IV

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. RES. 503

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to provide for mandatory

drug testing of Members, officers, and employees of the House of Representatives.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 16, 1998

Mr. BARTON of Texas (for himself, Mr. SOLOMON, and Mr. HASTERT) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on

Rules

RESOLUTION

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to

provide for mandatory drug testing of Members, officers,

and employees of the House of Representatives.

1 Resolved,

2 SECTION 1. MANDATORY DRUG TESTING OF MEMBERS, OF3 FICERS, AND EMPLOYEES OF THE HOUSE OF

4 REPRESENTATIVES.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Rules of the House of Rep6 resentatives are amended by adding at the end the follow7 ing new Rule:
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1 ‘‘RULE LII.

2 ‘‘DRUG TESTING.

3 ‘‘1. Each Member, officer, and employee of the House

4 of Representatives shall participate in accordance with

5 this rule in a program for testing for illegal use of con6 trolled substances, and participation in the program shall

7 be considered a condition of new and continuing employ8 ment for officers and employees of the House of Rep9 resentatives.

10 ‘‘2. Not later than 3 months after the date on which

11 the resolution enacting this rule is agreed to, the Clerk

12 of the House of Representatives shall contract with a pri13 vate, nongovernmental entity to carry out the drug testing

14 program under this rule.

15 ‘‘3. The drug testing program under this rule shall

16 include the following features:

17 ‘‘(a) The program shall be mandatory for each

18 Member, officer, and employee of the House of Rep19 resentatives.

20 ‘‘(b) Except as otherwise provided in this rule,

21 the program shall be conducted in accordance with

22 the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace

23 Drug Testing Programs, as prescribed pursuant to

24 section 503 of the Supplemental Appropriations Act,

25 1987 (5 U.S.C. 7301 note).
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1 ‘‘(c) Members, officers, and employees of the

2 House of Representatives shall be assigned to a pool,

3 with one pool consisting of all Members and a sec4 ond pool consisting of all officers and employees. All

5 individuals in a pool shall be subject to random drug

6 testing on a neutral selection basis, in an appro7 priate testing frequency and ratio (as described in

8 clause 9).

9 ‘‘(d) In addition to any methods prescribed

10 under the Guidelines referred to in paragraph (b),

11 the program shall provide for testing using urinal12 ysis, hair testing, and other appropriate methods of

13 testing for illegal use of controlled substances.

14 ‘‘(e) Each confirmed positive result (as de15 scribed in clause 9) under the program shall be pro16 vided as follows:

17 ‘‘(1) To the Member, officer, or employee

18 involved.

19 ‘‘(2) In the case of a Member, to the Com20 mittee on Standards of Official Conduct, which

21 shall take such action as may be necessary

22 under the Rules of the House of Representa23 tives.

24 ‘‘(3) In the case of an employee of a Mem25 ber, to the Member involved.
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1 ‘‘(4) In the case of an employee of a com2 mittee, to the Chair and ranking minority mem3 ber of the committee involved.

4 ‘‘(5) In the case of an officer or employee

5 not described in subparagraph (3) or (4), to the

6 Speaker, Majority Leader, Majority Whip, Mi7 nority Leader, and Minority Whip.

8 ‘‘(f) The final results of each test of Members

9 shall be included in a biennial report of the Clerk of

10 the House of Representatives and printed as a

11 House document in October of each even-numbered

12 year.

13 ‘‘4. (a) At the request of the supervising Member of

14 an officer or employee of the House of Representatives,

15 such officer or employee of the House shall be subject to

16 a drug test under any of the following conditions:

17 ‘‘(1) Evidence exists that supports a reasonable

18 suspicion that the officer or employee may be engag19 ing in or has engaged in the illegal use of controlled

20 substances, or is otherwise in violation of a policy of

21 the supervising Member regarding the illegal use of

22 controlled substances.

23 ‘‘(2) The officer or employee is participating in

24 or has participated in a substance abuse treatment

25 program under an employee assistance program, or
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1 is otherwise receiving treatment or counseling for

2 substance abuse.

3 ‘‘(3) The officer or employee has been involved

4 in an incident which may have involved human error

5 and which caused or may have caused a fatality, an

6 injury, or significant property damage in an esti7 mated amount of not less than $200.

8 ‘‘(4) The supervising Member proposes to pro9 mote the officer or employee.

10 ‘‘(5) The officer or employee is returning to em11 ployment with the House of Representatives after a

12 period of absence of not less than 6 months.

13 ‘‘(b) In paragraph (a), the term ‘supervising Member’

14 means—

15 ‘‘(1) in the case of an employee of a Member,

16 the Member involved;

17 ‘‘(2) in the case of an employee of a committee,

18 the chair of the committee involved (or, in the case

19 of an employee designated as a member of the com20 mittee minority staff, the ranking minority member

21 of the committee involved); and

22 ‘‘(3) in the case of an officer or employee not

23 described in subparagraph (1) or (2), the Speaker of

24 the House of Representatives.
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1 ‘‘5. The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct

2 shall publicly disclose the identity of any Member of the

3 House of Representatives who refuses to provide a sample

4 for testing under the program, and shall take such other

5 action as it considers appropriate against such a Member.

6 ‘‘6. (a) No individual who is an officer or employee

7 of the House of Representatives as of August 1, 1998,

8 may continue serving as an officer or employee of the

9 House after the expiration of the 180-day period which

10 begins on the date of the adoption of this resolution unless

11 during such period the individual executes a witnessed

12 statement agreeing to participate in random employee

13 drug testing pursuant to this rule.

14 ‘‘(b) No individual who is first given an offer of em15 ployment by the House of Representatives on or after Au16 gust 1, 1998, may be hired as an officer or employee of

17 the House unless—

18 ‘‘(1) the individual executes a witnessed state19 ment agreeing to participate in random employee

20 drug testing pursuant to this rule if hired;

21 ‘‘(2) the individual provides a sample for drug

22 testing pursuant to this rule; and

23 ‘‘(3) the individual’s sample does not produce a

24 confirmed positive result.
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1 ‘‘7. The Committee on House Oversight shall issue

2 such regulations as may be necessary to fully implement

3 the purposes of this rule.

4 ‘‘8. No officer or employee may carry out any duties

5 with respect to the fields of national defense, foreign pol6 icy, intelligence, law enforcement, or any other field involv7 ing national security or public safety (as determined in

8 accordance with regulations issued by the Committee on

9 House Oversight) unless the officer or employee partici10 pates in the drug testing program established pursuant

11 to this rule.

12 ‘‘9. In this rule, the following definitions shall apply:

13 ‘‘(a) The term ‘appropriate testing frequency

14 and ratio’ means a frequency and ratio of random

15 drug tests such that—

16 ‘‘(1) the total number of random drug

17 tests administered in any calendar year with re18 spect to each pool described in clause 3(c) shall

19 be equal to 25 percent of the number of individ20 uals in the pool;

21 ‘‘(2) random drug tests shall be conducted

22 on not less than 4 and not more than 6 occa23 sions during any calendar year; and

24 ‘‘(3) any individual who is selected for a

25 random drug test during a calendar year shall
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1 be placed in a pool for further random drug

2 testing with a selection frequency rate of 50

3 percent of the rate applicable to individuals who

4 have not been selected for a test during the

5 year and shall remain in this pool for the re6 mainder of the calendar year without regard of

7 the number of times that such an individual is

8 selected for a test during the calendar year.

9 ‘‘(b) The term ‘confirmed positive result’ means

10 a drug screen—

11 ‘‘(1) which has initially tested as positive

12 for the presence of an illegal controlled sub13 stance;

14 ‘‘(2) for which the initially positive test has

15 been confirmed by a second test using a dif16 ferent chemical process than the process used

17 for the initial test; and

18 ‘‘(3) which has been reviewed and certified

19 as positive by a medical review officer with

20 whom the House of Representatives has entered

21 into a contract to perform such reviews,

22 except that such term shall not include a drug

23 screen which shows the presence of only a legal over24 the-counter drug or drug which has been legally pre25 scribed for the individual involved.
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1 ‘‘(c) The term ‘controlled substance’ has the

2 meaning given that term in section 102 of the Con3 trolled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802).

4 ‘‘(d) A ‘Member’ of the House of Representa5 tives includes a Delegate or Resident Commissioner

6 to the Congress.

7 ‘‘(e) The term ‘neutral selection basis’ means a

8 method under which individuals are selected for ran9 dom drug testing through a neutral, computer-based

10 random number generation program that ensures

11 that every individual in a pool described in clause

12 3(c) has the same chance of being selected for an

13 initial random drug test as every other individual in

14 that pool.

15 ‘‘(f) The term ‘random drug test’ means a test

16 conducted for the purpose of detecting the illegal use

17 of a controlled substance which is conducted on a

18 periodic basis, without advance notice, and without

19 individualized suspicion.’’.

20 (b) PARTICIPATION IN PROGRAM AS CONDITION OF

21 ACCESS TO HOUSE CHAMBER.—Rule XXXII of the Rules

22 of the House of Representatives is amended by adding at

23 the end the following new clause:

24 ‘‘6. No officer or employee of the House of Represent25 atives may be entitled to admission to the Hall of the
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1 House or rooms leading thereto during a session of Con2 gress unless such individual participates in the program

3 established pursuant to rule LII for testing for the illegal

4 use of controlled substances.’’.

5 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Rule I of the Rules

6 of the House of Representatives is amended by striking

7 clause 13.

8 (d) SEVERABILITY OF PROVISIONS.—If any provision

9 of rule LII of the Rules of the House of Representatives

10 (as added by subsection (a)) or clause 6 of rule XXXII

11 of the Rules of the House of Representatives (as added

12 by subsection (b)), or the application of such a provision

13 to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitu14 tional, the remainder of rule LII or clause 6 of rule XXXII

15 (as the case may be), and the application of the provision

16 to any person or circumstance, shall not be affected by

17 the holding, and the balance of such rules shall remain

18 in full force and effect.

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