TREASURY AUCTION REFORMS.

SEC. 202. TREASURY AUCTION REFORMS. (a) Ability to Submit Computer Tenders in Treasury Auctions.— By the end of 1995, any bidder shall be permitted to submit a computer-generated tender to any automated auction system established by the Secretary of the Treasury for the sale upon issuance of securities issued by the Secretary if the bidder— (1) meets the minimum creditworthiness standard established by the Secretary; and 107 STAT. 2357 (2) agrees to comply with regulations and procedures applicable to the automated system and the sale upon issuance of securities issued by the Secretary. (b) Prohibition on Favored Players.— (1) In general.— No government securities broker or government securities dealer may receive any advantage, favorable treatment, or other benefit, in connection with the purchase upon issuance of securities issued by the Secretary of the Treasury, which is not generally available to other government securities brokers or government securities dealers under the regulations governing the sale upon issuance of securities issued by the Secretary of the Treasury. (2) Exception.— (A) In general.— The Secretary of the Treasury may grant an exception to the application of paragraph (1) if— (i) the Secretary determines that any advantage, favorable treatment, or other benefit referred to in such paragraph is necessary and appropriate and in the public interest; and (ii) the grant of the exception is designed to minimize any anticompetitive effect. (B) Annual report.— The Secretary of the Treasury shall submit an annual report to the Congress describing any exception granted by the Secretary under subparagraph (A) during the year covered by the report and the basis upon which the exception was granted. (c) Meetings of Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee.— (1) Open meetings.— (A) In general.— Except as provided in subparagraph (B), any meeting of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee of the Public Securities Association (hereafter in this subsection referred to as the “advisory committee”), or any successor to the advisory committee, shall be open to the public. (B) Exception.— Subparagraph (A) shall not apply with respect to any part of any meeting of the advisory committee in which the advisory committee— (i) discusses and debates the issues presented to the advisory committee by the Secretary of the Treasury; or (ii) makes recommendations to the Secretary. (2) Minutes of each meeting.— The detailed minutes required to be maintained under section 10(c) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act for any meeting by the advisory committee shall be made available to the public within 3 business days of the date of the meeting. (3) Prohibition on receipt of gratuities or expenses by any officer or employee of the board or department.— In connection with any meeting of the advisory committee, no officer or employee of the Department of the Treasury, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or any Federal reserve bank may accept any gratuity, consideration, expense of any sort, or any other thing of value from any advisory committee described in subsection (c), any member of such committee, or any other person. (4) Prohibition on outside discussions.— 107 STAT. 2358 (A) In general.— Subject to subparagraph (B), a member of the advisory committee may not discuss any part of any discussion, debate, or recommendation at a meeting of the advisory committee which occurs while such meeting is closed to the public (in accordance with paragraph (1)(B)) with, or disclose the contents of such discussion, debate, or recommendation to, anyone other than— (i) another member of the advisory committee who is present at the meeting; or (ii) an officer or employee of the Department of the Treasury. (B) Applicable period of prohibition.— The prohibition contained in subparagraph (A) on discussions and disclosures of any discussion, debate, or recommendation at a meeting of the advisory committee shall cease to apply— (i) with respect to any discussion, debate, or recommendation which relates to the securities to be auctioned in a midquarter refunding by the Secretary of the Treasury, at the time the Secretary makes a public announcement of the refunding; and (ii) with respect to any other discussion, debate, or recommendation at the meeting, at the time the Secretary releases the minutes of the meeting in accordance with paragraph (2). (C) Removal from advisory committee for violations of this paragraph.— In addition to any penalty or enforcement action to which a person who violates a provision of this paragraph may be subject under any other provision of law, the Secretary of the Treasury shall— (i) remove a member of the advisory committee who violates a provision of this paragraph from the advisory committee and permanently bar such person from serving as a member of the advisory committee; and (ii) prohibit any director, officer, or employee of the firm of which the member referred to in clause (i) is a director, officer, or employee (at the time the member is removed from the advisory committee) from serving as a member of the advisory committee at any time during the 5-year period beginning on the date of such removal. (d) Report to Congress.— (1) Report required.— The Secretary of the Treasury shall submit an annual report to the Congress containing the following information with respect to material violations or suspected material violations of regulations of the Secretary relating to auctions and other offerings of securities upon the issuance of such securities by the Secretary: (A) The number of inquiries begun by the Secretary during the year covered by the report regarding such material violations or suspected material violations by any participant in the auction system or any director, officer, or employee of any such participant and the number of inquiries regarding any such violations or suspected violations which remained open at the end of such year. (B) A brief description of the nature of the violations. 107 STAT. 2359 (C) A brief description of any action taken by the Secretary during such year with respect to any such violation, including any referrals made to the Attorney General, the Securities and Exchange Commission, any other law enforcement agency, and any Federal banking agency (as defined in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (2) Delay in disclosure of information in certain cases.— The Secretary of the Treasury shall not be required to include in a report under paragraph (1) any information the disclosure of which could jeopardize an investigation by an agency described in paragraph (1)(C) for so long as such disclosure could jeopardize the investigation.