IV

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. RES. 41

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to establish a Citizens’

Commission on Congressional Ethics, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 5, 1997

Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. ANDREWS, and Mr. ENGLISH

of Pennsylvania) submitted the following resolution; which was referred

to the Committee on Rules

RESOLUTION

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to

establish a Citizens’ Commission on Congressional Ethics, and for other purposes.

1 Resolved,

2 SECTION 1. CITIZENS’ COMMISSION ON CONGRESSIONAL

3 ETHICS.

4 The Rules of the House of Representatives are

5 amended by adding at the end the following new rule:

6 ‘‘RULE LII.

7 ‘‘CITIZENS’ COMMISSION ON CONGRESSIONAL ETHICS.

8 ‘‘1. There is established a permanent commission to

9 be known as the Citizens’ Commission on Congressional
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1 Ethics (hereinafter in this rule and in rule VI referred

2 to as the ‘commission’).

3 ‘‘2. (a) The commission shall be composed of 14

4 members who are specially qualified to serve on the com5 mission by virtue of their demonstrated integrity, inde6 pendence, impartiality, and good judgment. Seven mem7 bers of the commission shall be nominated by the Speaker

8 and 7 by the minority leader and approved by vote of the

9 House, at the commencement of each Congress, to con10 tinue in office until the beginning of the next Congress.

11 Any individual serving in this position may be removed

12 by an affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds of the

13 Members of the House present and voting, a quorum being

14 present. A vacancy shall be filled in the manner in which

15 the original appointment was made. No member may serve

16 on the commission for more than 6 years.

17 ‘‘(b)(1) Not more than 7 members of the commission

18 shall be of the same political party. No member of the

19 commission shall be or have ever been a Member of Con20 gress, nor shall any Member of the commission be a rel21 ative of any Member of Congress, or an officer or employee

22 of any government, or a person registered under the Fed23 eral Regulation of Lobbying Act or the Foreign Agents

24 Registration Act of 1938 or have been any such individual
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1 during the 5-year period ending on the date such mem2 ber’s term on the commission would have begun.

3 ‘‘(2) If any member of the commission becomes a

4 Member of Congress or relative of a Member of Congress,

5 an officer or employee of any government, or registered

6 under any law described in paragraph (1), he may not con7 tinue as a member of the commission.

8 ‘‘(3) As used in this paragraph, the term ‘relative’

9 means a father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister,

10 uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, spouse, father-in11 law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother12 in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, step13 daughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, or half sis14 ter.

15 ‘‘(c) Members of the commission shall be com16 pensated at the rate of pay recommended by the Commit17 tee on House Administration and approved by the House

18 of Representatives.

19 ‘‘(d) The chairperson of the commission shall be

20 elected by the members of the commission.

21 ‘‘(e) The commission shall meet at the call of the

22 chairperson or a majority of its members. Eight members

23 of the commission shall constitute a quorum, but 2 or

24 more may hold hearings (if they are not all members of

25 the same political party).
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1 ‘‘3. The commission shall have a Director who shall

2 be elected by the commission who shall be paid at the rate

3 of basic pay payable for level V of the Executive Schedule.

4 The Director may appoint and fix the pay of such addi5 tional personnel as the Director considers appropriate.

6 ‘‘4. (a)(1) The commission is authorized—

7 ‘‘(A) to recommend to the Committee on Stand8 ards of Official Conduct from time to time such ad9 ministrative actions as it may deem appropriate to

10 establish or enforce standards of official conduct for

11 Members, officers, and employees of the House;

12 ‘‘(B) to investigate, subject to subparagraph (2)

13 of this paragraph, any alleged violation, by a Mem14 ber, officer, or employee of the House, of the Code

15 of Official Conduct or of any law, rule, regulation,

16 or other standard of conduct applicable to the con17 duct of such Member, officer, or employee in the

18 performance of his duties or the discharge of his re19 sponsibilities, and after notice and hearing, to sub20 mit to the Committee on Standards of Official Con21 duct a written recommendation of such action as the

22 commission may deem appropriate in the cir23 cumstances; and

24 ‘‘(C) to report to the appropriate Federal or

25 State authorities, with the approval of the House,
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1 any substantial evidence of a violation, by a Member,

2 officer, or employee of the House, of any law appli3 cable to the performance of his duties or the dis4 charge of his responsibilities, which may have been

5 disclosed in an investigation by the commission or

6 the Inspector General; and

7 ‘‘(2)(A) No report or recommendation relating to the

8 official conduct of a Member, officer, or employee of the

9 House shall be made by the commission, and no investiga10 tion of such conduct shall be undertaken by the commis11 sion, unless approved by the affirmative vote of a majority

12 of the members of the commission.

13 ‘‘(B) Except in the case of an investigation under14 taken by the commission on its own initiative, the commis15 sion may undertake an investigation relating to the official

16 conduct of an individual Member, officer, or employee of

17 the House of Representatives only—

18 ‘‘(i) upon receipt of a complaint, in writing and

19 under oath, made by or submitted to a Member of

20 the House and transmitted to the commission by

21 such Member,

22 ‘‘(ii) upon receipt of a complaint, in writing and

23 under oath, directly from an individual not a Mem24 ber of the House if the commission finds that such

25 complaint has been submitted by such individual to
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1 at least one Member of the House who has refused,

2 in writing, to transmit such complaint to the com3 mission, or

4 ‘‘(iii) upon receipt of a written complaint made

5 by the Inspector General.

6 ‘‘(C) No investigation shall be undertaken by the

7 commission of any alleged violation of a law, rule, regula8 tion, or standard of conduct not in effect at the time of

9 the alleged violation.

10 ‘‘(D) No information or testimony received, or the

11 contents of a complaint or the fact of its filing, shall be

12 publicly disclosed by any commission or staff member un13 less specifically authorized in each instance by a majority

14 vote of the entire commission.

15 ‘‘5. (a)(1) For the purpose of carrying out any of its

16 functions and duties under this rule, the commission is

17 authorized (subject to subparagraph (2)(A))—

18 ‘‘(A) to sit and act at such times and places

19 within the United States, whether the House is in

20 session, has recessed, or has adjourned, and to hold

21 such hearings, and

22 ‘‘(B) to require, by subpoena or otherwise, the

23 attendance and testimony of such witnesses and the

24 production of such books, records, correspondence,

25 memorandums, papers, and documents as it deems
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1 necessary. The chairman of the commission, or any

2 member designated by such chairman, may admin3 ister oaths to any witness.

4 ‘‘(2)(A) A subpoena may be authorized and issued by

5 the commission under subparagraph (1)(B) in the conduct

6 of any investigation or series of investigations or activities,

7 only when authorized by a majority of the members voting,

8 a majority being present. The power to authorize and issue

9 subpoenas under subparagraph (1)(B) may be delegated

10 to the chairman of the commission pursuant to such rules

11 and under such limitations as the commission may pre12 scribe. Authorized subpoenas shall be signed by the chair13 man of the commission or by any member designated by

14 the commission.

15 ‘‘(B) Compliance with any subpoena issued by the

16 commission under subparagraph (1)(B) may be enforced

17 only as authorized or directed by the House.’’.

18 SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL DUTIES OF INSPECTOR GENERAL OF

19 THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

20 Rule VI of the Rules of the House of Representatives

21 is amended by adding at the end the following new clause:

22 ‘‘3. (a) In addition to the responsibilities under clause

23 2, subject to the policy direction and oversight of the Com24 mittee on House Oversight, the Inspector General shall

25 be responsible only for—
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1 ‘‘(1) providing policy direction for, and, ran2 domly and on a periodic basis, conducting, super3 vising, and coordinating audits and investigations re4 lating to, the financial operations of the House;

5 ‘‘(2) recommending to the House policies for,

6 and conducting, supervising, and coordinating other

7 activities carried out by the House to promote econ8 omy and efficiency in the administration of, and pre9 vent and detect fraud and abuse in, its operations.

10 ‘‘(3) promptly notifying the commission of any

11 evidence of fraud or the violation of any law, rule,

12 regulation, or other standard of conduct applicable

13 to the conduct of a Member, officer, or employee of

14 the House in the performance of his duties or the

15 discharge of his responsibilities;

16 ‘‘(4) promptly notifying the commission of any

17 evidence of fraud or other serious problem, abuse, or

18 deficiency respecting the financial operations of the

19 House, recommending appropriate corrective action

20 to the commission, and monitoring the carrying out

21 of such corrective action; and

22 ‘‘(5) preparing, and having printed as a House

23 document and making available to the public, a re24 port, to be transmitted by March 1 of each calendar

25 year to the House, setting forth with respect to the
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1 immediately preceding calendar year the following

2 information:

3 ‘‘(A) A summary of all recommendations

4 and notifications made to the commission under

5 subparagraphs (3) and (4).

6 ‘‘(B) A summary of all recommendations

7 made to the House under subparagraph (2).

8 ‘‘(C) An identification of each rec9 ommendation contained in a previous annual re10 port which recommendation has not been car11 ried out to the satisfaction of the Inspector

12 General.

13 ‘‘(D) A list of all audit reports and inves14 tigations referred to in subparagraph (1) which

15 were completed during the calendar year cov16 ered by this report.

17 ‘‘(b)(1) Upon the written request of the Inspector

18 General, any Member, officer, or committee of the House

19 shall promptly provide the Inspector General access to all

20 books, records, correspondence, memorandums, papers,

21 and documents relating to financial operations of the

22 House.

23 ‘‘(2) The Inspector General shall notify the commis24 sion whenever any Member, officer, or committee of the

25 House does not comply with subparagraph (1).’’.
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1 SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF CERTAIN DUTIES OF THE COM2 MITTEE ON STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CON3 DUCT.

4 (a) Clause 1(p) of rule X of the Rules of the House

5 of Representatives is amended by striking ‘‘with respect

6 to recommendations, studies, investigations, and reports’’

7 and by striking ‘‘titles I and V’’ and inserting ‘‘title V’’.

8 (b) Clause 4(e) of rule X of the Rules of the House

9 of Representatives is amended to read as follows:

10 ‘‘(e)(1) The Committee on Standards of Official Con11 duct is authorized and directed to—

12 ‘‘(A) within 5 legislative days transmit to the

13 House, by resolution or otherwise, any recommenda14 tion submitted to the committee by the commission

15 under clause 4(a)(1)(B) of rule LII; and

16 ‘‘(B) give consideration to the request of any

17 Member, officer, or employee of the House for an

18 advisory opinion with respect to the general propri19 ety of any current or proposed conduct of such

20 Member, officer, or employee and, with appropriate

21 deletions to assure the privacy of the individual con22 cerned, to publish such opinion for the guidance of

23 other Members, officers, and employees of the

24 House.

25 ‘‘(2) No advisory opinion relating to the official con26 duct of a Member, officer, or employee of the House shall
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1 be made by the committee, unless approved by the affirm2 ative vote of a majority of the members of the commis3 sion.’’.

4 (c) Clause 1 of rule XLIV of the Rules of the House

5 of Representatives is amended by striking ‘‘Committee on

6 Standards of Official Conduct’’ and by inserting ‘‘Citizens’

7 Commission on Congressional Ethics’’.

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