I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2635

To establish a temporary commission to recommend reforms in the laws

relating to elections for Congress.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 14, 1995

Mr. WHITE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Oversight, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee

concerned

A BILL

To establish a temporary commission to recommend reforms

in the laws relating to elections for Congress.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Elections Act’’.

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

6 The Congress finds that—

7 (1) for Congress to address the existing prob8 lems in the Federal election laws, Congress must act

9 in a nonpartisan manner and engage in a debate
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1 based on academic studies and empirical findings in2 stead of partisan rhetoric;

3 (2) when addressing Federal election laws, Con4 gress must be cognizant of the freedoms of speech

5 and association protected under the Constitution;

6 and

7 (3) the current Federal election laws unduly

8 favor incumbent Members of Congress, and, in pre9 vious years, Congress has not been able to eliminate

10 this bias when addressing the reform of the Federal

11 election laws.

12 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSE OF COMMISSION.

13 There is established a commission to be known as the

14 ‘‘Fair Elections Commission’’ (hereinafter in this Act re15 ferred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). The purposes of the Com16 mission are to study the laws relating to elections for Con17 gress and to report and recommend legislation to reform

18 those laws.

19 SEC. 4. MEMBERSHIP OF COMMISSION.

20 (a) APPOINTMENT.—The Commission shall be com21 posed of 12 members appointed within 15 days after the

22 date of the enactment of this Act by the President, by

23 and with the advice and consent of the Senate, from

24 among individuals who are not incumbent Members of

25 Congress and who are specially qualified to serve on the
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1 Commission by reason of education, training, or experi2 ence. In making appointments, the President shall con3 sult—

4 (1) the Speaker of the House of Representa5 tives with respect to the appointment of 3 members,

6 one of whom is not affiliated with either the Repub7 lican Party or the Democratic Party;

8 (2) the majority leader of the Senate with re9 spect to the appointment of 3 members, one of

10 whom is not affiliated with either the Republican

11 Party or the Democratic Party;

12 (3) the minority leader of the House of Rep13 resentatives with respect to the appointment of 2

14 members, one of whom is not affiliated with either

15 the Republican Party or the Democratic Party; and

16 (4) the minority leader of the Senate with re17 spect to the appointment of 2 members, one of

18 whom is not affiliated with either the Republican

19 Party or the Democratic Party.

20 (b) CHAIRMAN.—At the time of the appointment, the

21 President shall designate one member of the Commission

22 as Chairman of the Commission. The Chairman may not

23 be affiliated with either the Republican Party or the

24 Democratic Party.
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1 (c) TERMS.—The members of the Commission shall

2 serve for the life of the Commission.

3 (d) VACANCIES.—A vacancy in the Commission shall

4 be filled in the manner in which the original appointment

5 was made.

6 (e) POLITICAL AFFILIATION.—Not more than 4

7 members of the Commission may be of the same political

8 party.

9 SEC. 5. POWERS OF COMMISSION.

10 (a) HEARINGS.—The Commission may, for the pur11 pose of carrying out this Act, hold hearings, sit and act

12 at times and places, take testimony, and receive evidence

13 as the Commission considers appropriate.

14 (b) QUORUM.—Seven members of the Commission

15 shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number may hold

16 hearings. A majority of the full Commission is required

17 when approving all or a portion of the recommended legis18 lation. Any member of the Commission may, if authorized

19 by the Commission, take any action which the Commission

20 is authorized to take under this section.

21 SEC. 6. REPORT AND RECOMMENDED LEGISLATION.

22 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact23 ment of this Act, the Commission shall submit to the Con24 gress a report of the activities of the Commission, together

25 with a draft of legislation (including technical and con-
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1 forming provisions) recommended by the Commission to

2 reform the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2

3 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) and any other laws relating to elec4 tions for Congress.

5 SEC. 7. PRIMARY OBJECTIVES OF THE COMMISSION.

6 In formulating its draft of legislation under section

7 6, the Commission shall consider the following to be its

8 primary objectives:

9 (1) Encouraging fair and open Congressional

10 elections that provide voters with meaningful infor11 mation about candidates and issues.

12 (2) Eliminating the disproportionate influence

13 of special interest financing of Congressional elec14 tions.

15 (3) Creating a system in which incumbent

16 Members of Congress do not possess an inherent ad17 vantage over challengers.

18 SEC. 8. FAST-TRACK PROCEDURES.

19 (a) RULES OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND

20 SENATE.—This section is enacted by the Congress—

21 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of

22 the House of Representatives and the Senate, re23 spectively, and as such they shall be considered as

24 part of the rules of each House, respectively, or of

25 that House to which they specifically apply, and
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1 such rules shall supersede other rules only to the ex2 tent that they are inconsistent therewith; and

3 (2) with full recognition of the constitutional

4 right of either House to change the rules (so far as

5 relating to such House) at any time, in the same

6 manner and to the same extent as in the case of any

7 other rule of that House.

8 (b) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term

9 ‘‘Federal election bill’’ means only a bill of either House

10 of Congress which is introduced as provided in subsection

11 (c) to carry out the recommendations of the Commission

12 as set forth in the draft of legislation referred to in section

13 6.

14 (c) INTRODUCTION AND REFERRAL.—Within 3 days

15 after the Commission submits its draft legislation under

16 section 6, a Federal election bill shall be introduced (by

17 request) in the House by the majority leader of the House

18 and shall be introduced (by request) in the Senate by the

19 majority leader of the Senate. Such bills shall be referred

20 to the appropriate committees.

21 (d) AMENDMENTS PROHIBITED.—No amendment to

22 a Federal election bill shall be in order in either the House

23 of Representatives or the Senate; and no motion to sus24 pend the application of this subsection shall be in order

25 in either House; nor shall it be in order in either House
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1 to entertain a request to suspend the application of this

2 subsection by unanimous consent.

3 (e) PERIOD FOR COMMITTEE AND FLOOR CONSIDER4 ATION.—

5 (1) If the committee of either House to which

6 a Federal election bill has been referred has not re7 ported it at the close of the 20th day after its intro8 duction, such committee shall be automatically dis9 charged from further consideration of the bill and it

10 shall be placed on the appropriate calendar. If prior

11 to the passage by one House of a Federal election

12 bill of that House, that House receives the same

13 Federal election bill from the other House, then—

14 (A) the procedure in that House shall be

15 the same as if no Federal election bill had been

16 received from the other House; but

17 (B) the vote on final passage shall be on

18 the Federal election bill of the other House.

19 (2) For purposes of paragraph (1), in comput20 ing a number of days in either House, there shall be

21 excluded the days on which that House is not in ses22 sion because of an adjournment of more than 3 days

23 to a day certain or an adjournment of the Congress

24 sine die.

25 (f) FLOOR CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE.—
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1 (1) A motion in the House of Representatives

2 to proceed to the consideration of a Federal election

3 bill shall be highly privileged except that a motion to

4 proceed to consider may only be made on the second

5 legislative day after the calendar day on which the

6 Member making the motion announces to the House

7 his intention to do so. The motion to proceed to con8 sider is not debatable. An amendment to the motion

9 shall not be in order, nor shall it be in order to move

10 to reconsider the vote by which the motion is agreed

11 to or disagreed to.

12 (2) Consideration of a Federal election bill in

13 the House of Representatives shall be in the House

14 with debate limited to not more than 10 hours,

15 which shall be divided equally between those favoring

16 and those opposing the bill. The previous question

17 on the Federal election bill shall be considered as or18 dered to final passage without intervening motion. It

19 shall not be in order to move to reconsider the vote

20 by which a Federal election bill is agreed to or dis21 agreed to.

22 (3) All appeals from the decisions of the Chair

23 relating to the application of the Rules of the House

24 of Representatives to the procedure relating to a

25 Federal election bill shall be decided without debate.
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1 (g) FLOOR CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.—

2 (1) A motion in the Senate to proceed to the

3 consideration of a Federal election bill shall be privi4 leged and not debatable. An amendment to the mo5 tion shall not be in order, nor shall it be in order

6 to move to reconsider the vote by which the motion

7 is agreed to or disagreed to.

8 (2) Debate in the Senate on a Federal election

9 bill, and all debatable motions and appeals in con10 nection therewith, shall be limited to not more than

11 10 hours. The time shall be equally divided between,

12 and controlled by, the majority leader and the mi13 nority leader or their designees.

14 (3) Debate in the Senate on any debatable mo15 tion or appeal in connection with a Federal election

16 bill shall be limited to not more than 1 hour, to be

17 equally divided between, and controlled by, the

18 mover and the manager of the bill, except that in

19 the event the manager of the bill is in favor of any

20 such motion or appeal, the time in opposition there21 to, shall be controlled by the minority leader or his

22 designee. Such leaders, or either of them, may, from

23 time under their control on the passage of a Federal

24 election bill, allot additional time to any Senator
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1 during the consideration of any debatable motion or

2 appeal.

3 (4) A motion in the Senate to further limit de4 bate is not debatable. A motion to recommit a Fed5 eral election bill is not in order.

6 SEC. 9. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.

7 (a) PAY AND TRAVEL EXPENSES OF MEMBERS.—(1)

8 Each member of the Commission, other than the Chair9 man, shall be paid at a rate equal to the daily equivalent

10 of the annual rate of basic pay payable for level IV of

11 the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5,

12 United States Code, for each day (including travel time)

13 during which the member is engaged in the actual per14 formance of duties vested in the Commission. The Chair15 man shall be paid for each day referred to in the preceding

16 sentence at a rate equal to the daily equivalent of the an17 nual rate of basic pay payable for level III of the Executive

18 Schedule under section 5314 of title 5, United States

19 Code.

20 (2) Members of the Commission shall receive travel

21 expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in ac22 cordance with sections 5702 and 5703 of title 5, United

23 States Code.

24 (b) STAFF DIRECTOR.—The Commission shall, with25 out regard to section 5311(b) of title 5, United States
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1 Code, appoint a staff director, who shall be paid at the

2 rate of basic pay payable for level IV of the Executive

3 Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States

4 Code.

5 (c) STAFF.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Direc6 tor, with the approval of the Commission, may appoint

7 and fix the pay of additional personnel.

8 (2) The Director may make such appointments with9 out regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code,

10 governing appointments in the competitive service, and

11 any personnel so appointed may be paid without regard

12 to the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chap13 ter 53 of that title relating to classification and General

14 Schedule pay rates, except that an individual so appointed

15 may not receive pay in excess of the maximum annual rate

16 of basic pay payable for grade GS–15 of the General

17 Schedule under section 5332 of title 5, United States

18 Code.

19 (d) DETAILS.—Upon request of the Director, the

20 head of any Federal department or agency may detail, on

21 a reimbursable basis, any of the personnel of that depart22 ment or agency to the Commission to assist the Commis23 sion in carrying out its duties under this Act.

24 (e) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS.—The Commission

25 may procure by contract the temporary or intermittent
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1 services of experts or consultants pursuant to section 3109

2 of title 5, United States Code.

3 SEC. 10. TERMINATION.

4 The Commission shall cease to exist 90 days after

5 the date of the submission of its report under section 6.

6 SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

7 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Com8 mission such sums as are necessary to carry out its duties

9 under this Act.

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