I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2115

To establish a national advisory referendum on limiting the terms of Members

of Congress at the general election of 1996.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 26, 1995

Mr. HOEKSTRA (for himself, Mrs. FOWLER, Mr. HILLEARY, Mr. SANFORD,

Mr. TATE, Mr. UPTON, Mr. HUTCHINSON, and Mr. HANCOCK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House

Oversight

A BILL

To establish a national advisory referendum on limiting the

terms of Members of Congress at the general election

of 1996.

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 ‘‘National Voter Oppor5 tunity To Inform Congress Effectively (V.O.I.C.E.) on

6 Term Limits Act of 1995’’.

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

8 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
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1 (1) the right of citizens of the United States to

2 vote is a fundamental right;

3 (2) the right of citizens of the United States to

4 have an effective voice in the decisionmaking proc5 esses of the Congress is grounded in the right to pe6 tition and is a fundamental part of American democ7 racy, and Congress should provide an opportunity

8 for citizens to express their views on important pub9 lic issues;

10 (3) there is an increasing public sentiment and

11 demand for limiting the terms of Members of Con12 gress; and

13 (4) voters in 23 States have already voted and/

14 or approved State laws to limit the terms of their

15 congressional delegations, and voters in other States

16 have expressed their interest in having the oppor17 tunity to also vote on term limits for Members of

18 Congress.

19 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

20 (1) to give the citizens of every State the oppor21 tunity to have a voice on whether or not the terms

22 of Members of Congress should be limited; and

23 (2) to conduct a national nonbinding referen24 dum on term limits at the 1996 general election,

25 thereby having an opportunity to study the feasibil-
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1 ity of conducting national nonbinding referenda on

2 other important issues in the future.

3 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

4 As used in this Act—

5 (1) the term ‘‘nonbinding referendum’’ means

6 the placing on the general election ballot in every

7 congressional district and delegate or resident com8 missioner district in 1996 the advisory question de9 fined below, the results of which shall be properly

10 tabulated and certified as described herein, but

11 which results shall not be legally binding on any per12 son or institution;

13 (2) the term ‘‘advisory question’’ means the

14 National Advisory Referendum on Term Limits, the

15 language of which is contained in section 4(b) of this

16 Act;

17 (3) the term ‘‘general election’’ means the elec18 tion at which Federal officers are elected in 1996;

19 (4) the term ‘‘Federal office’’ means Members

20 of the United States House of Representatives and

21 Senators, Delegates to the United States Congress,

22 and Resident Commissioners of the territories of the

23 United States; and

24 (5) the term ‘‘State election agency’’ means the

25 official agency of each State and territory charged
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1 with the legal responsibility for conducting general

2 elections within that jurisdiction.

3 SEC. 4. PROCEDURES FOR NATIONAL VOTER OPPORTUNITY

4 TO INFORM CONGRESS EFFECTIVELY ON

5 TERM LIMITS NONBINDING REFERENDUM.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act shall have the effect of

7 placing on the 1996 general election ballot in every con8 gressional district, and delegate and/or resident commis9 sioner district, in the United States, the District of Colum10 bia and the territories of the United States, the advisory

11 question concerning term limits for Members of Congress.

12 (b) ADVISORY QUESTION; BALLOT TITLE AND LAN13 GUAGE.—Not later than June 1, 1996, the Clerk of the

14 United States House of Representatives and the Secretary

15 of the United States Senate shall jointly certify to the ap16 propriate State election agencies for inclusion on the 1996

17 general election ballot in each congressional district, the

18 following ballot title and question:

‘‘NATIONAL ADVISORY REFERENDUM ON TERM LIMITS

‘‘Should Congress approve a constitutional amendment to limit the number of terms that a Member of the

United States House of Representatives and United

States Senator can serve in office?

‘‘Yes No’’.

19 (c) PREPARATION OF BALLOTS.—
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1 (1) PROCEDURES.—The procedures for printing

2 and preparation of the ballots containing the advi3 sory questions shall be the same as provided in each

4 State and territory for conducting the elections of

5 the Members of the United States House of Rep6 resentatives and Senators, and Delegates or Resi7 dent Commissioners.

8 (2) ADVISORY QUESTIONS.—In each congres9 sional and delegate district, every general election

10 ballot shall include the advisory questions contained

11 in subsection (b). Should there be no general elec12 tion scheduled to be held in any particular congres13 sional or delegate district, a ballot shall nonetheless

14 be prepared for the voters of said district to be able

15 to participate in the nonbinding referendum in the

16 same manner as all other districts where a general

17 election is being held. States shall be reimbursed at

18 4 cents per voter, or an estimated $5,000,000 for

19 the costs incurred in placing the questions in sub20 section (b) on the ballots in November 1996. There21 fore, this bill authorizes $5,000,000 for these pur22 poses. All reimbursements to State election agencies

23 for the costs of conducting the nonbinding referen24 dum shall be made from the franking accounts of

25 the Congress, with funds drawn from the franking
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1 accounts of the House of Representatives and the

2 Senate in proportion to the total funds appropriated

3 to each House for franking, to reimburse the States

4 for such expenses. The Clerk of the United States

5 House of Representatives and the Secretary of the

6 United States Senate shall be responsible for ensur7 ing the proper application for and reimbursement of

8 said expenses.

9 (d) TABULATION AND CERTIFICATION OF VOTING

10 RESULTS.—The State election agencies shall tabulate the

11 results of the voting on the advisory questions in the same

12 manner as is customary for tabulating the results of elec13 tions of the Members of the United States House of Rep14 resentatives and Senators. Said results shall be officially

15 certified pursuant to the customary laws and procedures

16 of each jurisdiction.

17 (e) TRANSMISSION OF CERTIFIED RESULTS TO THE

18 CONGRESS, ALL MEMBERS, AND COMMITTEES ON THE

19 JUDICIARY.—The official, certified election results of each

20 jurisdiction’s nonbinding referenda on the advisory ques21 tions shall be certified by the State election agency to the

22 Clerk of the United States House of Representatives and

23 the Secretary of the United States Senate in the same

24 manner and at the same time of the certification of elec25 tion of Members of the House of Representatives and Sen-
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1 ate at the 1996 general election, said results to be certified

2 by county, congressional district and statewide totals. The

3 Clerk and the Secretary shall be responsible for transmit4 ting to each Member of the respective House of Congress

5 the results of the nonbinding referenda from all jurisdic6 tions. The results shall also be taken under advisement

7 by the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep8 resentatives and the Committee on the Judiciary of the

9 Senate, with recommendations for response reported back

10 to the full House and Senate within 6 months of the gen11 eral election.

12 (f) COMMENTS REGARDING PROCEDURES FOR FU13 TURE NONBINDING REFERENDA.—Within 90 days of the

14 date of the general election, the State election agencies

15 shall forward to the Clerk of the United States House of

16 Representatives and the Secretary of the United States

17 Senate their comments or suggestions regarding changes

18 or improvements in procedures for conducting national

19 nonbinding referenda in future general elections. All such

20 comments shall be referred to the respective committees

21 on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and

22 Senate.

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