I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 198 

To require a national nonbinding referendum at the regularly scheduled 

general election for Federal office in 2020 to advise Congress on term 

limits for Members of Congress, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2019 

Mr. NORMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To require a national nonbinding referendum at the regularly 

scheduled general election for Federal office in 2020 

to advise Congress on term limits for Members of Congress, 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 ‘‘National Voter Oppor5 tunity To Inform Congress Effectively on Term Limits 

6 Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘V.O.I.C.E. on Term Limits Act of 

7 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

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

4 vote is a fundamental right; 

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

6 have an effective voice in the decision-making proc7 esses of the Congress is grounded in the right to pe8 tition and is a fundamental part of American democ9 racy; 

10 (3) Congress should provide an opportunity for 

11 citizens to express their views on important public 

12 issues; 

13 (4) there is an increasing public sentiment and 

14 demand for limiting the terms of Members of Con15 gress; and 

16 (5) voters in 15 States have already voted and 

17 approved State laws to limit the terms of their state 

18 legislators, and voters in other States have expressed 

19 their interest in having term limits for Members of 

20 Congress. 

21 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

22 The purposes of this Act are— 

23 (1) to give the citizens of every State the oppor24 tunity to express their opinion on whether or not the 

25 terms of Members of Congress should be limited; 

26 and 


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1 (2) to conduct a national nonbinding ref2 erendum on term limits at the 2020 general election, 

3 thereby having an opportunity to study the feasi4 bility of conducting national nonbinding referenda 

5 on other important issues in the future. 

6 SEC. 4. NATIONAL NONBINDING REFERENDUM ON TERM 

7 LIMITS. 

8 (a) NONBINDING REFERENDUM REQUIRED.—The 

9 chief election official of each State, in the regularly sched10 uled general election for Federal office in 2020, shall place 

11 on the ballot in each congressional district in the State 

12 a nonbinding referendum consisting of the following: 

13 (1) The title ‘‘National Advisory Referendum 

14 on Term Limits’’. 

15 (2) The advisory question ‘‘Should Congress ap16 prove a constitutional amendment to limit the num17 ber of terms that a Member of the United States 

18 House of Representatives and United States Senator 

19 can serve in office?’’. 

20 (3) The options of answering ‘‘Yes’’ or ‘‘No’’. 

21 (b) PROCEDURES FOR NONBINDING REF22 ERENDUM.—Each chief election official of a State shall 

23 ensure that the nonbinding referendum is conducted in the 

24 same manner as an election for Federal office in such 


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1 State, including with respect to the printing, preparation, 

2 tabulation, and certification of ballots. 

3 (c) RESULTS OF NONBINDING REFERENDUM.—The 

4 chief election official of each State shall— 

5 (1) tabulate the results of the nonbinding ref6 erendum for each congressional district in the State 

7 and on a statewide basis; and 

8 (2) certify and transmit such results to Con9 gress in the same manner and at the same time of 

10 the certification of election of Members of the House 

11 of Representatives and Senate for the regularly 

12 scheduled 2020 general election. 

13 (d) RECOMMENDATIONS.— 

14 (1) CHIEF STATE ELECTION OFFICIALS.—Not 

15 later than 90 days after the date of the regularly 

16 scheduled general election for Federal office in 2020, 

17 the chief election official of each State shall submit 

18 to the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of 

19 Representatives and the Senate comments with re20 spect to recommended changes or other improve21 ments related to the conduct of the nonbinding ref22 erendum, for consideration in conducting national 

23 nonbinding referenda on other issues in future gen24 eral elections for Federal office. 


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1 (2) COMMITTEES ON THE JUDICIARY OF THE

2 HOUSE AND SENATE.—Not later than 6 months 

3 after the date of the regularly scheduled general 

4 election for Federal office in 2020, the Committees 

5 on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives 

6 and the Senate shall prepare and report to the 

7 House and Senate, respectively, recommendations 

8 with respect to the response of Congress to the re9 sults of the nonbinding referendum. 

10 (e) REIMBURSEMENT.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Election Assistance 

12 Commission shall reimburse an eligible State for the 

13 reasonable costs incurred by the State to conduct 

14 the nonbinding referendum. 

15 (2) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible for reimburse16 ment under paragraph (1), a State shall submit to 

17 the Election Assistance Commission an application 

18 at such time, in such form, and containing such in19 formation as the Commission may require. 

20 (f) APPLICABILITY OF RELATED FEDERAL LAWS TO

21 NONBINDING REFERENDUM.—All Federal laws which 

22 apply to an election for Federal office shall apply to the 

23 nonbinding referendum. 

24 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 


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1 (1) CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.—The term 

2 ‘‘congressional district’’ includes the district of a 

3 Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Congress. 

4 (2) NONBINDING REFERENDUM.—The term 

5 ‘‘nonbinding referendum’’ means the referendum re6 quired by section 4(a) of this Act. 

7 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes the 

8 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

9 Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 

10 Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Is11 lands of the United States. 

Æ 


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