IA 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. J. RES. 83
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States regarding 
the appointment of individuals to fill vacancies in the House of Rep-
resentatives. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 8, 2003
Mr. BAIRD introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
JOINT RESOLUTION 
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United 
States regarding the appointment of individuals to fill 
vacancies in the House of Representatives.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of America in Congress assembled
(two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the fol-
lowing article is proposed as an amendment to the Con-
stitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all 
intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when 
ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several 
States within seven years after the date of its submission 
for ratification:
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‘‘ARTICLE —
‘‘SECTION 1. Prior to taking the oath of office, an 
individual who is elected to serve as a Member of the 
House of Representatives for a Congress shall present to 
the chief executive of the State from which the individual 
is elected a list of nominees to take the individual’s place 
in the event the individual dies or becomes incapacitated 
prior to the expiration of the individual’s term of office. 
The individual shall ensure that the list contains the 
names of not fewer than two nominees, each of whom shall 
meet the qualifications for service as a Member of the 
House of Representatives from the State involved. After 
the individual takes the oath of office, the individual may 
present revised versions of the list at any time during the 
Congress. 
‘‘SECTION 2. If at any time a majority of the whole 
membership of the House of Representatives are unable 
to carry out their duties because of death or incapacity, 
or if at any time the House adopts a resolution declaring 
that extraordinary circumstances exist which threaten the 
ability of the House to represent the interests of the people 
of the United States, the chief executive of any State rep-
resented by any Member who is dead or incapacitated at 
that time shall appoint, from the most recent list of nomi-
nees presented by the Member under section 1, an indi-
•HJ 83 IH 
vidual to take the place of the Member. The chief executive 
shall make such an appointment as soon as practicable 
(but in no event later than seven days) after the date on 
which Member’s death or incapacity has been certified. An 
individual appointed to take the place of a Member of the 
House of Representatives under this section shall serve 
until the Member regains capacity or until another Mem-
ber is elected to fill the vacancy resulting from the death 
or incapacity. The State shall provide for an election to 
fill the vacancy at such time and in accordance with such 
procedures as may be provided under State law, and an 
individual appointed under this section may be a candidate 
in such an election. This section shall not apply with re-
spect to any Member of the House who dies or becomes 
incapacitated prior to the seven-day period which ends on 
the date on which the event requiring appointments to be 
made under this section occurs. 
‘‘SECTION 3. During the period of an individual’s ap-
pointment under section 2, the individual shall be treated 
as a Member of the House of Representatives for purposes 
of all laws, rules, and regulations, but not for purposes 
of section 1. If an individual appointed under section 2 
is unable to carry out the duties of a Member during such 
period because of death or incapacity, the chief executive 
of the State involved shall appoint another individual from
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the same list of nominees presented under section 1 from 
which the individual was appointed under section 2. Any 
individual so appointed shall be considered to have been 
appointed under section 2. 
‘‘SECTION 4. Congress may by law establish the cri-
teria for determining whether a Member of the House of 
Representatives or Senate is dead or incapacitated, and 
shall have the power to enforce this article through appro-
priate legislation.’’.
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