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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1545

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 to repeal

and prohibit certain privileges and gratuities for Members of the United

States House of Representatives, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 31, 1993

Mr. NUSSLE (for himself, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. INGLIS of South

Carolina, and Mr. LIGHTFOOT) introduced the following bill; which was

referred jointly to the Committees on House Administration, Ways and

Means, Education and Labor, the Judiciary, and Government Operations

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 to repeal and

prohibit certain privileges and gratuities for Members

of the United States House of Representatives, 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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Citizen Representative

3 Reform Act Stop Special Treatment Provision’’.

4 TITLE I—CONGRESSIONAL EXEMPTIONS

5 SEC. 101. APPLICATION.

6 (a) GENERAL RULE.—Notwithstanding any other

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

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

9 of employment (including hiring, promotion or demotion,

10 salary, benefits, work assignments or reassignments, over11 time, and termination), the health and safety of employ12 ees, and the rights and responsibilities of employers and

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

14 to the same extent as they apply—

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

16 person; and

17 (2) in the case of an Executive agency (as de18 fined by section 105 of title 5, United States Code),

19 to such an agency.

20 (b) LAWS MADE APPLICABLE TO CONGRESS BY THIS

21 ACT.—The laws referred to in subsection (a) are the fol22 lowing:

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

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

25 151 et seq.).
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1 (3) Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29

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

3 (4) Civil Rights Act of 1964.

4 (5) Age Discrimination in Employment Act of

5 1967 (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.).

6 (6) Occupational Safety and Health Act of

7 1970 (29 U.S.C. 651 et seq.).

8 (7) Title IX of the Education Amendments of

9 1972.

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

11 et seq.).

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

13 note).

14 (10) Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (42

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

16 (11) Ethics in Government Act of 1978.

17 (12) Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

18 (c) APPLICATION OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMA19 TION ACT.—The Congress, and the instrumentalities of

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

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

22 Information Act’’) to the same extent that Executive agen23 cies (as defined by section 105 of title 5, United States

24 Code) are subject to such section 552.
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1 (d) APPLICATION OF INDEPENDENT COUNSEL PRO2 VISIONS.—Chapter 40 of title 28, United States Code (re3 lating to independent counsel), shall apply to the Con4 gress, such that the individuals referred to in subsection

5 (e)(1), (2), (3), (6), and (7) of this Act shall be deemed

6 to be included in section 519(b) of title 28, United States

7 Code.

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

9 apply to the following individuals:

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

11 Commissioner or Delegate to, the Congress (here12 after in this Act referred to as ‘‘Members’’).

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

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

15 of the two Houses.

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

17 not a Member.

18 (4) The Legislative Counsel of either House

19 and an employee of the Legislative Counsel.

20 (5) A member of the Capitol Police.

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

22 employee is paid by the Secretary of the Senate or

23 the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

24 (7) An employee of the instrumentalities of

25 Congress, including the Congressional Research
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1 Service, the Office of Technology Assessment, the

2 General Accounting Office, the Office of the Archi3 tect of the Capitol, the Botanic Gardens, the Gov4 ernment Printing Office, the Library of Congress,

5 the Congressional Budget Office, and the Copyright

6 Royalty Tribunal.

7 (f) EMPLOYEES IN THE DISTRICT OR STATE OFFICE

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

9 the individuals employed in the district or State office of

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

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

12 an affiliated branch of a private employer under the laws

13 in section 2.

14 (g) PLACE OF RESIDENCE AND POLITICAL AFFILI15 ATION.—Notwithstanding the laws set forth in section 2,

16 a Member may consider the political affiliation and place

17 of residence of an individual seeking employment on the

18 personal staff of that Member.

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

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

21 is repealed.

22 (i) APPLICATION OF SMALL BUSINESS EXEMPTION

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

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

25 an exemption shall apply to a Member if the aggregate
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1 number of employees of the Member and employees attrib2 utable to the Member does not exceed the number of em3 ployees necessary to qualify as a small business under the

4 exemption. For the purposes of this subsection, the num5 ber of employees attributable to a Member equals the re6 sult of the sum of the employees specified in subsection

7 (e)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7) who work in the District of

8 Columbia and are employed by the House in which that

9 Member sits, divided by the number of Members of that

10 House.

11 SEC. 102. RIGHT OF APPEAL.

12 If any individual referred to in section 2(e) is ag13 grieved by an action taken pursuant to this Act, such indi14 vidual may seek review of that action in a Federal district

15 court of competent jurisdiction and shall have the same

16 rights and remedies provided to private persons under the

17 laws referred to in section 2.

18 TITLE II—CONGRESSIONAL PERKS

19 SEC. 201. PAYMENT FOR MEDICAL CARE FOR MEMBERS OF

20 CONGRESS.

21 (a) PAYMENT.—All Members of the House of Rep22 resentatives and Senators shall pay full market value for

23 all medical services, medical tests, and medications pro24 vided by the Office of the Attending Physician.
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1 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF FUND.—There is estab2 lished in the Treasury of the United States a revolving

3 fund within the contingent fund of the House of Rep4 resentatives to be known as the Office of the Attending

5 Physician Revolving Fund (hereafter in this section re6 ferred to as the ‘‘revolving fund’’).

7 (c) DEPOSITS AND EXPENDITURES.—

8 (1) All moneys received by the Office of the At9 tending Physician from payments made under sub10 section (a) or from any other source shall be depos11 ited to the fund credit of the revolving fund. Moneys

12 in the revolving fund shall be available without fiscal

13 year limitation for disbursement by the Sergeant at

14 Arms and Doorkeeper of the House of Representa15 tives for necessary supplies and expenses of the

16 Office of the Attending Physician.

17 (2) On or before December 31 of each year, the

18 House Administrator of the House of Representa19 tives shall withdraw from the revolving fund and de20 posit in the Treasury of the United States as mis21 cellaneous receipts all moneys in excess of $5,000 in

22 the revolving fund at the close of the preceding fiscal

23 year.
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1 (3) Disbursements from the revolving fund shall

2 be made upon vouchers signed by the Sergeant at

3 Arms.

4 SEC. 202. ELIMINATION OF HOUSE BARBER SHOPS AND

5 BEAUTY SALONS.

6 (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all

7 beauty shops and barber shops located on the premises

8 of any property belonging to the House of Representatives

9 shall be closed ninety days after the date of enactment

10 of this Act.

11 SEC. 203. EXPRESSING A SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT PAY12 MENT SHOULD BE MADE FOR PARKING AT

13 NATIONAL AIRPORT FOR MEMBERS OF CON14 GRESS.

15 It is the sense of the House of Representatives that

16 Members of Congress should be charged rates comparable

17 to those in other parking facilities at Washington National

18 Airport, and that records of such expenses be made acces19 sible to the public.

20 SEC. 204. ESTABLISH MARKET RATES FOR HEALTH FACILI21 TIES FOR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

22 (a) PAYMENT.—All Members of the House of Rep23 resentatives shall pay full market value for the use of the

24 health facilities located on the premises of the Capitol or

25 any House office building.
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1 (b) DEPOSIT.—The House Administrator shall sub2 mit amounts paid under subsection (a) for deposit in the

3 general fund of the Treasury.

4 SEC. 205. EXPRESSING A SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT MEM5 BERS OF CONGRESS SHOULD PAY THE EN6 TIRE EXPENSE ASSOCIATED WITH THEIR

7 HEALTH INSURANCE.

8 It is the sense of the House of Representatives that

9 the Federal Government shall not bear any of the cost of

10 health insurance for Members of the House of Representa11 tives.

12 SEC. 206. STUDY TO IDENTIFY THE ALL BENEFITS THAT AC13 CRUE TO MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REP14 RESENTATIVES.

15 (a) STUDY.—The General Accounting Office shall

16 conduct a study to identify all benefits that accrue to

17 Members of the House of Representatives and shall deter18 mine the market value or a close approximation of each

19 of those benefits and the extent to which tax dollars are

20 used to pay for each service.

21 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Before the end of the

22 six month period beginning on the date of enactment of

23 this Act, the General Accounting Office shall submit a re24 port to the Congress on the findings and conclusions made

25 with respect to the study under subsection (a).
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1 TITLE III—MISCELLANEOUS

2 SEC. 301. PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTING REGULA3 TIONS.

4 Not later than a one hundred and eighty-day period

5 beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the House

6 of Representatives and the Senate shall each promulgate

7 rules and regulations to carry out this Act, including spe8 cifically implementing each of the laws set forth in section

9 101. Such rules and regulations shall be consistent with

10 Federal law.

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