IV 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 287 
Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to permit absent Mem-
bers to participate in committee hearings using video conferencing and 
related technologies and to establish a remote voting system under which 
absent Members may cast votes in the House on motions to suspend 
the rules. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 28, 2013 
Mr. SWALWELL of California (for himself, Mr. PEARCE, and Mrs. LUMMIS) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Rules 
RESOLUTION 
Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 
permit absent Members to participate in committee hear-
ings using video conferencing and related technologies 
and to establish a remote voting system under which 
absent Members may cast votes in the House on motions 
to suspend the rules. 
Resolved, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Members Oper-
ating to Be Innovative and Link Everyone Resolution’’ or 
the ‘‘MOBILE Resolution’’. 
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•HRES 287 IH 
SEC. 2. PARTICIPATION OF ABSENT MEMBERS IN COM-
MITTEE HEARINGS THROUGH VIDEO CON-
FERENCING AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES. 
(a) ENABLING PARTICIPATION
OF ABSENT MEM-
BERS.—Rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representa-
tives is amended by adding at the end the following new 
clause: 
‘‘Participation of absent members 
‘‘7. Each committee shall permit any member of the 
committee who is absent from the site of a hearing con-
vened by the committee, as well as any other individual 
who is invited to participate in the hearing and who is 
absent from the site of the hearing, to use video confer-
encing and related technologies in order to participate in 
the hearing to the same extent as members of the com-
mittee and other individuals (as the case may be) who are 
present at the site of the meeting.’’. 
(b) INCLUSION OF MEMBERS PARTICIPATING RE-
MOTELY
IN DETERMINATION
OF QUORUM.—Subpara-
graphs (2) and (3) of clause 2(h) of rule XI of the Rules 
of the House of Representatives are each amended by add-
ing at the end the following sentence: ‘‘A committee shall 
adopt a rule under which a member who participates in 
a hearing remotely pursuant to clause 7 shall be included 
in determining the number of members constituting a 
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quorum at the hearing for purposes of this subpara-
graph.’’. 
SEC. 3. PERMITTING ABSENT MEMBERS TO VOTE RE-
MOTELY ON SUSPENSION MOTIONS. 
Clause 1 of rule XV of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new paragraph: 
‘‘(d) The Clerk, Chief Administrative Officer, and 
Sergeant at Arms shall work together to develop and im-
plement a secure remote voting system under which any 
member who is absent from the floor shall be permitted 
to cast a vote remotely on a motion to suspend the rules 
under this clause if the vote is taken by electronic device. 
A member who casts such a vote using the remote voting 
system under this subparagraph shall be treated as 
present for purposes of determining the existence of a 
quorum for considering the motion.’’. 
Æ 
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