Royalty Transparency Act

Increased Transparency for Advisory Committees: The Government Accountability Office will publish a list of advisory committees that make public health recommendations and have had those recommendations implemented, providing clarity on which groups influence public policy (Section 2(a)).

Public Access to Financial Information: Agencies must publish reports on their websites detailing the names of "covered individuals" and the original source and value of royalties received, allowing the public to see what certain officials are earning from their inventions (Section 2(c) and Section 2(e)).

Greater Oversight of Ethics Waivers: When an ethics office grants a waiver, they must now provide notification and a detailed justification to specific Congressional committees, ensuring that exceptions to conflict of interest rules are scrutinized (Section 2(b)).

Mitigation of Organizational Conflicts: By requiring the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council and the Office of Management and Budget to include royalty reviews in conflict of interest checks for contractors or grantees, the bill aims to identify and mitigate potential conflicts of interest (Section 3(a)).

Increased Reporting Burdens for Employees: Executive branch employees, their spouses, and dependent children must now report the original source and specific amount of royalties received from inventions developed during their employment (Section 2(c)).

Sunset of Certain Advisory Committee Protections: The requirement for the Government Accountability Office to list specific advisory committees will expire five years after the Act is enacted (Section 2(a)).