Senator Elizabeth Warren's Anti-Corruption Plan (Warren.Senate.gov)

I strongly support this plan.  Do you?  Who in our community will support this at the local level?  Who is satisfied with the overall level of customer service from local governments?  From Senator Elizabeth Warren's website:

Title I: Lock the Revolving Door and Increase Public Integrity
Strengthen Public Integrity by Eliminating Financial Conflicts. Eliminate both the appearance and the potential for financial conflicts of interest. Americans must be confident that actions taken by public officials are intended to serve the public, and not those officials.

• Ban individual stock ownership by Members of Congress, Cabinet Secretaries, senior congressional staff, federal judges, White House staff and other senior agency officials while in office. Prohibit all government officials from holding or trading stock where its value might be influenced by their agency, department, or actions.
• Apply conflict of interest laws to the President and Vice President through the Presidential Conflicts of Interest Act, which would require the President and the Vice President to place conflicted assets, including businesses, into a blind trust to be sold off.
• Require senior government officials and White House staff to divest from privately-owned assets that could present conflicts, including large companies and commercial real estate.
• Apply ethics rules to all government employees, including unpaid White House staff and advisors.
• Require most executive branch employees to recuse from all issues that might financially benefit
  themselves or a previous employer or client from the preceding 4 years.
• Create conflict-free investment opportunities for federal officials with new investment accounts
  managed by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board and conflict-free mutual funds.
  Close and Lock the Revolving Door between Industry and Government. Stop companies from buying influence in the government or profiting off of the public service of any official.

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Close the government-to-lobbying revolving door:

• Lifetime ban on lobbying by Presidents, Vice Presidents, Members of Congress, federal judges,
  and Cabinet Secretaries; and,
• Multi-year bans on all other federal employees from lobbying their former office,
  department, House of Congress, or agency after they leave government service until the end of
  the Administration, but at least for 2 years (and at least 6 years for corporate lobbyists).
  Limit the ability of companies to buy influence through former government officials.• Require income disclosures from former senior officials 4 years after federal employment.• Prohibit companies from immediately hiring or paying any senior government official from an agency, department, or Congressional office recently lobbied by that company.
  • Prohibit the world’s largest companies, banks, and monopolies (measured by annual revenue or market capitalization) from hiring or paying any former senior government official for 4 years after they leave government service.
  Limit the ability of companies to buy influence through current government employees.

• Prohibit current lobbyists from taking government jobs for 2 years after lobbying; 6 years for
  corporate lobbyists. Public, written waivers where such hiring is in the national interest are
  allowed for non-corporate lobbyists only.
• Prohibit corporate outlaws from working in government by banning the hiring of top corporate
  leaders whose companies were caught breaking federal law in the last 6 years.
• Prohibit contractor corruption by blocking federal contractor and licensee employees from
  working at the agency awarding the contract or license for 4 years.
• Ban “Golden Parachutes” that provide corporate bonuses to executives for federal service.

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ANTI-CORRUPTION AND PUBLIC INTEGRITY ACT – SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN

Title II: End Lobbying as We Know It
Institute Radical Transparency of All Washington Lobbying. Publicly expose all influence-peddling
in Washington.

• Strengthen and expand the federal definition of a “lobbyist” to include all individuals paid to influence government.
• Create a new “corporate lobbyist” definition to identify individuals paid to influence government on behalf of for-profit entities and their front-groups.
• Radically expand disclosure of lobbyist activities and influence campaigns by requiring all lobbyists to disclose any specific bills, policies, and government actions they attempt to influence; any meetings with public officials; and any documents they provide to those officials.
  End Influence-Peddling by Foreign Actors. Combat foreign influence in Washington by banning foreign lobbying.

• End foreign lobbying by Americans by banning American lobbyists from accepting money from foreign governments, foreign individuals, and foreign companies to influence United States public policy.
Padlock the Revolving Door between Government and Lobbying.

• Lifetime ban on lobbying by Presidents, Vice Presidents, Members of Congress, federal judges, and Cabinet Secretaries.
• Multi-year bans on all other federal employees from lobbying their former office, department, House of Congress, or agency after they leave government service until the end of the Administration, but at least for 2 years (and at least 6 years for corporate lobbyists).
• Prohibit current lobbyists from taking government jobs for 2 years after lobbying; 6 years for corporate lobbyists. Public, written waivers where such hiring is in the national interest are allowed for non-corporate lobbyists only.
  End Legalized Lobbyist Bribery. Stop lobbyists from trading money for government favors.
  
  • Ban direct political donations from lobbyists to candidates or Members of Congress.
  • End lobbyist contingency fees that allow lobbyists to be paid for a guaranteed policy outcome.
  • End lobbyist gifts to the executive and legislative branch officials they lobby.
    Strengthen Congressional Independence from Lobbyists. End Washington’s dependence on lobbyists for expertise and information.
  • Make congressional service sustainable by transitioning Congressional staff to competitive salaries that track other federal employees.
  • Reinstate the nonpartisan Congressional Office of Technology Assessment to provide critical scientific and technological support to Members of Congress.
  • Level the playing field between corporate lobbyists and government by taxing excessive lobbying beginning at $500,000 in annual lobbying expenditures, and use the proceeds to help finance congressionally-mandated rulemaking, fund the National Public Advocate, and finance Congressional support agencies.

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ANTI-CORRUPTION AND PUBLIC INTEGRITY ACT – SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN

Title III: End Corporate Capture of Public Interest Rules
Boost Transparency. De-politicize the rulemaking process and increase transparency of industry
efforts to influence federal agencies.

• Require individuals and corporations to disclose funding or editorial conflicts of interest in research submitted to agencies that is not publicly available in peer-reviewed publications.
• Prevent sham research from undermining the public interest by requiring that studies that present conflicts of interest to undergo independent peer review to be considered in the rulemaking process.
• Require agencies to justify withdrawn public interest rules via public, written explanations.Close Loopholes Exploited by Powerful Corporations to Block Public Interest Actions. Eliminate
  loopholes that allow corporations to tilt the rules in their favor and against the public interest.

• Restrict negotiated rulemaking to stop industry from delaying or dominating the rulemaking process by ending the practice of inviting industry to negotiate rules they have to follow.
• Restrict inter-agency review as a tool for corporate abuse by banning informal review, establishing a maximum 45-day review period, and blocking closed-door industry lobbying at the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
• Limit abusive injunctions from rogue judges by ensuring that only Appeals Courts, not individual District Court judges, can temporarily block agencies from implementing final rules.
• Prevent hostile agencies from sham delays of implementation and enforcement by using the presence of litigation to postpone the implementation of final rules.
  Empower the Public to Police Agencies for Corporate Capture. Increase the ability of the public to make sure their interests are considered when agencies act.

• Create a new Office of the Public Advocate empowered to assist the public in meaningfully engaging in the rulemaking process across the federal government.
• Encourage enforcement by allowing private lawsuits from members of the public to hold agencies accountable for failing to complete rules or enforce the law, and to hold corporations accountable for breaking the rules.
  Inoculate Agencies Against Corporate Capture. Provide agencies with the tools and resources to implement strong rules that reflect the will of Congress and protect the public.

• Boost agency resources to level the playing field between corporate lobbyists and federal agencies by using the proceeds of the tax on excessive lobbying and the anti-corruption penalty fees to help finance Congressionally-mandated rulemaking and facilitate decisions by agencies that are buried in an avalanche of lobbyist activity.
• Reform judicial review to prevent corporations from gaming the courts by requiring courts to presumptively defer to agency interpretations of laws and prohibiting courts from considering sham studies and research excluded by agencies from the rulemaking process.
• Reverse the Congressional Review Act provision banning related rules that prevent agencies from implementing the will of Congress based on Congress’ prior disapproval of a different, narrow rule on a similar topic.

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ANTI-CORRUPTION AND PUBLIC INTEGRITY ACT – SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN

Title IV: Improve Judicial Integrity and Defend Access to Justice for All Americans. Strengthen Judicial Ethics Requirements. Enhance the integrity of the judicial branch by
strengthening rules that prevent conflicts of interest.

• Ban individual stock ownership by federal judges.
• Expand rules prohibiting judges from accepting gifts or payments to attend private seminars
  from private individuals and corporations.
• Require ethical behavior by the Supreme Court by directing the Court to follow the Code of
  Conduct that binds all other federal judges.
  Boost Transparency of Federal Courts. Enhance public insight into the judicial process by increasing information about the process and reducing barriers to accessing information.

• Increase disclosure of non-judicial activity by federal judges by requiring the Judicial Conference to publicly post judges’ financial reports, recusal decisions, and speeches.
• Enhance public access to court activity by mandating that federal appellate courts livestream audio of their proceedings, making case information easily-accessible to the public free of charge, and requiring federal courts to share case assignment data in bulk.
  Defend Access to Justice for All Americans. Eliminate barriers that restrict access to justice to all but the wealthiest individuals and companies.

• Reduce barriers that prevent individuals from having their case heard in court by restoring pleading standards that make it easier for individuals and businesses that have been harmed to make their case before a judge.
Encourage diversify on the Federal Bench. Strengthen the integrity of the judicial branch by increasing the focus on personal and professional diversity of the federal bench.
• Enhance reporting on judicial diversity by requiring the Judicial Conference to provide annual reports on the racial, ethnic, gender and professional diversity of the federal bench.

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ANTI-CORRUPTION AND PUBLIC INTEGRITY ACT – SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN

Title V: Strengthen Enforcement
Strengthen Executive Branch Enforcement. Create a single, new, and independent agency dedicated to enforcing federal ethics and anti-corruption laws. Stronger ethics and public integrity laws require stronger enforcement.
• Establish the new, independent U.S. Office of Public Integrity, which will –

• Strengthen federal ethics enforcement with new investigative and disciplinary powers.
  o Investigate potential violations by any individual or entity, including individuals and companies with new subpoena authority.
  o Enforce the nation’s ethics laws by ordering corrective action, levying civil and administrative penalties, and referring egregious violations to the Justice Department for criminal enforcement.
  o Receiveandinvestigateethicscomplaintsfrommembersofthepublic.
• Absorb the U.S. Office of Government Ethics as a new Government Ethics Division tasked with providing confidential advice to federal employees seeking ethics guidance.
• Consolidate anti-corruption and public integrity oversight over federal officials, including oversight of all agency Inspectors General, all ethics matters for White House staff and agency heads, and all waivers and recusals by senior government officials.
• Remain independent and protected from partisan politics through a single Director operating under strict selection, appointment, and removal criteria.
• Provide easy online access to key government ethics and transparency documents, including financial disclosures; lobbyist registrations; lobbyist disclosures of meetings and materials; and all ethics records, recusals, and waivers.
• Maintain a new government-wide Office of the Public Advocate, which would advocate for the public interest in executive branch rulemaking.
• Enforce federal open records and FOIA requirements by maintaining the central FOIA website and working with the National Archives to require agencies to comply with FOIA.
  Strengthen Legislative Branch Enforcement. Expand an independent and empowered ethics office insulated from congressional politics.

• Expand and empower the U.S. Office of Congressional Ethics, which will—

• Enforce the nation’s ethics laws in the Congress and the entire Legislative Branch, including
  the U.S. Senate.
• Conduct investigations of potential violations of ethics laws and rules by Members of Congress
  and staff with new subpoena power.
• Refer criminal and civil violations to the Justice Department, the Office of Public Integrity, or
  other relevant state or federal law enforcement.
• Recommend disciplinary and corrective action to the House and Senate Ethics Committees.

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ANTI-CORRUPTION AND PUBLIC INTEGRITY ACT – SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN

Title VI: Boost Transparency in Government and Fix Federal Open Records Laws Public Official and Candidate Tax Disclosure. Disclose basic tax return information for candidates
for federal elected office and current elected officials.

• Require the IRS to release tax returns for Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates from the previous 8 years and during each year in federal elected office.
• Require the IRS to release tax returns for Congressional candidates from the previous 2 years and during each year in federal elected office.
• Require the IRS to release tax returns and other financial information of businesses owned by senior federal officials and candidates for federal office.
• Require the IRS to release tax filings for nonprofit organizations run by candidates for federal office.
  Disclose the Cash behind Washington Advocacy and Lobbying. Prevent special interests from using secret donations from corporations and billionaires to influence public policy without disclosure.

• Require nonprofit organizations to list donors who bankrolled the production of any specific rulemaking comment, congressional testimony, or lobbying material, and to reveal whether the donors reviewed or edited the document.
• Require individuals and corporations to disclose funding or editorial conflicts of interest in research submitted to agencies that is not publicly available in peer-reviewed publications.
• Prevent sham research from undermining the public interest by requiring that studies that present conflicts of interest to independent peer review to be considered in the rulemaking process.
  Improve the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Close the loopholes in our open records laws that allow federal officials to hide industry influence.

• Codify the default presumption of disclosure and affirmatively disclose records of public interest, including meeting agendas; government contracts; salaries; staff diversity; and reports to Congress.
• Require all agencies to use a central FOIA website that is searchable and has downloadable open records databases with all open FOIA requests and all records disclosed through FOIA.
• Strengthen FOIA enforcement by limiting FOIA exemptions and loopholes, and by giving the National Archives the authority to overrule agency FOIA decisions and to compel disclosure.
• Extend FOIA to private-sector federal contractors, including private federal prisons and immigration detention centers, and require large federal contractors to disclose political spending.
  Make Congress More Transparent. End the corporate lobbyists leg up in the legislative process. The
  public deserves to know what Congress is up to and how lobbyists influence legislation.

• Require all congressional committees to immediately post online more information, including hearings and markup schedules, bill or amendments text, testimonies, documents entered into the hearing record, hearing transcripts, written witness answers, and hearing audio and video recordings.
• Require Members of Congress to post a link to their searchable voting record on their official websites.
• Require lobbyists to disclose when they lobby a specific congressional office; specific topics of visit; the official action being requested; and all documents provided to the office during the visit.

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