To establish a House ethics commission, and for other purposes.

Summary: Establishing The House Independent Commission on Standards Act - Establishes within the legislative branch The House Independent Commission on Standards.

Amends Rule XI (Procedures of Committees and Unfinished Business) of the Rules of the House of Representatives to transfer to the Commission certain recommendations for administrative action and investigative duties of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct regarding Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and House officers and employees.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Establishing The House Independent 
Commission on Standards Act''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF HOUSE ETHICS COMMISSION.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established an independent ethics 
commission within the legislative branch of the Government to be known 
as The House Independent Commission on Standards (in this Act referred 
to as the ``Commission'').
    (b) Membership and Terms of Office.--(1) The Commission shall 
consist of 8 individuals. Four members shall be appointed by the 
Republican leader, of whom 2 shall be former Democratic Members and 4 
members shall be appointed by the Democratic leader of the House of 
Representatives, of whom 2 shall be former Republican Members. Except 
as provided by paragraph (2), the terms of all members of the 
Commission shall be 4 years.
    (2) Of the members first appointed--
            (A) 2 appointed by each leader shall be for a term of 4 
        years; and
            (B) 2 appointed by each leader shall be for a term of 6 
        years;
as designated by each such leader at the time of appointment.
    (3) No individual who has been a Member of the House may be 
appointed to the Commission sooner than 2 years after the ceasing to be 
a Member of the House.
    (c) Chairman and Vice Chairman.--The chairman and the vice chairman 
of the Commission shall be selected by the members of the Commission at 
its first meeting.
    (d) Disqualifications for Appointments.--
            (1) Lobbying.--No individual who has been a lobbyist 
        registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 or engages 
        in, or is otherwise employed in, lobbying of the Congress or 
        who is an agent of a foreign principal registered under the 
        Foreign Agents Registration Act within the 4-year period 
        immediately preceding appointment shall be eligible for 
        appointment to, or service on, the Commission.
            (2) Incompatible office.--No member of the Commission 
        appointed under subsection (b) may be an elected public 
        official or an officer or employee of the Government.
            (3) Financial benefit.--No member of the Commission 
        appointed under subsection (b) may serve on the board or be an 
        officer of any entity that has a direct financial interest in 
        any matter before the House of Representatives.
    (e) Vacancies.--A vacancy on the Commission shall be filled in the 
manner in which the original appointment was made.
    (f) Compensation.--Members shall each be entitled to receive the 
daily equivalent of the maximum annual rate of basic pay in effect for 
Level III of the Executive Schedule for each day (including travel 
time) during which they are engaged in the actual performance of duties 
vested in the Commission.
    (g) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the Commission shall 
constitute a quorum.
    (h) Meetings.--The Commission shall meet at the call of the 
chairman or a majority of its members.

SEC. 3. DUTIES OF COMMISSION.

    The Commission is authorized--
            (1) to investigate any alleged violation, by a Member, 
        officer, or employee of the House of Representatives, of any 
        law, rule, regulation, or other standard of conduct applicable 
        to the conduct of such Member, officer, or employee in the 
        performance of his duties or the discharge of his 
        responsibilities, and after notice and hearing (unless the 
        right to a hearing is waived by the Member, officer, or 
        employee), shall report to the House of Representatives its 
        findings of fact and recommendations, if any, upon the final 
        disposition of any such investigation, and such action as the 
        Commission may deem appropriate in the circumstances;
            (2) to issue any letter of admonishment with respect to 
        such an alleged violation;
            (3) to report to the appropriate Federal or State 
        authorities any substantial evidence of a violation, by a 
        Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives, 
        of any law applicable to the performance of his duties or the 
        discharge of his responsibilities, which may have been 
        disclosed in a Commission investigation; and
            (4) to adopt rules governing its procedures to provide 
        protections to respondents comparable to those that were 
        provided by clause 3 of rule XI of the Rules of the House of 
        Representatives in effect immediately before the amendments to 
        such rule made by section 8.

SEC. 4. POWERS OF COMMISSION.

    (a) Hearings and Evidence.--The Commission or, on the authority of 
the Commission, the chairman or vice chairman, may, for the purpose of 
carrying out this Act--
            (1) hold such hearings and sit and act at such times and 
        places, take such testimony, receive such evidence, administer 
        such oaths; and
            (2) subject to subsection (b), require, by subpoena or 
        otherwise, the attendance and testimony of such witnesses and 
        the production of such books, records, correspondence, 
        memoranda, papers, and documents, as the Commission or the 
        chairman or vice chairman may determine advisable.
    (b) Subpoenas.--
            (1) Prior written authorization.--A subpoena may be issued 
        only upon the prior written approval of the chairman and 
        ranking minority member of the Committee on Standards of 
        Official Conduct.
            (2) Issuance.--A subpoena may be issued only under the 
        signature of the chairman or the vice chairman, and may be 
        served by any person designated by the chairman or the vice 
        chairman.
    (c) Obtaining Information.--Upon request of the Commission, the 
head of any agency or instrumentality of the Government shall furnish 
information deemed necessary by the panel to enable it to carry out its 
duties.

SEC. 5. PROCEDURAL RULES.

    (a) Majority Approval.--No report or recommendation relating to the 
official conduct of a Member, officer, or employee of the House of 
Representatives shall be made by the Commission, and no investigation 
of such conduct shall be undertaken by the Commission, unless approved 
by the affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the Commission.
    (b) Investigations.--Except in the case of an investigation 
undertaken by the Commission on its own initiative, the Commission may 
undertake an investigation relating to the official conduct of an 
individual Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives 
only--
            (1) upon receipt of a complaint, in writing and under oath, 
        made by or submitted to a Member of the House of 
        Representatives and transmitted to the Commission by such 
        Member, or
            (2) upon receipt of a complaint from the Committee on 
        Standards of Official Conduct of the House of Representatives, 
        in writing and under oath, made by that committee.
    (c) Submissions.--(1) Any individual may submit a letter to the 
Commission requesting that it undertake an investigation on its own 
initiative of any alleged violation by a Member, officer, or employee 
of the House of Representatives, of any law, rule, regulation, or other 
standard of conduct applicable to the conduct of such Member, officer, 
or employee in the performance of his duties or the discharge of his 
responsibilities.
    (2) The Commission shall make available forms to be used in the 
submission of letters under paragraph (1).
    (3) The submission of a letter to the Commission under paragraph 
(1) does not necessitate any action by the Commission.
    (4) The Commission is authorized to adopt rules to establish 
procedures for the consideration of submissions, including a time frame 
for their consideration.
    (5) The Commission shall adopt a rule not to commence an 
investigation if it finds that the complaint or submission respecting 
that investigation is frivolous, and shall file a public report on such 
a complaint or submission with the Committee on Standards of Official 
Conduct.
    (d) Prohibition of Certain Investigations.--No investigation shall 
be undertaken by the Commission of any alleged violation of a law, 
rule, regulation, or standard of conduct not in effect at the time of 
the alleged violation.
    (e) Effect of Elections.--If the Commission receives any complaint 
or submission within 90 days before an election in which the subject of 
the complaint or submission is a candidate, the Commission shall delay 
consideration of that matter until after such election.
    (f) Disclosure.--No information or testimony received, or the 
contents of a complaint or the fact of its filing, shall be publicly 
disclosed by any member of the Commission or staff of the Commission 
unless specifically authorized in each instance by a vote of the 
Commission.

SEC. 6. STAFF OF COMMISSION.

    The Commission may appoint and fix the compensation of a Staff 
Director and such other staff as the Commission considers necessary to 
perform its duties. The Staff Director shall be appointed jointly by 
the Speaker and minority leader and shall be paid at a rate not to 
exceed the rate of basic pay payable for Level III of the Executive 
Schedule.

SEC. 7. ACTION ON COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS.

    (a) Printing of Reports in Congressional Record.--Upon receipt by 
the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct of the House of 
Representatives of any report of the Commission, the Speaker of the 
House of Representatives shall have the report printed in the 
Congressional Record.
    (b) House Consideration of Independent Ethics Commission 
Recommendations.--Within 14 calendar days after a report referred to in 
subsection (a) is printed in the Congressional Record, that portion of 
the report recommending action by the House of Representatives 
respecting any alleged violation, by a Member, officer, or employee of 
the House of Representatives, of any law, rule, regulation, or other 
standard of conduct applicable to the conduct of such Member, officer, 
or employee in the performance of his duties or the discharge of his 
responsibilities shall be introduced (by request) in the House by the 
Speaker of the House, for himself and the minority leader of the House 
in the form of a resolution. This resolution shall constitute a 
question of privilege under rule IX of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives. Any Member favoring the resolution may call it up as a 
question of privilege but only on the third day after the calendar date 
upon which such Member announces to the House his intention to do so.

SEC. 8. AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES OF THE HOUSE TO CHANGE THE DUTIES OF 
              THE COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CONDUCT.

    (a) House Rules Amendments.--Clause 3 of rule XI of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives is amended as follows:
            (1) In paragraph (a), strike subparagraphs (1), (2), and 
        (3), and redesignate subparagraphs (4), (5), and (6), as 
        subparagraphs (1), (2), and (3), respectively.
            (2)(A) Paragraph (b)(1) is amended by striking ``(A)'', by 
        striking ``a resolution, report, recommendation, or'' and 
        inserting ``an'', and by striking ``, or, except as provided in 
        subparagraph (2), undertake an investigation'', and by striking 
        subdivision (B).
            (B) Paragraph (b) is further amended by striking 
        subparagraphs (2), (3), (4), and (5) and by redesignating 
        subparagraphs (6) and (7) as subparagraphs (2) and (3), 
        respectively.
            (3) Strike paragraphs (j) (k), (l), (m), (n), (o), (p), and 
        (q).
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 803 of the Ethics Reform Act of 
1989 (2 U.S.C. 29d) is amended by striking subsections (c) and (d).

SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall take effect immediately before noon January 3, 2009.