the Government to be known as the House Ethics Com-
mission (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 
(b) MEMBERSHIP AND TERMS OF OFFICE.—(1) The 
Commission shall consist of 12 individuals. Six former 
Democratic Members shall be appointed by the Republican 
leader and 6 former Republican Members by the Demo-
cratic leader of the House of Representatives. Except as 
provided by paragraph (2), the terms of all members of 
the Commission shall be 2 years and no member may serve 
for more than 6 years. 
(2) Of the members first appointed— 
(A) 2 appointed by each leader shall be for a 
term of 2 years; 
(B) 2 appointed by each leader shall be for a 
term of 4 years; and 
(C) 2 appointed by each leader shall be for a 
term of 6 years; 
as designated by each such leader at the time of appoint-
ment. 
(c) CHAIRMAN AND VICE CHAIRMAN.—The chairman 
and the vice chairman of the Commission shall be selected 
by the members of the Commission at its first meeting. 
No member may serve for more than one 2-year term as 
chairman and no member may serve for more than one 
2-year term as vice chairman. 
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(d) QUALIFICATIONS.—Only former Members of the 
House of Representatives shall be eligible for appointment 
to the Commission. 
(1) DISQUALIFICATIONS FOR APPOINTMENTS.— 
(A) LOBBYING.—No individual who has 
been a lobbyist registered under the Lobbying 
Disclosure Act of 1995 or engages in, or is oth-
erwise employed in, lobbying of the Congress or 
who is an agent of a foreign principal registered 
under the Foreign Agents Registration Act 
within the 4-year period immediately preceding 
appointment shall be eligible for appointment 
to, or service on, the Commission. 
(B) INCOMPATIBLE OFFICE.—No member 
of the Commission appointed under subsection 
(b) may be an elected public official or an offi-
cer or employee of the Government. 
(2) VACANCIES.—A vacancy on the Commission 
shall be filled in the manner in which the original 
appointment was made. 
(e) COMPENSATION.—Members shall each be entitled 
to receive the daily equivalent of the maximum annual rate 
of basic pay in effect for Level III of the Executive Sched-
ule for each day (including travel time) during which they 
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are engaged in the actual performance of duties vested in 
the Commission. 
(f) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of the 
Commission shall constitute a quorum. 
(g) MEETINGS.—The Commission shall meet at the 
call of the chairman or a majority of its members. 
SEC. 3. DUTIES OF COMMISSION. 
The Commission is authorized— 
(1) to investigate any alleged violation, by a 
Member, officer, or employee of the House of Rep-
resentatives, of any law, rule, regulation, or other 
standard of conduct applicable to the conduct of 
such Member, officer, or employee in the perform-
ance of his duties or the discharge of his responsibil-
ities, and after notice and hearing (unless the right 
to a hearing is waived by the Member, officer, or 
employee), shall report to the House of Representa-
tives its findings of fact and recommendations, if 
any, upon the final disposition of any such investiga-
tion, and such action as the Commission may deem 
appropriate in the circumstances; 
(2) to issue any letter of reproval or admonish-
ment with respect to such an alleged violation; 
(3) to report to the appropriate Federal or 
State authorities any substantial evidence of a viola-
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tion, by a Member, officer, or employee of the House 
of Representatives, of any law applicable to the per-
formance of his duties or the discharge of his re-
sponsibilities, which may have been disclosed in a 
Commission investigation; and 
(4) to adopt rules governing its procedures to 
provide protections to respondents comparable to 
those that were provided by clause 3 of rule XI of 
the Rules of the House of Representatives in effect 
immediately before the amendments to such rule 
made by section 8. 
SEC. 4. POWERS OF COMMISSION. 
(a) HEARINGS AND EVIDENCE.—The Commission or, 
on the authority of the Commission, the chairman or vice 
chairman, may, for the purpose of carrying out this Act— 
(1) hold such hearings and sit and act at such 
times and places, take such testimony, receive such 
evidence, administer such oaths; and 
(2) subject to subsection (b), require, by sub-
poena or otherwise, the attendance and testimony of 
such witnesses and the production of such books, 
records, correspondence, memoranda, papers, and 
documents, as the Commission or the chairman or 
vice chairman may determine advisable. 
(b) SUBPOENAS.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—A subpoena may be issued 
only under the signature of the chairman or the vice 
chairman, and may be served by any person des-
ignated by the chairman or the vice chairman. 
(c) OBTAINING INFORMATION.—Upon request of the 
Commission, the head of any agency or instrumentality 
of the Government shall furnish information deemed nec-
essary by the panel to enable it to carry out its duties. 
SEC. 5. PROCEDURAL RULES. 
(a) MAJORITY
APPROVAL.—No report or rec-
ommendation relating to the official conduct of a Member, 
officer, or employee of the House of Representatives shall 
be made by the Commission, and no investigation of such 
conduct shall be undertaken by the Commission, unless 
approved by the affirmative vote of a majority of the mem-
bers of the Commission. 
(b) INVESTIGATIONS.—Except in the case of an in-
vestigation undertaken by the Commission on its own ini-
tiative, the Commission may undertake an investigation 
relating to the official conduct of an individual Member, 
officer, or employee of the House of Representatives 
only— 
(1) upon receipt of a complaint, in writing and 
under oath, made by or submitted to a Member of 
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the House of Representatives and transmitted to the 
Commission by such Member, or 
(2) upon receipt of a complaint from the chair-
man of the Committee on Standards of Official Con-
duct of the House of Representatives, in writing and 
under oath, made by that committee. 
(c) PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN INVESTIGATIONS.—No 
investigation shall be undertaken by the Commission of 
any alleged violation of a law, rule, regulation, or standard 
of conduct not in effect at the time of the alleged violation. 
(d) DISCLOSURE.—No information or testimony re-
ceived, or the contents of a complaint or the fact of its 
filing, shall be publicly disclosed by any member of the 
Commission or staff of the Commission unless specifically 
authorized in each instance by a vote of the Commission. 
SEC. 6. STAFF OF COMMISSION. 
The Commission may appoint and fix the compensa-
tion of such staff as the Commission considers necessary 
to perform its duties. The director shall be appointed 
jointly by the Speaker and minority leader and shall be 
paid at a rate not to exceed the rate of basic pay payable 
for Level III of the Executive Schedule. 
SEC. 7. ACTION ON COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS. 
(a) PRINTING
OF REPORTS
IN CONGRESSIONAL 
RECORD.—Upon receipt by the Committee on Standards 
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of Official Conduct of the House of Representatives of any 
report of the Commission, the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives shall have the report printed in the Con-
gressional Record. 
(b) HOUSE CONSIDERATION OF INDEPENDENT ETH-
ICS COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS.—Within 14 cal-
endar days after a report referred to in subsection (a) is 
printed in the Congressional Record, that portion of the 
report recommending action by the House of Representa-
tives respecting any alleged violation, by a Member, offi-
cer, or employee of the House of Representatives, of any 
law, rule, regulation, or other standard of conduct applica-
ble to the conduct of such Member, officer, or employee 
in the performance of his duties or the discharge of his 
responsibilities shall be introduced (by request) in the 
House by the Speaker of the House, for himself and the 
minority leader of the House in the form of a resolution. 
This resolution shall constitute a question of privilege 
under rule IX of the Rules of the House of Representa-
tives. Any Member favoring the resolution may call it up 
as a question of privilege but only on the third day after 
the calendar date upon which such Member announces to 
the House his intention to do so. 
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SEC. 8. AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES OF THE HOUSE TO 
CHANGE THE DUTIES OF THE COMMITTEE ON 
STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CONDUCT. 
(a) HOUSE RULES AMENDMENTS.—Clause 3 of rule 
XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amend-
ed as follows: 
(1) In paragraph (a), strike subparagraphs (1), 
(2), and (3), and redesignate subparagraphs (4), 
(5), and (6), as subparagraphs (1), (2), and (3), re-
spectively. 
(2)(A) Paragraph (b)(1) is amended by striking 
‘‘(A)’’, by striking ‘‘a resolution, report, rec-
ommendation, or’’ and inserting ‘‘an’’, and by strik-
ing ‘‘, or, except as provided in subparagraph (2), 
undertake an investigation’’, and by striking subdivi-
sion (B). 
(B) Paragraph (b) is further amended by strik-
ing subparagraphs (2), (3), (4), and (5) and by re-
designating subparagraphs (6) and (7) as subpara-
graphs (2) and (3), respectively. 
(3) Strike paragraphs (j) (k), (l), (m), (n), (o), 
(p), and (q). 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 803 of the 
Ethics Reform Act of 1989 (2 U.S.C. 29d) is amended 
by striking subsections (c) and (d). 
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SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This Act shall take effect upon the date of its enact-
ment, except that sections 3, 4, and 8 shall not take effect 
until the later of 6 months after such date of enactment 
or immediately prior to noon January 3, 2009. 
Æ 
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