5 U.S.C. § 13101 — Definitions
submitted 4 years ago by Pub. L. 117-286 to r/title-5-GOVERNMENT-ORGANIZATION-AND-EMPLOYEES · 1,489 words · no verdicts yet
This section defines 19 terms used in this subchapter. It explains who counts as a dependent child, relative, or judicial officer. It also defines gift, income, and value, plus the branches and ethics offices that oversee filings.
(1) Congressional ethics committees — This term means two committees: the Senate's Select Committee on Ethics and the House's Committee on Ethics.
(2) Dependent child — This term applies to a son, daughter, stepson, or stepdaughter of the reporting individual. The child counts as a "dependent child" if either: (A) the child is unmarried, under 21, and lives in the reporting individual's household; or (B) the child is a dependent under section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code.
(3) Designated agency ethics official — This is the officer or employee an agency assigns to administer this subchapter's rules within that agency.
(4) Executive branch — This includes every executive agency (as defined in section 105 of this title), except the Government Accountability Office, plus any other entity or unit in the executive branch.
(5) Gift — A "gift" is a payment, advance, forbearance, rendering, or deposit of money, or anything of value, given without the donor receiving something of equal or greater value back. But six things are not gifts: (A) inheritances and bequests; (B) suitable mementos honoring the reporting individual; (C) food, lodging, transportation, and entertainment given by a foreign government inside that country, or by the U.S., D.C., or a state or local government; (D) food and beverages not tied to a gift of overnight lodging; (E) communications to the reporting individual's office, including newspaper and periodical subscriptions; and (F) consumable products that home-state businesses give to an elected reporting individual's office, if meant for people other than the official.
(6) Honoraria — This is just the plural of "honorarium," which section 13141 of this title defines.
(7) Income — "Income" means all income from any source. The section lists examples: pay for services (fees, commissions, and similar items), gross business income (or net income if the individual chooses), gains from dealing in property, interest, rents, royalties, dividends, annuities, income from life insurance and endowment contracts, pensions, income from forgiven debt, a partner's share of partnership income, and income from an interest in an estate or trust.
(8) Judicial Conference — This means the Judicial Conference of the United States.
(9) Judicial employee — This is any judicial-branch employee, or an employee of the Sentencing Commission, Tax Court, Court of Federal Claims, or Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, or the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, who is not a judicial officer. The employee must either perform adjudicatory duties in the judicial branch, or hold a position paid at least 120% of the minimum GS-15 rate.
(10) Judicial officer — This means the Chief Justice, the Supreme Court's Associate Justices, and judges of the U.S. courts of appeals, U.S. district courts (including in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands), the Federal Circuit, the Court of International Trade, the Tax Court, the Court of Federal Claims, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and any court Congress creates whose judges serve during good behavior.
(11) Legislative branch — This includes: (A) the Architect of the Capitol; (B) the Botanic Gardens; (C) the Congressional Budget Office; (D) the Government Accountability Office; (E) the Government Publishing Office; (F) the Library of Congress; (G) the U.S. Capitol Police; (H) the Office of Technology Assessment; and (I) any other legislative-branch agency, entity, office, or commission.
(12) Member of Congress — This means a U.S. Senator, a Representative, a Delegate to Congress, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.
(13) Officer or employee of Congress — This term covers three groups of people, as long as their pay comes from the Secretary of the Senate or the House's Chief Administrative Officer, and they are not a Member of Congress or the Vice President: (A) a legislative-branch officer or employee (other than at the Government Accountability Office) who, for at least 60 days, holds a position paid at least 120% of the minimum GS-15 rate; (B) a Government Accountability Office officer or employee who, for at least 60 straight days, holds a position where basic pay minus what locality pay would have been under section 5304 is still at least 120% of the minimum GS-15 rate; and (C) at least one top aide that a Member designates for this purpose, if that Member has no employee who already meets the 120%-of-GS-15 pay threshold.
(14) Personal hospitality of any individual — This means hospitality an individual (not a corporation or organization) gives for a non-business reason, at that individual's or their family's home, or on property or facilities that individual or family owns.
(15) Reimbursement — This means any payment or other thing of value the reporting individual gets, other than a gift, to cover travel expenses. It excludes: (A) travel paid by the U.S., D.C., or a state or local government; (B) travel required to be reported under section 7342 of this title; or (C) travel required to be reported under section 304 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.
(16) Relative — This is a long list of family relationships: father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, great-aunt, great-uncle, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, grandparent, grandchild, in-laws (father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister), stepparent, stepchild, stepsibling, half-sibling, or the grandparent of the reporting individual's spouse. It also includes the reporting individual's fiancé or fiancée.
(17) Secretary concerned — This has the meaning given in section 101(a) of title 10, and also means: (A) the Secretary of Commerce, for matters about the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; (B) the Secretary of Health and Human Services, for matters about the Public Health Service; and (C) the Secretary of State, for matters about the Foreign Service.
(18) Supervising ethics office — This means: (A) the Senate's Select Committee on Ethics, for Senators and Senate officers and employees who must file with the Secretary of the Senate; (B) the House's Committee on Ethics, for Members and House officers and employees who must file with the Clerk of the House; (C) the Judicial Conference, for judicial officers and employees; and (D) the Office of Government Ethics, for all executive branch officers and employees.
(19) Value — This means a good-faith estimate of the dollar value, used when the reporting individual doesn't know the exact value and can't easily find it out.
In this subchapter:
The term “congressional ethics committees” means the Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate and the Committee on Ethics of the House of Representatives.
The term “dependent child” means, when used with respect to any reporting individual, any individual who is a son, daughter, stepson, or stepdaughter and who—
is unmarried and under age 21 and is living in the household of such reporting individual; or
is a dependent of such reporting individual within the meaning of section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 152).
The term “designated agency ethics official” means an officer or employee who is designated to administer the provisions of this subchapter within an agency.
The term “executive branch” includes each Executive agency (as defined in section 105 of this title), other than the Government Accountability Office, and any other entity or administrative unit in the executive branch.
The term “gift” means a payment, advance, forbearance, rendering, or deposit of money, or any thing of value, unless consideration of equal or greater value is received by the donor, but does not include—
bequest and other forms of inheritance;
suitable mementos of a function honoring the reporting individual;
food, lodging, transportation, and entertainment provided by a foreign government within a foreign country or by the United States Government, the District of Columbia, or a State or local government or political subdivision thereof;
food and beverages which are not consumed in connection with a gift of overnight lodging;
communications to the offices of a reporting individual, including subscriptions to newspapers and periodicals; or
consumable products provided by home-State businesses to the offices of a reporting individual who is an elected official, if those products are intended for consumption by persons other than such reporting individual.
The term “honoraria” means the plural of “honorarium” as defined in section 13141 of this title.
The term “income” means all income from whatever source derived, including but not limited to the following items: compensation for services, including fees, commissions, and similar items; gross income derived from business (and net income if the individual elects to include it); gains derived from dealings in property; interest; rents; royalties; dividends; annuities; income from life insurance and endowment contracts; pensions; income from discharge of indebtedness; distributive share of partnership income; and income from an interest in an estate or trust.
The term “Judicial Conference” means the Judicial Conference of the United States.
The term “judicial employee” means any employee of the judicial branch of the Government, of the United States Sentencing Commission, of the Tax Court, of the Court of Federal Claims, of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, or of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, who is not a judicial officer and who is authorized to perform adjudicatory functions with respect to proceedings in the judicial branch, or who occupies a position for which the rate of basic pay is equal to or greater than 120 percent of the minimum rate of basic pay payable for GS–15 of the General Schedule.
The term “judicial officer” means the Chief Justice of the United States, the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, and the judges of the United States courts of appeals, United States district courts, including the district courts in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Court of International Trade, Tax Court, Court of Federal Claims, Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and any court created by Act of Congress, the judges of which are entitled to hold office during good behavior.
The term “legislative branch” includes—
the Architect of the Capitol;
the Botanic Gardens;
the Congressional Budget Office;
the Government Accountability Office;
the Government Publishing Office;
the Library of Congress;
the United States Capitol Police;
the Office of Technology Assessment; and
any other agency, entity, office, or commission established in the legislative branch.
The term “Member of Congress” means a United States Senator, a Representative in Congress, a Delegate to Congress, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.
The term “officer or employee of Congress” means an individual described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C), other than a Member of Congress or the Vice President, whose compensation is disbursed by the Secretary of the Senate or the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives. The individuals described in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) are—
each officer or employee of the legislative branch (except any officer or employee of the Government Accountability Office) who, for at least 60 days, occupies a position for which the rate of basic pay is equal to or greater than 120 percent of the minimum rate of basic pay payable for GS–15 of the General Schedule;
each officer or employee of the Government Accountability Office who, for at least 60 consecutive days, occupies a position for which the rate of basic pay, minus the amount of locality pay that would have been authorized under section 5304 of this title (had the officer or employee been paid under the General Schedule) for the locality within which the position of such officer or employee is located (as determined by the Comptroller General), is equal to or greater than 120 percent of the minimum rate of basic pay payable for GS–15 of the General Schedule; and
at least one principal assistant designated for purposes of this paragraph by each Member who does not have an employee who occupies a position for which the rate of basic pay is equal to or greater than 120 percent of the minimum rate of basic pay payable for GS–15 of the General Schedule.
The term “personal hospitality of any individual” means hospitality extended for a nonbusiness purpose by an individual, not a corporation or organization, at the personal residence of that individual or the individual’s family or on property or facilities owned by that individual or the individual’s family.
The term “reimbursement” means any payment or other thing of value received by the reporting individual, other than gifts, to cover travel-related expenses of such individual other than those which are—
provided by the United States Government, the District of Columbia, or a State or local government or political subdivision thereof;
required to be reported by the reporting individual under section 7342 of this title; or
required to be reported under section 304 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104).
The term “relative” means an individual who is related to the reporting individual, as father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, great aunt, great uncle, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, granddaughter, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, or who is the grandfather or grandmother of the spouse of the reporting individual, and shall be deemed to include the fiance or fiancee of the reporting individual.
The term “Secretary concerned” has the meaning set forth in section 101(a) of title 10, and, in addition, means—
the Secretary of Commerce, with respect to matters concerning the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration;
the Secretary of Health and Human Services, with respect to matters concerning the Public Health Service; and
the Secretary of State, with respect to matters concerning the Foreign Service.
The term “supervising ethics office” means—
the Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate, for Senators, officers and employees of the Senate, and other officers or employees of the legislative branch required to file financial disclosure reports with the Secretary of the Senate pursuant to section 13105(h) of this title;
the Committee on Ethics of the House of Representatives, for Members, officers and employees of the House of Representatives and other officers or employees of the legislative branch required to file financial disclosure reports with the Clerk of the House of Representatives pursuant to section 13105(h) of this title;
the Judicial Conference for judicial officers and judicial employees; and
the Office of Government Ethics for all executive branch officers and employees.
The term “value” means a good faith estimate of the dollar value if the exact value is neither known nor easily obtainable by the reporting individual.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 117–286, § 3(c), Dec. 27, 2022, 136 Stat. 4266.)
- 2022Enacted · Pub. L. 117-286 · 136 Stat. 4266
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 117-286 on 2022-12-27.
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