ferred to as the ‘Director’) of an alleged violation by 
a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, 
or employee of the House of the Code of Official 
Conduct or of a rule or other standard of conduct 
applicable to the conduct of such Member, Delegate, 
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee in the 
performance of his or her duties or the discharge of 
his or her responsibilities. After notice and hearing 
(unless the right to such a hearing is waived by the 
Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, 
or employee), the committee shall report to the 
House its findings of fact and recommendations, if 
any, for the final disposition of any such investiga-
tion and such action as the committee may consider 
appropriate in the circumstances. 
‘‘(3) After the Director determines that there 
are sufficient grounds to pursue an investigation of 
any individual referred to in subparagraph (2) or 
that there is probable cause to believe that a viola-
tion has occurred, the committee may overrule this 
determination by a two-thirds vote of the committee 
within 10 legislative days after being so notified by 
the Director. Any such vote shall be recorded and 
made available to the public. If the committee re-
verses the Director’s determination to proceed with 
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the case, then the committee shall file in a timely 
manner a report to the House and made available to 
the general public explaining its decision. Committee 
members who voted against reversing the Director’s 
determination may file their own public reports on 
the matter. 
‘‘(4) The committee may report to the appro-
priate Federal or State authorities, either with the 
approval of the House or by an affirmative vote of 
a majority of the members of the committee, any 
substantial evidence of a violation by a Member, 
Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or em-
ployee of the House, of a law applicable to the per-
formance of his or her duties or the discharge of his 
or her responsibilities that may have been disclosed 
to the committee by the Director as the result of an 
investigation. 
‘‘(b)(1) Unless approved by an affirmative vote of a 
majority of its members, the Committee on Standards of 
Official Conduct may not report a resolution, report, or 
recommendation relating to the official conduct of a Mem-
ber, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or em-
ployee of the House. 
‘‘(2) A member of the committee shall be ineligible 
to participate as a member of the committee in a com-
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mittee proceeding relating to the member’s official con-
duct. Whenever a member of the committee is ineligible 
to act as a member of the committee under the preceding 
sentence, the Speaker shall designate a Member, Delegate, 
or Resident Commissioner from the same political party 
as the ineligible member to act in any proceeding of the 
committee relating to that conduct. 
‘‘(3) A member of the committee may disqualify him-
self or herself from participating in an investigation of the 
conduct of a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, 
officer, or employee of the House upon the submission in 
writing and under oath of an affidavit of disqualification 
stating that the member cannot render an impartial and 
unbiased decision in the case in which the member seeks 
to be disqualified. If the committee approves and accepts 
such affidavit of disqualification, the chairman shall so no-
tify the Speaker and request the Speaker to designate a 
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner from the 
same political party as the disqualifying member to act 
in any proceeding of the committee relating to that case. 
‘‘(4) Information or testimony received, or the con-
tents of a complaint or the fact of its filing, may not be 
publicly disclosed by any committee or staff member un-
less specifically authorized in each instance by a vote of 
the full committee. 
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‘‘(c)(1) Notwithstanding clause 2(g)(1) of rule XI, 
each meeting of the Committee on Standards of Official 
Conduct or a subcommittee thereof shall occur in executive 
session unless the committee or subcommittee, by an af-
firmative vote of a majority of its members, opens the 
meeting to the public. 
‘‘(2) Notwithstanding clause 2(g)(2) of rule XI, each 
adjudicatory hearing of the Committee on Standards of 
Official Conduct shall be held in open session unless the 
committee, in open session by an affirmative vote of a ma-
jority of its members, closes all or part of the remainder 
of the hearing on that day to the public. 
‘‘(d) Before a member, officer, or employee of the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct may have ac-
cess to information that is confidential under the rules of 
the committee, the following oath (or affirmation) shall 
be executed: 
‘‘ ‘I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will 
not disclose, to any person or entity outside the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, any in-
formation received in the course of my service with 
the committee, except as authorized by the com-
mittee or in accordance with its rules.’. 
Copies of the executed oath shall be retained by the Clerk 
as part of the records of the House. This paragraph estab-
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lishes a standard of conduct within the meaning of para-
graph (a)(2). Breaches of confidentiality shall be inves-
tigated by the Committee on Standards of Official Con-
duct and appropriate action shall be taken.’’. 
(2) Clause 3 of rule XI of the Rules of the House 
of Representatives is amended— 
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (f) through (i) 
as paragraphs (e) through (h), respectively; 
(B) by striking paragraphs (j) through (q); and 
(C) in paragraph (g), as redesignated, by strik-
ing ‘‘any hearing held by an adjudicatory sub-
committee or’’ both places it appears. 
(3) Clause 5(a)(4) of rule X of the Rules of the House 
of Representatives is repealed. 
(b) CHANGES IN ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT ACT OF 
1978.—Title I of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 
is amended as follows: 
(1) Section 101(h) is amended by striking ‘‘the 
congressional ethics committees’’ and inserting ‘‘the 
Director of the Office of Public Integrity’’. 
(2) Section 103 is amended— 
(A) in subsection (h)(1)(A)— 
(i) in clause (i)(I), by striking ‘‘Clerk 
of the House of Representatives’’ and in-
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serting ‘‘Director of the Office of Public 
Integrity’’; 
(ii) in clause (i)(II), by striking ‘‘Sec-
retary of the Senate’’ and inserting ‘‘Di-
rector of the Office of Public Integrity’’; 
(iii) 
in 
clause 
(ii), 
by 
striking 
‘‘1989—’’ and all that follows through the 
end and inserting ‘‘1989, the Director of 
the Office of Public Integrity; and’’; 
(B) in subsection (i), by striking ‘‘Clerk of 
the House of Representatives or Secretary of 
the Senate, as the case may be’’ and inserting 
‘‘Director of the Office of Public Integrity’’; 
(C) by striking subsection (j) and redesig-
nating subsection (k) as subsection (j); and 
(D) in subsection (j) (as redesignated)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘Clerk of the House of 
Representatives and Secretary of the Sen-
ate’’ and inserting ‘‘Director of the Office 
of Public Integrity’’; and 
(ii) by striking ‘‘Clerk and the Sec-
retary’’ both places it appears and insert-
ing ‘‘Director of the Office of Public Integ-
rity’’. 
(3) Section 105 is amended— 
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