Title: House Intern Pay Act of 2019
Policy area: Congress

Summary:
House Intern Pay Act of 2019
This bill addresses the compensation of interns for Members of the House of Representatives.
The bill modifies a capped allowance for compensating interns who serve in the offices of Members of the House during a calendar year. The Committee on House Administration must establish an equivalent allowance for each Member's office for that purpose. An unused portion of the allowance may be reallocated to another Member's office, depending on specified circumstances.
Furthermore, the bill requires that the hourly rate for interns be at least $15 per hour for the first year and provides for inflationary adjustments in subsequent years.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2370 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2370

     To provide an allowance to offices of Members of the House of 
   Representatives which shall be available for the compensation of 
                    interns, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 25, 2019

    Mr. Smith of Washington (for himself, Ms. Norton, Mr. Scott of 
    Virginia, Mr. Beyer, Ms. McCollum, Ms. DeGette, Ms. Speier, Mr. 
  McGovern, Mr. Ted Lieu of California, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Meeks, Ms. 
Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Case, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, 
  Mr. Raskin, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Schakowsky, 
   Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. Brown of Maryland, Mr. Cisneros, Ms. Sewell of 
 Alabama, Mr. Trone, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Ms. Mucarsel-Powell, Mr. Pocan, 
   Mr. Nadler, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Gomez, Ms. Houlahan, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. 
Scanlon, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Ms. Pressley, Ms. Shalala, 
 Mr. Moulton, Mr. Khanna, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, and Ms. 
   Kaptur) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                   Committee on House Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To provide an allowance to offices of Members of the House of 
   Representatives which shall be available for the compensation of 
                    interns, and for other purposes.

    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 ``House Intern Pay Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. ALLOWANCE FOR COMPENSATION OF INTERNS IN HOUSE MEMBER OFFICES.

    (a) Establishment of Allowance.--There is established for the House 
of Representatives an allowance which shall be available for the 
compensation of interns who serve in the offices of Members of the 
House of Representatives during a calendar year.
    (b) Amount Per Office; Allocation of Unused Allowances Among Other 
Offices.--
            (1) Amount.--The amount of the allowance under this section 
        with respect to the office of a Member of the House of 
        Representatives for a calendar year shall be established by the 
        Committee on House Administration of the House of 
        Representatives, and (subject to the allocation described in 
        paragraph (2)) shall be an equivalent amount for all such 
        offices.
            (2) Allocation of unused allowances.--
                    (A) In general.--If, by not later than the 
                applicable deadline described in subparagraph (B), an 
                office of a Member of the House of Representatives does 
                not certify to the Committee on House Administration 
                that the office will use the entire amount of the 
                allowance established for the office under this section 
                with respect to a calendar year, the Committee may 
                allocate the unused portion of such office's allowance 
                among the allowances established for other offices of 
                the House for such calendar year.
                    (B) Applicable deadline.--The applicable deadline 
                described in this subparagraph with respect to a 
                calendar year is such date established by the Committee 
                on House Administration which is not earlier than 
                January 31 of the year and not later than June 30 of 
                the year.
    (c) Minimum Compensation Rate.--
            (1) Requirement.--Each intern who is compensated under the 
        allowance under this section shall be paid for each pay period 
        at a rate which is equal to or greater than the minimum 
        compensation rate for the pay period.
            (2) Definition.--In paragraph (1), the ``minimum 
        compensation rate'' for a pay period is equal to--
                    (A) in the case of pay periods occurring during the 
                first fiscal year in which this Act is in effect, $15 
                per hour; and
                    (B) in the case of pay periods occurring during any 
                succeeding fiscal year, the rate applicable under this 
                paragraph for pay periods occurring during the previous 
                fiscal year increased by the estimated percentage 
                change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban 
                Consumers (as published by the Department of Labor) for 
                the most recent fiscal year preceding such fiscal year.
    (d) Benefit Exclusion.--Section 104(b) of the House of 
Representatives Administrative Reform Technical Corrections Act (2 
U.S.C. 5321(b)) shall apply with respect to an intern who is 
compensated under the allowance under this section in the same manner 
as such section applies with respect to an intern who is compensated 
under the Members' Representational Allowance.
    (e) No Effect on Payment of Interns Under Members' Representational 
Allowance.--Nothing in this section may be construed to affect the use 
of the Members' Representational Allowance for the compensation of 
interns, as provided under section 104 of the House of Representatives 
Administrative Reform Technical Corrections Act (2 U.S.C. 5321).
    (f) Regulations.--This section shall be carried out in accordance 
with regulations promulgated by the Committee on House Administration 
of the House of Representatives, including regulations to establish the 
timing and procedures for the allocation of amounts of unused portions 
of allowances under subsection (b)(2).
    (g) Conforming Amendment.--Section 120 of the Legislative Branch 
Appropriations Act, 2019 (2 U.S.C. 5322a) is hereby repealed.
    (h) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``intern'' has the meaning given such term in 
        section 104(c)(2) of the House of Representatives 
        Administrative Reform Technical Corrections Act (2 U.S.C. 
        5321(c)(2)); and
            (2) the term ``Member of the House of Representatives'' 
        means a Representative in, or a Delegate or Resident 
        Commissioner to, the Congress.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section--
            (1) for the first fiscal year in which this Act is in 
        effect, $13,759,200, to be allocated on a pro rata basis for 
        each day of such fiscal year which occurs after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act; and
            (2) for each succeeding fiscal year, the amount authorized 
        under this section for the previous fiscal year increased by 
        the estimated percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for 
        All Urban Consumers (as published by the Department of Labor) 
        for the most recent fiscal year preceding such fiscal year.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect on 
the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall apply to the pay 
period which is in effect on such date and each succeeding pay period.
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