I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 137

To make applicable to the Congress certain laws relating to the terms and

conditions of employment, the health and safety of employees, and the

rights and responsibilities of employers and employees, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 5, 1993

Mr. COMBEST introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the

Committees on House Administration, Education and Labor, the Judiciary, Government Operations, Ways and Means, and Rules

A BILL

To make applicable to the Congress certain laws relating

to the terms and conditions of employment, the health

and safety of employees, and the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees, and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘Congressional Ac5 countability Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. APPLICATION.

2 (a) GENERAL RULE.—Notwithstanding any other

3 provision of law, the laws specified in subsection (b) shall,

4 to the extent that they relate to the terms and conditions

5 of employment (including hiring, promotion or demotion,

6 salary, benefits, work assignments or reassignments, over7 time, and termination), the health and safety of employ8 ees, and the rights and responsibilities of employers and

9 employees, apply to the Congress in the same manner and

10 to the same extent as they apply—

11 (1) in the case of a private person, to such a

12 person; and

13 (2) in the case of an Executive agency (as de14 fined by section 105 of title 5, United States Code),

15 to such an agency.

16 (b) LAWS MADE APPLICABLE TO CONGRESS BY THIS

17 ACT.—The laws referred to in subsection (a) are the fol18 lowing:

19 (1) Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.).

20 (2) National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C.

21 151 et seq.).

22 (3) Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29

23 U.S.C. 201 et seq.).

24 (4) Civil Rights Act of 1964.

25 (5) Age Discrimination in Employment Act of

26 1967 (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.).
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1 (6) Occupational Safety and Health Act of

2 1970 (29 U.S.C. 651 et seq.).

3 (7) Title IX of the Education Amendments of

4 1972.

5 (8) Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 701

6 et seq.).

7 (9) Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a, 552a

8 note).

9 (10) Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (42

10 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.).

11 (11) Ethics in Government Act of 1978.

12 (12) Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

13 (c) APPLICATION OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMA14 TION ACT.—The Congress, and the instrumentalities of

15 Congress, shall be subject to section 552 of title 5, United

16 States Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Freedom of

17 Information Act’’) to the same extent that Executive agen18 cies (as defined by section 105 of title 5, United States

19 Code) are subject to such section 552.

20 (d) APPLICATION OF INDEPENDENT COUNSEL PRO21 VISIONS.—Chapter 40 of title 28, United States Code (re22 lating to independent counsel), shall apply to the Con23 gress, such that the individuals referred to in subsection

24 (e) (1), (2), (3), (6), and (7) of this Act shall be deemed
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1 to be included in section 591(b) of title 28, United States

2 Code.

3 (e) INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY ACT.—This Act shall

4 apply to the following individuals:

5 (1) A Senator or Representative in, or Resident

6 Commissioner or Delegate to, the Congress (here7 after in this Act referred to as ‘‘Members’’).

8 (2) An employee of either House of Congress,

9 of a committee of either House, or a joint committee

10 of the two Houses.

11 (3) An elected officer of either House who is

12 not a Member.

13 (4) The Legislative Counsel of either House

14 and an employee of the Legislative Counsel.

15 (5) A member of the Capitol Police.

16 (6) An employee of a Member if the pay of the

17 employee is paid by the Secretary of the Senate or

18 the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

19 (7) An employee of the instrumentalities of

20 Congress, including the Congressional Research

21 Service, the Office of Technology Assessment, the

22 General Accounting Office, the Office of the Archi23 tect of the Capitol, the Botanic Gardens, the Gov24 ernment Printing Office, the Library of Congress,
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1 the Congressional Budget Office, and the Copyright

2 Royalty Tribunal.

3 (f) EMPLOYEES IN THE DISTRICT OR STATE OFFICE

4 OF A MEMBER.—For the purposes of determining whether

5 the individuals employed in the district or State office of

6 a Member are subject to the laws set forth in section 2,

7 the district or State office shall be treated as if it were

8 an affiliated branch of a private employer under the laws

9 in section 2.

10 (g) PLACE OF RESIDENCE AND POLITICAL AFFILI11 ATION.—Notwithstanding the laws set forth in section 2,

12 a Member may consider the political affiliation and place

13 of residence of an individual seeking employment on the

14 personal staff of that Member.

15 (h) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 509 of the

16 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (104 Stat. 373)

17 is repealed.

18 (i) APPLICATION OF SMALL BUSINESS EXEMPTION

19 TO MEMBERS.—To the extent that a law referred to in

20 section 2 contains an exemption for a small business, such

21 an exemption shall apply to a Member if the aggregate

22 number of employees of the Member and employees attrib23 utable to the Member does not exceed the number of em24 ployees necessary to qualify as a small business under the

25 exemption. For the purpose of this subsection, the number
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1 of employees attributable to a Member equals the result

2 of the sum of the employees specified in subsection (e)

3 (2), (3), (4), (6), and (7) who work in the District of Co4 lumbia and are employed by the House in which that

5 Member sits, divided by the number of Members in that

6 House.

7 SEC. 3. PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTING REGULATIONS.

8 Not later than the 180-day period beginning on the

9 date of enactment of this Act, the House of Representa10 tives and the Senate shall each promulgate rules and regu11 lations to carry out this Act, including specifically imple12 menting each of the laws set forth in section 2. Such rules

13 and regulations shall be consistent with Federal law. A

14 House of Congress that fails to promulgate such rules and

15 regulations within such time period shall be subject to the

16 regulations of the relevant Executive agency.

17 SEC. 4. RIGHT OF APPEAL.

18 If any individual referred to in section 2(e) is ag19 grieved by an action taken pursuant to this Act, such indi20 vidual may seek review of that action in a Federal district

21 court of competent jurisdiction and shall have the same

22 rights and remedies provided to private persons under the

23 laws referred to in section 2.

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