Executive Appointee Ethics Improvement Act

Executive Appointee Ethics Improvement Act

This bill lengthens from one to two years the ban on certain senior personnel of the executive branch and independent agencies from lobbying the department or agency in which the person served. If the Director of the Office of Government Ethics decides to waive this restriction, such decision shall be published in the Federal Register unless it would compromise national security.

The bill lengthens from two to five years the ban on certain very senior personnel of the executive branch and independent agencies, including the Vice President, from lobbying any office or employee of any department or agency in which such person served.

Certain high-level employees of the executive branch are subject to a lifetime ban on knowingly representing a foreign entity before any officer or employee of any department or agency of the United States with the intent to influence a decision of such officer or employee.

During a two-year period beginning on the date an individual is appointed to a covered position, such individual is banned from participating in any matter involving specific parties that is directly related to the individual's former employer or former clients. Additionally, any individual who was a registered lobbyist or who engaged in lobbying activities during a two-year period prior to appointment is prohibited from participating in any particular matter on which the individual made a lobbying contact or participating in the specific issue area in which the matter falls. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) may waive these requirements if OMB certifies in writing to various congressional committees that it is in the public interest to grant the waiver.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov