[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 83 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. J. RES. 83

    Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States 
regarding the appointment of individuals to fill vacancies in the House 
                          of Representatives.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 8, 2003

Mr. Baird introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred 
                   to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION


 
    Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States 
regarding the appointment of individuals to fill vacancies in the House 
                          of Representatives.

    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled 
(two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following 
article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United 
States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the 
Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the 
several States within seven years after the date of its submission for 
ratification:

                              ``Article --

    ``Section 1. Prior to taking the oath of office, an individual who 
is elected to serve as a Member of the House of Representatives for a 
Congress shall present to the chief executive of the State from which 
the individual is elected a list of nominees to take the individual's 
place in the event the individual dies or becomes incapacitated prior 
to the expiration of the individual's term of office. The individual 
shall ensure that the list contains the names of not fewer than two 
nominees, each of whom shall meet the qualifications for service as a 
Member of the House of Representatives from the State involved. After 
the individual takes the oath of office, the individual may present 
revised versions of the list at any time during the Congress.
    ``Section 2. If at any time a majority of the whole membership of 
the House of Representatives are unable to carry out their duties 
because of death or incapacity, or if at any time the House adopts a 
resolution declaring that extraordinary circumstances exist which 
threaten the ability of the House to represent the interests of the 
people of the United States, the chief executive of any State 
represented by any Member who is dead or incapacitated at that time 
shall appoint, from the most recent list of nominees presented by the 
Member under section 1, an individual to take the place of the Member. 
The chief executive shall make such an appointment as soon as 
practicable (but in no event later than seven days) after the date on 
which Member's death or incapacity has been certified. An individual 
appointed to take the place of a Member of the House of Representatives 
under this section shall serve until the Member regains capacity or 
until another Member is elected to fill the vacancy resulting from the 
death or incapacity. The State shall provide for an election to fill 
the vacancy at such time and in accordance with such procedures as may 
be provided under State law, and an individual appointed under this 
section may be a candidate in such an election. This section shall not 
apply with respect to any Member of the House who dies or becomes 
incapacitated prior to the seven-day period which ends on the date on 
which the event requiring appointments to be made under this section 
occurs.
    ``Section 3. During the period of an individual's appointment under 
section 2, the individual shall be treated as a Member of the House of 
Representatives for purposes of all laws, rules, and regulations, but 
not for purposes of section 1. If an individual appointed under section 
2 is unable to carry out the duties of a Member during such period 
because of death or incapacity, the chief executive of the State 
involved shall appoint another individual from the same list of 
nominees presented under section 1 from which the individual was 
appointed under section 2. Any individual so appointed shall be 
considered to have been appointed under section 2.
    ``Section 4. Congress may by law establish the criteria for 
determining whether a Member of the House of Representatives or Senate 
is dead or incapacitated, and shall have the power to enforce this 
article through appropriate legislation.''.
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