[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2844 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2844

 To require States to hold special elections to fill vacancies in the 
 House of Representatives not later than 21 days after the vacancy is 
      announced by the Speaker of the House of Representatives in 
          extraordinary circumstances, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 24, 2003

 Mr. Sensenbrenner (for himself, Mr. Dreier, Mrs. Miller of Michigan, 
  Mr. Cole, Mr. Chabot, and Mr. Paul) introduced the following bill; 
      which was referred to the Committee on House Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require States to hold special elections to fill vacancies in the 
 House of Representatives not later than 21 days after the vacancy is 
      announced by the Speaker of the House of Representatives in 
          extraordinary circumstances, 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 ``Continuity in Representation Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING SPECIAL ELECTIONS TO BE HELD TO FILL VACANCIES IN 
              HOUSE IN EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES.

    Section 26 of the Revised Statutes (2 U.S.C. 8) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``The time'' and inserting ``(a) In 
        General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), the time''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(b) Special Rules in Extraordinary Circumstances.--
            ``(1) In general.--In extraordinary circumstances, the 
        executive authority of any State in which a vacancy exists in 
        its representation in the House of Representatives shall issue 
        a writ of election to fill such vacancy by special election.
            ``(2) Timing of special election.--A special election held 
        under this subsection to fill a vacancy shall take place not 
        later than 21 days after the Speaker of the House of 
        Representatives announces that the vacancy exists, unless a 
        regularly scheduled general election for the office involved is 
        to be held at any time during the 51-day period which begins on 
        the date of the announcement of the vacancy.
            ``(3) Nominations by parties.--If a special election is to 
        be held under this subsection, not later than 14 days after the 
        Speaker announces that the vacancy exists, the political 
        parties of the State that are authorized to nominate candidates 
        by State law may each nominate one candidate to run in the 
        election.
            ``(4) Extraordinary circumstances.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In this subsection, 
                `extraordinary circumstances' occur when the Speaker of 
                the House of Representatives announces that vacancies 
                in the representation from the States in the House 
                exceed 100.
                    ``(B) No appeals in house.--An announcement made 
                under subparagraph (A) shall not be subject to appeal 
                in the House. In the case of a death, the Speaker may 
                lay before the House such documentation from Federal, 
                State, or local officials as he deems pertinent.
                    ``(C) Judicial review.--If any action is brought 
                for declaratory or injunctive relief to challenge an 
                announcement made under subparagraph (A), the following 
                rules shall apply:
                            ``(i) Not later than 2 days after the 
                        announcement, the action shall be filed in the 
                        United States District Court having 
                        jurisdiction in the district of the Member of 
                        the House of Representatives whose seat has 
                        been announced to be vacant and shall be heard 
                        by a 3-judge court convened pursuant to section 
                        2284 of title 28, United States Code.
                            ``(ii) A copy of the complaint shall be 
                        delivered promptly to the Clerk of the House of 
                        Representatives.
                            ``(iii) A final decision in the action 
                        shall be made within 3 days of the filing of 
                        such action and shall not be reviewable.
                            ``(iv) The executive authority of the State 
                        that contains the district of the Member of the 
                        House of Representatives whose seat has been 
                        announced to be vacant shall have the right to 
                        intervene either in support of or opposition to 
                        the position of a party to the case regarding 
                        the announcement of such vacancy.''.
                                 <all>