5 1 Administrator of General Services shall obtain or retain, as the 2 case may be, custody of all existing public records received, 3 held, prepared, or originated during the period beginning 4 January 20, 1969, and ending on August 9, 1974. 5 (c) If a Federal court of competent jurisdiction decides 6 that the provisions of this Act deprive any individual of 7 private property without just compensation, the Admin8 istrator of General Services is authorized to pay the com9 pensation which such court adjudges just. 10 (d) For purposes of this section, the term "public 11 record" has the same meaning given such term by section 12 3901 of title 44, United States Code, as added by section 2 13 of this Act. 93D CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 17279 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 10, 1974 Mr. LUKEN (for himself and Mr. DINGELL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To provide for public ownership of all documents prepared for or by any elected Federal official in connection with the performance of the duties of such official, and for other 1 purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 That this Act may be cited as the "Public Documents Act 4 of 1974". 5 SEC. 2. (a) Title 44, United States Code, is amended 6 by adding at the end thereof the following new chapter: "3902. Retention of documents produced by elected officials. "3903. Transmission of public documents to Administrator of General Services. 3904. Preservation of public documents. "2905. Judicial review. 3 "§ 3901. Definitions 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "For purposes of this chapter "(1) the term 'elected official of the United States' means the President, Vice President, Senator, and Member of (or Resident Commissioner or Delegate to) the House of Representatives, including any individual holding such office for any period by reason of appointment to such office or succession to such office; "(2) the term 'public documents' means, with respect to any elected official of the United States, the 13 books, correspondence, documents, papers, pamphlets, 14 15 16 17 18 19 models, pictures, photographs, plats, maps, films, motion pictures, sound recordings, and other objects or materials which are prepared for or originated by such official in connection with the performance of the duties of the office of such official during any period when such offi cial held elective office, which are not transferred by 20 such official under authority of law during such period, 21 and which would not have been prepared if such official 1 2 3 4 5 6 3 had not held such office; except that copies of public documents preserved only for convenience of reference are not included; and 66 (3) the term 'educational institution' includes any public or nonprofit private library, school, college, or university. 7 "83902. Retention of documents produced by elected offi 8 9 cials "All books, correspondence, documents, papers, pam10 phlets, models, pictures, photographs, plats, maps, films, 11 motion pictures, sound recordings, and other objects or ma12 terials which are prepared for or originated by any elected 13 official of the United States in connection with the transac14 tion of public business during any period when such official 15 holds elective office, which are not transferred by such official under authority of law during such period, and which 17 would not have been prepared if such official had not held 18 such office shall be retained by such official for transmis19 sion and preservation pursuant to sections 3903 and 3904 20 of this title. 16 21 "83903. Transmission of public documents to Administrator of General Services 22 23 "Within one hundred and eighty days after an elected 24 official of the United States ceases to hold his office, the Ad25 ministrator of General Services shall obtain any objects or 4 1 materials of such elected officials which the Administrator 2 determines to be public documents within the meaning of 3 section 3901 (2) of this title, and such elected officials shall 4 transmit such documents to the Administrator. 5 "§ 3904. Preservation of public documents 6 "The Administrator of General Services shall deposit 7 in the National Archives of the United States the public 8 documents of each elected official of the United States ob9 tained under section 3903 of this title, except that such Ad10 ministrator shall donate all or any portion of such documents 11 to any educational institution designated by the elected 12 official from whom such documents were obtained if such 13 official directs such Administrator to so donate all or any 14 portion of such documents within the one hundred and 15 eighty-day period described in section 3903. Sections 2101 16 through 2113 of this title shall apply to all public documents 17 accepted by the National Archives under this section. 18 "§ 3905. Judicial review 19 "A decision by the Administrator of General Services 20 that any object or material is a public document of an elected 21 official of the United States within the meaning of section 22 3901 (2) of this title shall be a final agency decision within 23 the meaning of section 702 of title 5.". (b) The table of chapters, preceding chapter 1 of title |