HR 2985 RS 
lished by such Act, the rate of compensation and the des-
ignation in this Act shall be the permanent law with re-
spect thereto: Provided, That the provisions in this Act 
for the various items of official expenses of Members, offi-
cers, and committees of the Senate and House of Rep-
resentatives, and clerk hire for Senators and Members of 
the House of Representatives shall be the permanent law 
with respect thereto. 
SEC. 204. CONSULTING SERVICES.—The expenditure 
of any appropriation under this Act for any consulting 
service through procurement contract, under section 3109 
of title 5, United States Code, shall be limited to those 
contracts where such expenditures are a matter of public 
record and available for public inspection, except where 
otherwise provided under existing law, or under existing 
Executive order issued under existing law. 
SEC. 205. AWARDS AND SETTLEMENTS.—Such sums 
as may be necessary are appropriated to the account de-
scribed in subsection (a) of section 415 of the Congres-
sional Accountability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1415(a)) to 
pay awards and settlements as authorized under such sub-
section. 
SEC. 206. COSTS OF LBFMC.—Amounts available 
for administrative expenses of any legislative branch entity 
which participates in the Legislative Branch Financial
HR 2985 RS 
Managers Council (LBFMC) established by charter on 
March 26, 1996, shall be available to finance an appro-
priate share of LBFMC costs as determined by the 
LBFMC, except that the total LBFMC costs to be shared 
among all participating legislative branch entities (in such 
allocations among the entities as the entities may deter-
mine) may not exceed $2,000. 
SEC. 207. LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE.—The Archi-
tect of the Capitol, in consultation with the District of Co-
lumbia, is authorized to maintain and improve the land-
scape features, excluding streets and sidewalks, in the ir-
regular shaped grassy areas bounded by Washington Ave-
nue, SW on the northeast, Second Street SW on the west, 
Square 582 on the south, and the beginning of the I–395 
tunnel on the southeast. 
SEC. 208. LIMITATION ON TRANSFERS.—None of the 
funds made available in this Act may be transferred to 
any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United 
States Government, except pursuant to a transfer made 
by, or transfer authority provided in, this Act or any other 
appropriation Act.
SEC. 209. COMPENSATION LIMITATION.—None of 
the funds contained in this Act or any other Act may be 
used to pay the salary of any officer or employee of the 
legislative branch during fiscal year 2006 or any suc-
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ceeding fiscal year to the extent that the aggregate 
amount of compensation paid to the employee during the 
year (including base salary, performance awards and other 
bonus payments, and incentive payments, but excluding 
the value of any in-kind benefits and payments) exceeds 
the annual rate of pay for a Member of the House of Rep-
resentatives or a Senator.
SEC. 209. COMPENSATION LIMITATION. Legislative 
branch appropriations are not available to pay the salary 
of any officer or employee to the extent that the aggregate 
amount of compensation (including base salary, awards, 
bonus incentives, excluding in-kind compensation) exceeds 
the annual rate for a Senator or Member unless the applica-
ble entity head has certified that the entity has a perform-
ance appraisal system which (as designed and applied) 
makes meaningful distinctions based on relative perform-
ance consistent with the criteria established pursuant to 5 
U.S.C. 5307(d)(3)(A). Each entity head shall recertify its 
performance appraisal system (bi-annually in accordance 
with 5 U.S.C. 5307(d)(3)(B)). Entities with such certified 
appraisal systems may pay total annual compensation up 
to the amounts Executive branch personnel subject to cer-
tified performance appraisal systems may receive.
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TITLE III—CONTINUITY IN REPRESENTATION 
SEC. 301. Section 26 of the Revised Statutes of the 
United States (2 U.S.C. 8) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘The time’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) 
IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection (b), 
the time’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(b)
SPECIAL
RULES
IN
EXTRAORDINARY
CIR-
CUMSTANCES.—
‘‘(1)
IN
GENERAL.—In
extraordinary
cir-
cumstances, the executive authority of any State in 
which a vacancy exists in its representation in the 
House of Representatives shall issue a writ of elec-
tion to fill such vacancy by special election. 
‘‘(2) TIMING OF SPECIAL ELECTION.—A special 
election held under this subsection to fill a vacancy 
shall take place not later than 49 days after the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives announces 
that the vacancy exists, unless, during the 75-day 
period which begins on the date of the announce-
ment of the vacancy—
‘‘(A) a regularly scheduled general election 
for the office involved is to be held; or
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‘‘(B) another special election for the office 
involved is to be held, pursuant to a writ for a 
special election issued by the chief executive of 
the State prior to the date of the announcement 
of the vacancy. 
‘‘(3) NOMINATIONS BY PARTIES.—If a special 
election is to be held under this subsection, the de-
termination of the candidates who will run in such 
election shall be made—
‘‘(A) by nominations made not later than 
10 days after the Speaker announces that the 
vacancy exists by the political parties of the 
State that are authorized by State law to nomi-
nate candidates for the election; or 
‘‘(B) by any other method the State con-
siders appropriate, including holding primary 
elections, that will ensure that the State will 
hold the special election within the deadline re-
quired under paragraph (2). 
‘‘(4) EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—In this subsection, 
‘extraordinary circumstances’ occur when the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives an-
nounces that vacancies in the representation 
from the States in the House exceed 100.
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‘‘(B) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—If any action is 
brought for declaratory or injunctive relief to 
challenge an announcement made under sub-
paragraph (A), the following rules shall apply: 
‘‘(i) Not later than 2 days after the 
announcement, the action shall be filed in 
the United States District Court having ju-
risdiction in the district of the Member of 
the House of Representatives whose seat 
has been announced to be vacant and shall 
be heard by a 3-judge court convened pur-
suant to section 2284 of title 28, United 
States Code. 
‘‘(ii) A copy of the complaint shall be 
delivered promptly to the Clerk of the 
House of Representatives. 
‘‘(iii) A final decision in the action 
shall be made within 3 days of the filing 
of such action and shall not be reviewable. 
‘‘(iv) The executive authority of the 
State that contains the district of the 
Member of the House of Representatives 
whose seat has been announced to be va-
cant shall have the right to intervene either 
in support of or opposition to the position
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of a party to the case regarding the an-
nouncement of such vacancy. 
‘‘(5) PROTECTING
ABILITY
OF
ABSENT
MILI-
TARY AND OVERSEAS VOTERS TO PARTICIPATE IN 
SPECIAL ELECTIONS.—
‘‘(A) DEADLINE FOR TRANSMITTAL OF AB-
SENTEE
BALLOTS.—In
conducting
a
special 
election held under this subsection to fill a va-
cancy in its representation, the State shall en-
sure to the greatest extent practicable (includ-
ing through the use of electronic means) that 
absentee ballots for the election are transmitted 
to absent uniformed services voters and over-
seas voters (as such terms are defined in the 
Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Vot-
ing Act) not later than 15 days after the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives an-
nounces that the vacancy exists. 
‘‘(B)
PERIOD
FOR
BALLOT
TRANSIT 
TIME.—Notwithstanding the deadlines referred 
to in paragraphs (2) and (3), in the case of an 
individual who is an absent uniformed services 
voter or an overseas voter (as such terms are 
defined in the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens 
Absentee Voting Act), a State shall accept and
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process any otherwise valid ballot or other elec-
tion material from the voter so long as the bal-
lot or other material is received by the appro-
priate State election official not later than 45 
days after the State transmits the ballot or 
other material to the voter. 
‘‘(6) APPLICATION TO DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 
AND TERRITORIES.—This subsection shall apply—
‘‘(A) to a Delegate or Resident Commis-
sioner to the Congress in the same manner as 
it applies to a Member of the House of Rep-
resentatives; and 
‘‘(B) to the District of Columbia, the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, 
Guam, and the United States Virgin Islands in 
the same manner as it applies to a State, ex-
cept that a vacancy in the representation from 
any such jurisdiction in the House shall not be 
taken into account by the Speaker in deter-
mining whether vacancies in the representation 
from the States in the House exceed 100 for 
purposes of paragraph (4)(A). 
‘‘(7) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION REGARDING FED-
ERAL ELECTION LAWS.—Nothing in this subsection 
may be construed to affect the application to special
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elections under this subsection of any Federal law 
governing the administration of elections for Federal 
office (including any law providing for the enforce-
ment of any such law), including, but not limited to, 
the following: 
‘‘(A) The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 
U.S.C. 1973 et seq.), as amended. 
‘‘(B) The Voting Accessibility for the El-
derly and Handicapped Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ee 
et seq.), as amended. 
‘‘(C) The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens 
Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff et seq.), 
as amended. 
‘‘(D) The National Voter Registration Act 
of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg et seq.), as amend-
ed. 
‘‘(E) The Americans With Disabilities Act 
of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), as amended. 
‘‘(F) The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 
U.S.C. 701 et seq.), as amended. 
‘‘(G) The Help America Vote Act of 2002 
(42 U.S.C. 15301 et seq.), as amended.’’.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Legislative Branch Ap-
propriations Act, 2006’’.
Calendar No. 138
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H.R. 2985
[Report No. 109–89] 
AN ACT 
Making appropriations for the Legislative Branch 
for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, 
and for other purposes. 
JUNE 24, 2005
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on 
Appropriations 
JUNE 24, 2005
Reported with amendments