. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10
•S 855 IS
1785), an amendment made by such Act, or any other ap-1
plicable authority. 2
‘‘(c) P
ROCEDURE FOR RELEASINGREPORTS TO 3
M
EMBERS OF CONGRESS.—Notwithstanding any other 4
provision of law, not later than 30 days after receiving 5
a request from a Member of Congress, any agency or su-6
pervising ethics office in the executive branch shall furnish 7
to the Member of Congress a copy of any report submitted 8
under subsection (a), which shall be unredacted, except 9
with respect to social security numbers, dates of birth, 10
home addresses, rental property addresses, phone num-11
bers, email addresses, financial account numbers, signa-12
tures, and the personally identifiable information of de-13
pendent children. 14
‘‘(d) R
EPORTS.—Not later than 60 days after the 15
date of enactment of the Royalty Transparency Act, and 16
each year thereafter, the head of each agency shall submit 17
to the Committees on Homeland Security and Govern-18
mental Affairs and Commerce, Science, and Transpor-19
tation of the Senate and the Committees on Oversight and 20
Government Reform and Energy and Commerce of the 21
House of Representatives, and as to each agency within 22
the intelligence community (as that term is defined in sec-23
tion 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 24
3003)), the head of each such agency shall also submit 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 11
•S 855 IS
to the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and 1
the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the 2
House of Representatives, a report relating to confidential 3
financial disclosures of officers and employees under the 4
jurisdiction of such agency for the preceding fiscal year, 5
which shall include— 6
‘‘(1) the number of individuals who filed such 7
disclosures with the agency under this section, in-8
cluding, if applicable, the subcomponent of the agen-9
cy that has jurisdiction over the individual and the 10
reason for filing confidentially; 11
‘‘(2) the number of special Government employ-12
ees, as defined in section 202 of title 18, that are 13
required to file confidential financial disclosure re-14
ports with the agency under this section; and 15
‘‘(3) any additional information determined to 16
be relevant by the Director of the Office of Govern-17
ment Ethics after consultation with the Committees 18
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 19
and Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 20
Senate and the Committees on Oversight and Gov-21
ernment Reform and Energy and Commerce of the 22
House of Representatives. 23
‘‘(e) P
UBLICDISCLOSURE OFROYALTIESRECEIVED 24
BYCERTAINFEDERALEMPLOYEES.— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 12
•S 855 IS
‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—For the purposes of this 1
subsection, the term ‘covered individual’ means an 2
individual who— 3
‘‘(A) is required to file a confidential finan-4
cial disclosure report under this section; and 5
‘‘(B) reports receiving a royalty interest 6
under subsection (b). 7
‘‘(2) R
EQUIREMENT.—Not later than 180 days 8
after the date of enactment of the Royalty Trans-9
parency Act, and annually thereafter, each agency 10
shall publish a report on the internet website of the 11
agency, listing— 12
‘‘(A) the names of all covered individuals; 13
and 14
‘‘(B) the original source and amount or 15
value of any royalties reported under this sec-16
tion by each covered individual.’’. 17
(f) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-18
tion, or any amendment made by this section, shall be con-19
strued to limit the ability of an advisory committee, as 20
defined in section 1001 of title 5, United States Code, to 21
conduct work related to the function of the advisory com-22
mittee. 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 13
•S 855 IS
SEC. 3. PREVENTING ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICTS OF IN-1
TEREST IN FEDERAL ACQUISITION. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Federal Acquisition Regu-3
latory Council and the Office of Management and Budget 4
shall, as appropriate, enact or update any regulation nec-5
essary to ensure that conflict of interest reviews for pro-6
spective contractors or grantees include reviews of royal-7
ties paid to prospective contractors or grantees in the pre-8
ceding calendar year. 9
(b) O
NGOINGREVIEWS.—Not later than 1 year after 10
the date of enactment of this Act, and each year there-11
after, each agency conducting any conflict of interest re-12
view described in subsection (a) shall report to the Com-13
mittees on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 14
and Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 15
and the Committees on Oversight and Government Re-16
form and Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep-17
resentatives, and as to each agency within the intelligence 18
community (as that term is defined in section 3 of the 19
National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003)), the 20
head of each such agency shall also report to the Select 21
Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and the Perma-22
nent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of 23
Representatives, on the number of identified cases of po-24
tential conflict of interest related to royalty payments and 25
the steps taken to mitigate those cases. 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 14
•S 855 IS
SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY. 1
If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by 2
this Act, or the application of such provision or amend-3
ment to any person or circumstance is held to be unconsti-4
tutional, the remainder of this Act and the amendments 5
made by this Act, and the application of the provision or 6
the amendment to any other person or circumstance, shall 7
not be affected. 8
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Mar 06, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S855.IS S855
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB