Title: Me Too Congressional Ethics Act
Policy area: Congress

Summary:
Me Too Congressional Ethics Act
This bill amends the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (CAA) to: (1) require the automatic referral to the congressional ethics committees of the final disposition of any allegation that an employing office of the House of Representatives or Senate violated certain CAA rights and protections, and (2) allow the employee alleging such violation to request a waiver of the referral or requirements to provide the congressional ethics committees with access to records and information regarding the allegation.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4705 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4705

 To amend the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 to require the 
   automatic referral to the congressional ethics committees of the 
disposition of any allegation that an employing office of the House of 
   Representatives or Senate violated part A of title II of such Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 20, 2017

    Ms. Wasserman Schultz (for herself and Ms. Frankel of Florida) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a 
 period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 to require the 
   automatic referral to the congressional ethics committees of the 
disposition of any allegation that an employing office of the House of 
   Representatives or Senate violated part A of title II of such Act.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Me Too Congressional Ethics Act''.

SEC. 2. AUTOMATIC REFERRAL TO CONGRESSIONAL ETHICS COMMITTEES OF 
              DISPOSITION OF ALLEGATIONS OF VIOLATIONS OF CONGRESSIONAL 
              ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 1995 INVOLVING CONGRESSIONAL 
              OFFICES.

    (a) Automatic Referral.--Section 416(e) of the Congressional 
Accountability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1416(d)) is amended to read as 
follows:
    ``(e) Automatic Referrals to Congressional Ethics Committees of 
Dispositions of Allegations Involving Employing Offices of House or 
Senate.--
            ``(1) Referral.--Upon the final disposition under this 
        title of an allegation that an employing office of the House of 
        Representatives or an employing office of the Senate has 
        committed a violation of part A of title II, the Executive 
        Director shall refer the allegation to--
                    ``(A) the Committee on Ethics of the House of 
                Representatives, in the case of an employing office of 
                the House; or
                    ``(B) the Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate, 
                in the case of an employing office of the Senate.
            ``(2) Access to records and information.--If the Executive 
        Director refers an allegation to a Committee under paragraph 
        (1), the Executive Director shall provide the Committee with 
        access to the records of any hearings or decisions of the 
        hearing officers and the Board under this title, and any 
        information relating to an award or settlement paid, in 
        response to such allegation.
            ``(3) Permitting covered employee to waive referral.--At 
        the request of the covered employee filing an allegation 
        described in paragraph (1), the Executive Director shall waive 
        paragraph (1) or paragraph (2) with respect to the allegation 
        or the records and information in response to the allegation.
            ``(4) Final disposition described.--In this subsection, the 
        `final disposition' of an allegation means any of the 
        following:
                    ``(A) The payment of an award or settlement.
                    ``(B) A final decision of a hearing officer under 
                section 405(g).
                    ``(C) A final decision of the Board under section 
                406(e).
                    ``(D) A final decision in a civil action under 
                section 408.''.
    (b) Actions by Congressional Ethics Committees.--
            (1) Mandatory initiation of investigation.--If the 
        Executive Director of the Board of Compliance refers an 
        allegation to the Committee on Ethics of the House of 
        Representatives or the Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate 
        under section 415(d) of the Congressional Accountability Act of 
        1995 (as amended by subsection (a)), such Committee shall 
        promptly initiate an investigation into the allegation and take 
        such actions in response to the investigation as may be 
        appropriate.
            (2) Protection of identity of individuals making 
        allegations.--If a Committee to which an allegation is referred 
        under paragraph (1) issues a report with respect to the 
        allegation, the Committee shall ensure that the report does not 
        disclose the identity of the individual who made the 
        allegation.
    (c) Effective Date.--This section and the amendments made by this 
section shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
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