IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1360 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to guarantee reasonable 

time prior to the consideration of legislation. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 13, 2010 

Mr. KRATOVIL submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Rules 

RESOLUTION 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 

guarantee reasonable time prior to the consideration of 

legislation. 

1 Resolved, 

2 SECTION 1. PURPOSE. 

3 The purpose of this resolution is to— 

4 (1) allow for a careful study of the facts and 

5 potential impacts of legislative actions; 

6 (2) restore public trust in elected representa7 tives and the legislative process; 

8 (3) foster bipartisanship; 


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1 (4) improve the quality of legislation by ena2 bling the close scrutiny of issues that the gravity of 

3 our Nation’s challenges require and deserve; and 

4 (5) fulfill the promise of our Republic by pro5 viding the opportunities and time for public partici6 pation that empowers Members of Congress to rep7 resent their constituents as effectively as possible; 

8 by amending the Rules of the House of Representatives 

9 to improve Americans’ representation in their Government 

10 and the legislative process. 

11 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO RULE XIII REGARDING AVAIL12 ABILITY OF MEASURES, MATTERS, AND RE13 PORTS. 

14 (a) Clause 4 of rule XIII of the Rules of the House 

15 of Representatives is amended— 

16 (1) in its side heading, by inserting ‘‘meas17 ures, matters, and’’ before ‘‘reports’’; 

18 (2) in paragraph (a), by amending subpara19 graph (1) to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘(1) It shall not be in order to consider in the House 

21 a measure or matter until 72 (excluding Saturdays, Sun22 days, and holidays, except for those hours when the House 

23 is in session on such a day) hours after the legislation, 

24 report, measure, or matter has been available on the Li25 brary of Congress website, www.thomas.gov (and, if the 


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1 measure or matter is reported by one or more committees, 

2 the text of all accompanying reports) has been made avail3 able pursuant to subparagraph (2) to Members, Delegates, 

4 the Resident Commissioner, and the public.’’; and 

5 (3) by amending subparagraph (2) to read as 

6 follows: 

7 ‘‘(2) The full text of the measure or matter and each 

8 committee report thereon shall be posted continuously on 

9 the Library of Congress website, www.thomas.gov, in such 

10 a manner that they are accessible using existing tech11 nology, anonymously and at no cost to the public, in a 

12 format that is searchable by text.’’. 

13 (b) Rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Represent14 atives is further amended— 

15 (1) in clause 5(b), by striking ‘‘and the Resi16 dent Commissioner’’ and inserting ‘‘the Resident 

17 Commissioner, and the public’’; 

18 (2) in clause 6(a), by striking ‘‘may not be 

19 called up for consideration on the same day it is pre20 sented to the House’’ and inserting ‘‘may not be 

21 called up in the first 72 hours after is it presented 

22 to the House’’; and 

23 (3) in clause 6(c), by inserting before the period 

24 ‘‘; or a rule or order proposing a waiver of clause 

25 4(a) of this rule or of clause 8(a) or 8(b) of rule 


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1 XXII, unless a question of consideration of the rule 

2 is adopted by a vote of two-thirds of the Members 

3 voting, a quorum being present’’. 

4 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO RULE XXII REGARDING AVAIL5 ABILITY OF CONFERENCE REPORTS AND 

6 AMENDMENTS REPORTED IN DISAGREE7 MENT. 

8 Clause 8 of rule XXII of the Rules of the House of 

9 Representatives is amended— 

10 (1) by striking paragraph (a) and inserting the 

11 following new paragraph: 

12 ‘‘(a)(1) It shall not be in order to consider a con13 ference report until 72 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sun14 days and holidays except when the House is in session on 

15 such a day) after the conference report and the accom16 panying joint explanatory statement have been available 

17 to Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and 

18 the public pursuant to subparagraph (2). The preceding 

19 sentence may be waived or suspended only by the affirma20 tive vote of two-thirds of the Members, a quorum being 

21 present. 

22 ‘‘(2) Without further amendment before floor consid23 eration, the full texts of the conference report and the ac24 companying signed joint explanatory statement shall be 

25 posted continuously on the Library of Congress website, 


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1 www.thomas.gov, in such a manner that they are acces2 sible using existing technology, anonymously and at no 

3 cost to the public, in a format that can be searched by 

4 text.’’; and 

5 (2) in paragraph (b), by striking subparagraphs 

6 (1) and (2) and inserting the following new subpara7 graphs: 

8 ‘‘(1) It shall not be in order to consider a motion to 

9 dispose of a Senate amendment reported in disagreement 

10 by a conference committee until at least 72 hours (exclud11 ing Saturdays, Sundays and holidays except when the 

12 House is in session on such a day) after the report in dis13 agreement and any accompanying statement have been 

14 available to Members, Delegates, the Resident Commis15 sioner, and the public pursuant to subparagraph (2). The 

16 preceding sentence may be waived or suspended only by 

17 the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Members, a 

18 quorum being present. 

19 ‘‘(2) Without further amendment before floor consid20 eration, the full texts of a Senate amendment reported in 

21 disagreement and any accompanying statement shall be 

22 posted continuously on the Library of Congress website, 

23 www.thomas.gov, in such a manner that they are acces24 sible using existing technology, anonymously and at no 


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1 cost to the public, in a format that can be searched by 

2 text.’’. 

3 SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS TO RULE XIX REGARDING AVAIL4 ABILITY OF MOTIONS TO RECOMMIT. 

5 Clause 2(a) of rule XIX of the Rules of the House 

6 of Representatives is amended by adding at the end the 

7 following new sentences: ‘‘When a motion to recommit is 

8 offered, the Chair shall put the question in the form ‘Shall 

9 the House now consider the motion?’. If the question is 

10 agreed to, then the House shall proceed to consideration. 

11 If the question is not agreed to, the Chair shall postpone 

12 further consideration of the motion in the House for 2 

13 hours, and the text of any such motion to recommit shall 

14 be available on the Internet website of the Committee on 

15 Rules to Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, 

16 and the public during such 2-hour period.’’. 

17 SEC. 5. AVAILABILITY OF AMENDMENTS. 

18 Rule XVI of the Rules of the House of Representa19 tives is amended by adding at the end the following new 

20 clause: 

21 ‘‘Availability of amendments 

22 ‘‘9.(a) It shall not be in order to consider any amend23 ment to any bill or resolution unless the full text of the 

24 amendment has been posted for 24 hours continuously on 

25 the Library of Congress website, www.thomas.gov, in such 


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1 a manner that it is accessible using existing technology, 

2 anonymously and at no cost to the public, in a format that 

3 can be searched by text. 

4 ‘‘(b) Paragraph (a) may be waived by the affirmative 

5 vote of two-thirds of the Members, a quorum being 

6 present.’’. 

7 SEC. 6. AVAILABILITY OF LEGISLATION AND AMENDMENTS 

8 IN COMMITTEES AND SUBCOMMITTEES. 

9 Clause 2 of rule XI of the Rules of the House of Rep10 resentatives is amended by adding at the end the following 

11 new paragraph: 

12 ‘‘(q)(1) It shall not be in order in any committee, or 

13 a subcommittee thereof, to consider any bill or resolution 

14 until 72 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holi15 days, except for those hours when the House is in session 

16 on such a day) after the text of such bill or resolution 

17 has been made available to its Members, Delegates, the 

18 Resident Commissioner, and the public on the Library of 

19 Congress website, www.thomas.gov, in such a manner that 

20 the bill or resolution is accessible using existing tech21 nology, anonymously and at no cost to the public, in a 

22 format that is searchable by text. 

23 ‘‘(2) Subparagraph (1) may be waived by the affirma24 tive vote of two-thirds of the Members, a quorum being 

25 present. 


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1 ‘‘(3) Clause 9 of rule XVI (relating to the availability 

2 of amendments) is applicable to the consideration of 

3 amendments in any committee or subcommittee thereof.’’. 

Æ 


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