[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5933 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5933
To establish the Office of the Special Inspector General for Major
Metropolitan Areas, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 9, 2021
Ms. Malliotakis (for herself and Mr. Donalds) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish the Office of the Special Inspector General for Major
Metropolitan Areas, 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 ``SIGMMA Act''.
SEC. 2. SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR MAJOR METROPOLITAN AREAS.
(a) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are as follows:
(1) To provide for the independent and objective conduct
and supervision of audits and investigations relating to the
programs and operations funded with amounts appropriated or
otherwise made available for use by major cities.
(2) To provide for the independent and objective leadership
and coordination of, and recommendations on, policies designed
to--
(A) promote economy efficiency, and effectiveness
in the administration of the programs and operations
described in paragraph (1); and
(B) prevent and detect waste, fraud, and abuse in
such programs and operations.
(b) Office of Inspector General.--There is hereby established the
Office of the Special Inspector General for Major Metropolitan Areas to
carry out the purposes of subsection (a).
(c) Appointment of Inspector General; Removal.--
(1) Appointment.--The head of the Office is the Special
Inspector General for Major Metropolitan Areas, who shall be
appointed by the President.
(2) Qualifications.--The appointment of the Inspector
General shall be made solely on the basis of integrity and
demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial
analysis, law, management analysis, public administration, or
investigations.
(3) Deadline for appointment.--The appointment of an
individual as Inspector General shall be made not later than 30
days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(4) Compensation.--The annual rate of basic pay of the
Inspector General shall be the annual rate of basic pay
provided for positions at level IV of the Executive Schedule
under section 5315 of title 5, United States Code.
(5) Prohibition on political activities.--For purposes of
section 7324 of title 5, United States Code, the Inspector
General shall not be considered an employee who determines
policies to be pursued by the United States in the nationwide
administration of Federal law.
(6) Removal.--The Inspector General shall be removable from
office in accordance with the provisions of section 3(b) of the
Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.).
(d) Supervision.--
(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the
Inspector General shall report directly to, and be under the
general supervision of the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development.
(2) Independence to conduct investigations and audits.--No
officer of the Department of Housing and Urban Development
shall prevent or prohibit the Inspector General from
initiating, carrying out, or completing any audit or
investigation related to amounts appropriated or otherwise made
available for use by major cities with or from issuing any
subpoena during the course of any such audit or investigation.
(e) Duties.--
(1) Oversight of spending by major cities.--It shall be the
duty of the Inspector General to conduct, supervise, and
coordinate audits and investigations of the treatment,
handling, and expenditure of amounts appropriated or otherwise
made available for use by major cities (and of the programs,
operations, and contracts carried out using such funds)
including--
(A) audits and investigations with respect to--
(i) the oversight and accounting of the
obligation and expenditure of such funds;
(ii) the monitoring and review of--
(I) activities funded by such
funds;
(II) contracts funded by such
funds; and
(III) the transfer of such funds
from major cities to other entities,
including businesses and
nongovernmental entities;
(iii) the maintenance of records by major
cities on the use of such funds to facilitate
future audits and investigations;
(iv) overpayments, such as duplicate
payments or duplicate billing; and
(v) any potential unethical or illegal
actions of Federal employees or employees of
major cities, contractors, or nongovernmental
entities related to the treatment, handling,
obligation, or expenditure of such funds; and
(B) the referral of findings of such audits and
investigations (as necessary) to the Department of
Justice to ensure further investigations, prosecutions,
recovery of funds, or other remedies.
(2) Other duties related to oversight.--The Inspector
General shall establish, maintain, and oversee such systems,
procedures, and controls as the Inspector General considers
appropriate to discharge the duties specified under paragraph
(1).
(3) Duties and responsibilities under inspector general act
of 1978.--In addition to the duties specified in paragraphs (1)
and (2), the Inspector General shall also have the duties and
responsibilities of inspectors general under the Inspector
General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.).
(4) Audit standards.--The Inspector General shall carry out
the duties specified in paragraph (1) in accordance with
section 4(b)(1) of the Inspector General Act of 1978.
(f) Powers and Authorities.--In carrying out the duties specified
in subsection (e), the Inspector General shall have the authorities
provided in section 6 of the Inspector General Act of 1978, including
the authorities under section 6(e).
(g) Personnel, Facilities, and Other Resources.--
(1) Personnel.--The Inspector General may select, appoint,
and employ such officers and employees as may be necessary for
carrying out the duties of the Inspector General, subject to
the provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing
appointments in the competitive service, and the provisions of
chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of such title,
relating to classification and General Schedule pay rates.
(2) Employment of experts and consultants.--The Inspector
General may obtain services as authorized by section 3109 of
title 5, United States Code, at daily rates not to exceed the
equivalent rate prescribed for grade GS-15 of the General
Schedule by section 5332 of such title.
(3) Contracting authority.--To the extent and in such
amounts as may be provided in advance by appropriations Acts,
the Inspector General may enter into contracts and other
arrangements for audits, studies, analyses, and other services
with public agencies and with private persons, and make such
payments as may be necessary to carry out the duties of the
Inspector General.
(4) Resources.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development, as appropriate, shall provide the Inspector
General with appropriate and adequate office space at
appropriate locations of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development, together with such equipment, office supplies, and
communications facilities and services as may be necessary for
the operation of such offices, and shall provide necessary
maintenance services for such offices and the equipment and
facilities located therein.
(5) Assistance from federal agencies.--
(A) In general.--Upon request of the Inspector
General for information or assistance from any
department, agency, or other entity of a major city or
the Federal Government, the head of such entity shall,
insofar as is practicable and not in contravention of
any existing law, furnish such information or
assistance to the Inspector General, or a designee of
the Inspector General.
(B) Reporting of refused assistance.--Whenever
information or assistance requested by the Inspector
General is, in the judgment of the Inspector General,
unreasonably refused or not provided, the Inspector
General shall report the circumstances to the
Department of Justice, as appropriate, and to the
appropriate congressional committees without delay.
(h) Reports.--
(1) Quarterly reports.--Not later than 30 days after the
end of each fiscal-year quarter, the Inspector General shall
submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report
summarizing, for the period of that quarter and, to the extent
possible, the period from the end of such quarter to the time
of the submission of the report, the activities during such
period of the Inspector General and the activities under
programs and operations funded with amounts appropriated or
otherwise made available for use by major cities. Each report
shall include, for the period covered by such report, a
detailed statement of all obligations, expenditures, and
revenues associated with such funds, including the following:
(A) Obligations and expenditures of such funds.
(B) Detailed operating expenses of major cities
that are related to the use of such funds.
(C) In the case of any contract, grant, agreement,
or other funding mechanism described in paragraph (2)--
(i) the amount of the contract, grant,
agreement, or other funding mechanism;
(ii) a brief discussion of the scope of the
contract, grant, agreement, or other funding
mechanism;
(iii) a discussion of how the major city
involved in the contract, grant, agreement, or
other funding mechanism identified, and
solicited offers or applications from,
potential individuals or entities to perform
the contract or activities under the grant,
agreement, or other funding mechanism;
(iv) a list of the potential individuals or
entities that were issued solicitations for the
offers or applications; and
(v) the justification and approval
documents on which was based any determination
to use procedures other than procedures that
provide for full and open competition with
respect to the contract, grant, agreement, or
other funding mechanism.
(2) Covered contracts, grants, agreements, and funding
mechanisms.--A contract, grant, agreement, or other funding
mechanism described in this paragraph is any major contract,
grant, agreement, or other funding mechanism with any public or
private entity that--
(A) is entered into by a major city--
(i) to build or rebuild physical
infrastructure of such city; or
(ii) to provide products or services to the
people of such city; and
(B) involves the use of amounts appropriated or
otherwise made available for use by such city.
(3) Public availability.--The Inspector General shall
publish on a publicly available website each report required
under this subsection.
(4) Form.--Each report required under this subsection shall
be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified
annex if the Inspector General considers it necessary.
(5) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this subsection shall
be construed to authorize the public disclosure of information
that is--
(A) specifically prohibited from disclosure by any
other provision of law;
(B) specifically required by Executive order to be
protected from disclosure in the interest of national
defense or national security or in the conduct of
foreign affairs; or
(C) a part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
(i) Report Coordination.--
(1) Submission to secretary of housing and urban
development.--The Inspector General shall also submit each
report required under subsection (h) to the Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development.
(2) Submission to congress.--
(A) In general.--Not later than 30 days after
receipt of a report under paragraph (1), the Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development may submit to the
appropriate congressional committees any comments on
the matters covered by the report the Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development deems appropriate.
(B) Classified annex.--Any comments on the matters
covered by the report shall be submitted in
unclassified form, but may include a classified annex
if the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, as
the case may be, considers it necessary.
(j) Transparency.--
(1) Report.--Not later than 60 days after submission to the
appropriate congressional committees of a report under
subsection (i), the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
shall make copies of the report available to the public upon
request, and at a reasonable cost.
(2) Comments on matters covered by report.--Not later than
180 days after submission to the appropriate congressional
committees under subsection (i)(2) of comments on a report
under subsection (h), the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development shall make copies of the comments available to the
public upon request, and at a reasonable cost.
(k) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2022 to carry out this
section.
(l) Termination.--The Office of the Special Inspector General shall
terminate on the date 5 years after the enactment of this Act.
(m) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Amounts appropriated or otherwise made available for
use by major cities.--The term ``amounts appropriated or
otherwise made available for use by major cities'' means
amounts appropriated or otherwise made available for any fiscal
year by an entity of the Federal Government for use by a major
city, including amounts appropriated or otherwise made
available for use by a major city under the following:
(A) The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery
Fund.
(B) The Emergency Rental Assistance Program.
(C) The Coronavirus Relief Fund.
(2) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committees on Appropriations and Commerce,
Science, and Transportation of the Senate;
(B) the Committees on Appropriations and
Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of
Representatives; and
(C) the Committees of Congress with jurisdiction
over the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
(3) Inspector general.--The term ``Inspector General''
means the Special Inspector General for Major Metropolitan
Areas.
(4) Major city.--The term ``major city'' means a city with
more than 1 million people, per the 2020 decennial census of
population.
(5) Office.--The term ``Office'' means the Office of the
Special Inspector General for Major Metropolitan Areas.
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