§2255b Department of Agriculture Conference Transparency

Summary

The Secretary of Agriculture must send a report by September 30 each year to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate about conferences the Department sponsored, held, or that Department employees attended. Each report must list, for every covered conference, the conference name, location, how many Department employees went, and the costs (including travel). If the Department used a contract to run or supply the conference, the report must describe how that contracting was done. Conferences that cost the government less than $50,000 or foreign meetings attended by the Secretary or the Secretary’s official designee are excluded. The report must be posted in a searchable format on a public USDA website. Conference: a meeting for consultation, education, awareness, or discussion that includes at least one USDA agency, takes place at least partly outside a USDA facility, and involves travel and lodging costs; it does not include continuing education or curriculum-based training held apart from a non-government conference.