[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 251 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 251

    To amend the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 to prevent any action to 
dissolve, diminish the scope of the mission of, or limit the activities 
of, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct during certain 
                            investigations.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 4, 1995

Mr. Gutierrez introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                           Committee on Rules

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 to prevent any action to 
dissolve, diminish the scope of the mission of, or limit the activities 
of, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct during certain 
                            investigations.

    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 Ethics Protection Act of 
1995''.

SEC. 2. COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CONDUCT OF THE HOUSE OF 
              REPRESENTATIVES.

    Section 29d(b) of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 (2 U.S.C. 29d(b)) 
is amended by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following:
    ``(b) Structure and Composition of Committee.--
            ``(1) Committee composition.--The respective party caucus 
        or conference of the House of Representatives shall each 
        nominate to the House of Representatives at the beginning of 
        each Congress seven members to serve on the Committee on 
        Standards of Official Conduct.
            ``(2) Structural changes to committee on standards of 
        official conduct prohibited during certain investigations.--If 
        any member who was the subject of an investigation during the 
        previous Congress also serves in the current Congress, the 
        following actions are prohibited:
                    ``(A) action to disband the Committee on Standards 
                of Official Conduct;
                    ``(B) action to shift jurisdiction of the Committee 
                on Standards of Official Conduct to any other 
                committee;
                    ``(C) action to combine the Committee on Standards 
                of Official Conduct with any other committee or 
                subcommittee;
                    ``(D) action making the Committee on Standards of 
                Official Conduct a subcommittee;
                    ``(E) action to change the number of members 
                nominated by either party caucus to the committee.
            ``(3) Recusal of certain members.--A member of the House of 
        Representatives shall not participate in the procedure 
        nominating members to the Committee on Standards of Official 
        Conduct if the member was a subject of an investigation by the 
        Committee on Standards of Official Conduct during the current 
        or previous session of Congress.
            ``(4) Limits on power of the speaker of the house of 
        representatives to appoint members of the committee on 
        standards of official conduct.--The Speaker of the House may 
        not take any action or exercise any power regarding the 
        appointment of members to the Committee on Standards of 
        Official Conduct if the member who is Speaker is or has been 
        the subject of an investigation by the Committee during the 
        current or previous session of Congress.''.

SEC. 3. INVESTIGATIONS BY PREVIOUS CONGRESS.

    Section 29d of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 (2 U.S.C. 29d) is 
further amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(k) Report and Recommendations on Postponed Investigations.--
            ``(1) Report.--Within 30 days after the later of the date 
        on which a new session of Congress assembles or the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, the Committee on Standards of Official 
        Conduct shall report to the House on each investigation 
        conducted and matter heard by the Committee on Standards of 
        Official Conduct during the previous Congress for which final 
        action was postponed or otherwise left unresolved.
            ``(2) Content of report.--Each report shall include 
        recommendations for further hearings, investigation, and 
        potential reproval or other administrative action.
            ``(3) Order of reports.--If more than one member of the 
        current Congress was investigated by the previous Congress, the 
        Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall submit reports 
        in the order in which the members of the current Congress took 
        the oath of office pursuant to section 30 of the Revised 
        Statutes of the United States (2 U.S.C. 25).
    ``(l) Investigation Defined.--For purposes of this Act, a member of 
Congress is deemed a subject of an investigation during the previous 
Congress if during the previous session of Congress the Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct solicited material or information in 
response to a complaint filed against the member, or if the Committee 
on Standards of Official Conduct held one or more sessions to examine 
or discuss any findings regarding a complaint filed against a 
member.''.
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