HUMBLE Act

Subjects: Congress

Summary:  <p><b>Halt Unchecked Member Benefits with Lobbying Elimination Act or the HUMBLE Act</b></p> <p>This bill bans lobbying by former Members of Congress, eliminates certain benefits and services for former Members of the House of Representatives, limits the use of congressional funds for official travel, and restricts investment and other activities of House Members.</p> <p>Specifically, former senators, former House Members, or former elected officers of the House or Senate may not serve as contracted lobbyists. (Currently, former Senators are subject to a two-year ban on lobbying, while former House Members and former elected officers are subject to a one-year ban.) Additionally, former House Members may not access certain benefits and services (e.g., access to the House Chamber, the Members' Dining Room, or parking spaces) unless those benefits and services are publicly available.</p> <p>Further, when purchasing airfare, Members of Congress (and legislative branch employees) may only use official travel funds to purchase coach-class tickets unless applicable regulations would authorize the purchase of a higher class of ticket for a federal employee.</p> <p>House Members may not (1) own common stock in individual corporations, or (2) serve on boards of for-profit entities.</p> <p>The bill also eliminates one day of pay for each House Member for any day of a Congress during which no Speaker has been elected.</p>

<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 507 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 507

 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit former Members and 
 elected officers of Congress from lobbying Congress at any time after 
   leaving office, to prohibit the use of funds for official travel 
 expenses of Members of Congress and legislative branch employees for 
  airline accommodations other than coach class, to reduce the pay of 
Members of the House of Representatives if a Speaker is not elected on 
          the first day of a Congress, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 25, 2023

  Ms. Craig introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on 
 the Judiciary, Ethics, Rules, and Oversight and Accountability, for a 
 period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit former Members and 
 elected officers of Congress from lobbying Congress at any time after 
   leaving office, to prohibit the use of funds for official travel 
 expenses of Members of Congress and legislative branch employees for 
  airline accommodations other than coach class, to reduce the pay of 
Members of the House of Representatives if a Speaker is not elected on 
          the first day of a Congress, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Halt Unchecked Member Benefits with 
Lobbying Elimination Act'' or the ``HUMBLE Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITING FORMER MEMBERS AND OFFICERS OF CONGRESS FROM 
              LOBBYING CONGRESS.

    (a) Prohibition.--Section 207(e)(1) of title 18, United States 
Code, is amended to read as follows:
            ``(1) Members and elected officers of congress.--Any person 
        who is a Senator, a Member of the House of Representatives, or 
        an elected officer of the Senate or the House of 
        Representatives and who, after that person leaves office, 
        knowingly makes, with the intent to influence, any 
        communication to or appearance before any Member, officer, or 
        employee of either House of Congress or any employee of any 
        other legislative office of the Congress, on behalf of any 
        other person (except the United States) in connection with any 
        matter on which such former Senator, Member, or elected 
        official seeks action by a Member, officer, or employee of 
        either House of Congress, in his or her official capacity, 
        shall be punished as provided in section 216 of this title.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 207(e)(2) of such title is 
amended--
            (1) in the heading, by striking ``Officers and staff'' and 
        inserting ``Staff'';
            (2) by striking ``an elected officer of the Senate, or'';
            (3) by striking ``leaves office or employment'' and 
        inserting ``leaves employment''; and
            (4) by striking ``former elected officer or''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to an individual who leaves office on or after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITING USE OF FUNDS FOR OFFICIAL TRAVEL EXPENSES OF 
              MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCH EMPLOYEES FOR 
              AIRLINE ACCOMMODATIONS OTHER THAN COACH CLASS.

    (a) Prohibition.--Except as provided in subsection (b), no funds 
appropriated or otherwise made available for the official travel 
expenses of a Member of Congress or other officer or employee of any 
office in the legislative branch may be used for airline accommodations 
which are not coach-class accommodations.
    (b) Exceptions.--Funds described in subsection (a) may be used for 
airline accommodations which are not coach-class accommodations for an 
individual described in subsection (a) if the use of the funds for such 
accommodations would be permitted under sections 301-10.121 through 
301-10.125 of title 41 of the Code of Federal Regulations if the 
individual were an employee of an agency which is subject to chapter 
301 of such title.
    (c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act may be construed to 
affect any officer or employee of an office of the legislative branch 
which, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, is subject to 
chapter 301 of title 41 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
    (d) Definitions.--
            (1) Coach-class accommodations.--In this Act, the term 
        ``coach-class accommodations'' means the basic class of 
        accommodation by airlines that is normally the lowest fare 
        offered regardless of airline terminology used, and (as 
        referred to by airlines) may include tourist class or economy 
        class, as well as single class when the airline offers only one 
        class of accommodations to all travelers.
            (2) Member of congress.--In this Act, the term ``Member of 
        Congress'' means a Senator or a Representative in, or Delegate 
        or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress.
    (e) Effective Date.--This section shall apply with respect to 
fiscal year 2024 and each succeeding fiscal year.

SEC. 4. BENEFITS AND SERVICES PROVIDED TO FORMER MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE 
              OF REPRESENTATIVES.

    (a) Benefits and Services Described.--The House of Representatives 
may not make any of the following benefits and services available to an 
individual who becomes a former Member of the House (except to the 
extent such benefits and services are made available to members of the 
public):
            (1) Access to the Hall of the House.
            (2) Access to athletic facilities and other facilities 
        available for the use of Members of the House.
            (3) Access to the Members' Dining Room located in the House 
        of Representatives wing of the United States Capitol.
            (4) Access to parking spaces.
            (5) Access to material from the House document room.
            (6) Use of the collections in the House Legislative 
        Resource Center without borrowing privileges.
    (b) Waiver Authority.--
            (1) Authority to waive elimination of benefit or service.--
        The Speaker and the minority leader of the House of 
        Representatives may jointly, on a case-by-case basis, grant a 
        waiver of subsection (a) with respect to a former Member of the 
        House and a benefit or service described in such subsection.
            (2) Publication in congressional record.--If the Speaker 
        and the minority leader jointly grant a waiver under paragraph 
        (1) to make a benefit or service available to a former Member, 
        the Speaker and minority leader shall, not later than 24 hours 
        after the waiver is granted, cause to have published in the 
        Congressional Record a statement identifying the former Member 
        and the benefit or service involved.

SEC. 5. PROHIBITING MEMBERS OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FROM OWNING 
              INDIVIDUAL STOCKS.

    (a) In General.--Rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended--
            (1) by redesignating clause 22 as clause 23; and
            (2) by inserting after clause 21 the following:
    ``22. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not own the 
common stock of any individual corporation.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect immediately before noon on January 3, 2025.

SEC. 6. REDUCTION OF PAY OF MEMBERS OF HOUSE IF SPEAKER IS NOT ELECTED.

    (a) Reduction of Pay.--
            (1) Reduction.--If, by the end of the first day of a 
        Congress, the House of Representatives has not elected a 
        Speaker, the annual rate of pay applicable under section 601(a) 
        of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 4501) 
        with respect to each Member of the House of Representatives for 
        the year shall be reduced by an amount equal to the product 
        of--
                    (A) an amount equal to one day's worth of pay under 
                such annual rate; and
                    (B) the number of 24-hour periods occurring during 
                the Congress during which no Speaker has been elected 
                for the Congress.
            (2) Effective date.--This subsection shall apply with 
        respect to the One Hundred Nineteenth Congress and each 
        succeeding Congress.
    (b) Rule for One Hundred Eighteenth Congress.--
            (1) Holding salaries in escrow.--If, by the end of the 
        first day of the One Hundred Eighteenth Congress, the House of 
        Representatives has not elected a Speaker, the Chief 
        Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives, or an 
        employee of the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer who 
        is designated by the Chief Administrative Officer to carry out 
        this Act, shall--
                    (A) deposit in an escrow account and exclude from 
                the payments otherwise required to be made for the 
                compensation of each Member of the House of 
                Representatives with respect to a pay period during 
                which the House has not elected a Speaker an amount 
                equal to the product of--
                            (i) the daily rate of pay of the Member 
                        under section 601(a) of the Legislative 
                        Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 4501); and
                            (ii) the number of 24-hour periods during 
                        which no Speaker has been elected for the One 
                        Hundred Eighteenth Congress; and
                    (B) release amounts deposited in an escrow account 
                under subparagraph (A) to such Member of the House of 
                Representatives only upon the expiration of the period 
                described in paragraph (2).
            (2) Period described.--The period described in this 
        paragraph is the period that--
                    (A) begins on the first day of the One Hundred 
                Eighteenth Congress; and
                    (B) ends on the earlier of--
                            (i) the date on which the House elects a 
                        Speaker for the One Hundred Eighteenth 
                        Congress; or
                            (ii) the last day of the One Hundred 
                        Eighteenth Congress.
            (3) Withholding and remittance of amounts from payments 
        held in escrow.--The Chief Administrative Officer of the House 
        of Representatives, or an employee of the Office of the Chief 
        Administrative Officer who is designated by the Chief 
        Administrative Officer to carry out this Act, shall provide for 
        the same withholding and remittance with respect to a payment 
        deposited in an escrow account under paragraph (1) that would 
        apply to the payment if the payment were not subject to 
        paragraph (1).
            (4) Release of amounts at end of the congress.--In order to 
        ensure that this subsection is carried out in a manner that 
        shall not vary the compensation of Representatives in violation 
        of the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the Constitution of the 
        United States, the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of 
        Representatives, or an employee of the Office of the Chief 
        Administrative Officer who is designated by the Chief 
        Administrative Officer to carry out this Act, shall release for 
        payment to Members of the House of Representatives any amounts 
        remaining in any escrow account under this section on the last 
        day of the One Hundred Eighteenth Congress.
    (c) Member Defined.--In this section, the term ``Member of the 
House of Representatives'' means an individual serving in a position in 
the House of Representatives which is covered under subparagraph (A), 
(B), or (C) of section 601(a)(1) of the Legislative Reorganization Act 
of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 4501(1)).

SEC. 7. PROHIBITING MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FROM 
              SERVING ON BOARDS OF FOR-PROFIT ENTITIES.

    Rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, as amended 
by section 5(a), is amended--
            (1) by redesignating clauses 19 through 23 as clauses 20 
        through 24, respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after clause 18 the following new clause:
    ``19. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not serve on 
the board of directors of any for-profit entity.''.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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