I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1104
To protect and enforce the equal privileges and immunities of citizens of
the United States and the constitutional rights of the people to choose
Senators and Representatives in Congress.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 1, 1995
Mr. SANFORD (for himself, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, and Mrs. CHENOWETH) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
House Oversight
A BILL
To protect and enforce the equal privileges and immunities
of citizens of the United States and the constitutional
rights of the people to choose Senators and Representa-
tives in Congress.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Electoral Rights En-
forcement Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that:
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(1) The right of the people of the States to
choose their Senators and Representatives in Con-
gress is a fundamental right and a privilege and im-
munity of citizenship reserved to the States or the
people by the tenth amendment, and enforceable
under the fourteenth, fifteenth, seventeenth, nine-
teenth, twenty-fourth and twenty-sixth amendments
and article I, sections 4 and 8, of the Constitution.
(2) A State and its people may reasonably con-
clude that requiring regular rotation in office of
their Senators and Representatives in Congress best
serves their needs and the interests of good govern-
ment.
(3) An overwhelming majority of the people in
every State favor term limits on their Senators and
Representatives in Congress.
(4) Long-time incumbents often have benefits
from their offices that have given them unequal ad-
vantages in obtaining reelection.
(5) Entrenched incumbency has had the effect
of denying equal rights to seek office.
(6) Entrenched incumbency has had the effect
of reducing the participation of racial minorities,
women, and young voters in elections for the Senate
and House of Representatives.
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(7) Long-time incumbents often encourage un-
constitutional gerrymandering of congressional dis-
tricts to assist their continuing in office.
(8) Long-time incumbents often become more
responsive to special interests than to the voters,
thus infringing on the voter’s right to nondiscrim-
inatory treatment in the provision of government
services.
(9) Long-term incumbents often have advan-
tages in obtaining financial support for campaigns,
which result in greatly unequal opportunities among
candidates seeking election.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purposes of the Act are—
(1) to enforce the guarantees of equal protec-
tion of the laws and protect the privileges and im-
munities of citizens of the United States, as guaran-
teed by the fourteenth amendment, by authorizing
the people and the States to limit the terms of their
Senators and Representatives in Congress;
(2) to enforce the guarantees of the tenth
amendment to the same end;
(3) to enforce the guarantees of the fifteenth,
nineteenth, twenty-fourth, and twenty-sixth amend-
ments to the same end;
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(4) to enforce the right of the people to choose
their Representatives in Congress guaranteed by ar-
ticle 1 of the Constitution;
(5) to enforce the right of the people to choose
their Senators guaranteed by the seventeenth
amendment to the Constitution; and
(6) to regulate the manner of elections to Con-
gress.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION AND ENFORCEMENT; SENATE.
Each State or the people thereof may prescribe the
maximum number of terms to which a person may be
elected or appointed to the Senate of the United States.
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION AND ENFORCEMENT; HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES.
Each State or the people thereof may prescribe the
maximum number of terms to which a person may be
elected to the House of Representatives of the United
States.
Æ