[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1018 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1018

  Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to establish the 
                        House Ethics Commission.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 4, 2008

  Mr. Hill (for himself, Mr. Wamp, Mr. Boyd of Florida, Mr. Moore of 
   Kansas, Mr. Matheson, Mr. Donnelly, Mr. Melancon, Mr. Mahoney of 
Florida, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Kingston, Mr. Rogers of Kentucky, Mr. Smith 
of New Jersey, and Mr. Goode) submitted the following resolution; which 
                 was referred to the Committee on Rules

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to establish the 
                        House Ethics Commission.

    Resolved,

              establishment of the house ethics commission

    Section 1.  The Rules of the House of Representatives are amended 
by redesignating rules XXVII and XXVIII as rules XXVIII and XXIX, 
respectively, and by inserting after rule XXVI the following new rule:

                              ``RULE XXVII

                       ``House Ethics Commission

    ``1. There is established in the House an independent commission to 
be known as the House Ethics Commission (hereinafter in this rule 
referred to as the `Commission').
    ``2. (a) The Commission shall consist of 12 individuals. Three 
current Democratic Members and three former Democratic Members shall be 
appointed by the Republican leader and three current Republican Members 
and three former Republican Members by the Democratic leader. Except as 
provided by paragraph (b), the terms of all members of the Commission 
shall be two years and no member may serve for more than six years.
    ``(b) Of the members first appointed--
            ``(1) two appointed by each leader shall be for a term of 
        two years;
            ``(2) two appointed by each leader shall be for a term of 
        four years; and
            ``(3) two appointed by each leader shall be for a term of 
        six years;
as designated by each such leader at the time of appointment.
    ``(c) The chairman and the vice chairman of the Commission shall be 
selected by the members of the Commission at its first meeting. No 
member may serve for more than one two-year term as chairman and no 
member may serve for more than one two-year term as vice chairman.
    ``(d)(1) Only former and current Members of the House shall be 
eligible for appointment to the Commission.
    ``(2)(A) No individual who has been a lobbyist registered under the 
Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 or engages in, or is otherwise employed 
in, lobbying of the Congress or who is an agent of a foreign principal 
registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act within the four-
year period immediately preceding appointment shall be eligible for 
appointment to, or service on, the Commission.
    ``(B) Except as provided by subparagraph (a), no member of the 
Commission may be an elected public official or an officer or employee 
of the Government.
    ``(3) A vacancy on the Commission shall be filled in the manner in 
which the original appointment was made.
    ``(e) Members shall each be entitled to receive the daily 
equivalent of the maximum annual rate of basic pay in effect for Level 
III of the Executive Schedule for each day (including travel time) 
during which they are engaged in the actual performance of duties 
vested in the Commission.
    ``(f) A majority of the members of the Commission shall constitute 
a quorum.
    ``(g) The Commission shall meet at the call of the chairman or a 
majority of its members.
    ``3. The Commission is authorized--
            ``(1) to investigate any alleged violation, by a Member, 
        officer, or employee of the House, of any law, rule, 
        regulation, or other standard of conduct applicable to the 
        conduct of such Member, officer, or employee in the performance 
        of his duties or the discharge of his responsibilities, and 
        after notice and hearing (unless the right to a hearing is 
        waived by the Member, officer, or employee), shall report to 
        the House its findings of fact and recommendations, if any, 
        upon the final disposition of any such investigation, and such 
        action as the Commission may deem appropriate in the 
        circumstances;
            ``(2) to issue any letter of reproval or admonishment with 
        respect to such an alleged violation;
            ``(3) to report to the appropriate Federal or State 
        authorities any substantial evidence of a violation, by a 
        Member, officer, or employee of the House, of any law 
        applicable to the performance of his duties or the discharge of 
        his responsibilities, which may have been disclosed in a 
        Commission investigation; and
            ``(4) to adopt rules governing its procedures to provide 
        protections to respondents comparable to those that were 
        provided by clause 3 of rule XI in effect immediately before 
        the amendments to such rule before the date of adoption of this 
        rule.
    ``4. (a) The Commission or, on the authority of the Commission, the 
chairman or vice chairman, may, for the purpose of carrying out its 
duties--
            ``(1) hold such hearings and sit and act at such times and 
        places, take such testimony, receive such evidence, administer 
        such oaths; and
            ``(2) subject to paragraph (b), require, by subpoena or 
        otherwise, the attendance and testimony of such witnesses and 
        the production of such books, records, correspondence, 
        memoranda, papers, and documents, as the Commission or the 
        chairman or vice chairman may determine advisable.
    ``(b) A subpoena may be issued only under the signature of the 
chairman or the vice chairman, and may be served by any person 
designated by the chairman or the vice chairman.
    ``(c) Upon request of the Commission, the head of any agency or 
instrumentality of the Government shall furnish information deemed 
necessary by the panel to enable it to carry out its duties.
    ``5. (a) No report or recommendation relating to the official 
conduct of a Member, officer, or employee of the House shall be made by 
the Commission, and no investigation of such conduct shall be 
undertaken by the Commission, unless approved by the affirmative vote 
of a majority of the members of the Commission.
    ``(b) Except in the case of an investigation undertaken by the 
Commission on its own initiative, the Commission may undertake an 
investigation relating to the official conduct of an individual Member, 
officer, or employee of the House only--
            ``(1) upon receipt of a complaint, in writing and under 
        oath, made by or submitted to a Member and transmitted to the 
        Commission by such Member,
            ``(2) upon receipt of a complaint from the chairman of the 
        Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, in writing and 
        under oath, made by that committee, or
            ``(3) upon receipt of a complaint from four of its members 
        of whom two are Democratic and two are Republican.
    ``(c) No investigation shall be undertaken by the Commission of any 
alleged violation of a law, rule, regulation, or standard of conduct 
not in effect at the time of the alleged violation.
    ``(d) No information or testimony received, or the contents of a 
complaint or the fact of its filing, shall be publicly disclosed by any 
member of the Commission or staff of the Commission unless specifically 
authorized in each instance by a vote of the Commission.
    ``6. The Commission may appoint and fix the compensation of such 
staff as the Commission considers necessary to perform its duties. The 
director shall be appointed jointly by the Speaker and minority leader 
and shall be paid at a rate not to exceed the rate of basic pay payable 
for Level III of the Executive Schedule.
    ``7. (a) Upon receipt by the Committee on Standards of Official 
Conduct of any report of the Commission, the Speaker shall have the 
report printed in the Congressional Record.
    ``(b) Within 14 calendar days after a report referred to in 
paragraph (a) is printed in the Congressional Record, that portion of 
the report recommending action by the House respecting any alleged 
violation, by a Member, officer, or employee of the House, of any law, 
rule, regulation, or other standard of conduct applicable to the 
conduct of such Member, officer, or employee in the performance of his 
duties or the discharge of his responsibilities shall be introduced (by 
request) in the House by the Speaker, for himself and the minority 
leader in the form of a resolution. This resolution shall constitute a 
question of privilege under rule IX. Any Member favoring the resolution 
may call it up as a question of privilege but only on the third day 
after the calendar date upon which such Member announces to the House 
his intention to do so.
    ``8. As used in this rule, the term `Member' means any 
Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the 
Congress.''.

   amendments to the rules of the house to change the duties of the 
               committee on standards of official conduct

    Sec. 2.  Clause 3 of rule XI of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended as follows:
            (1) In paragraph (a), strike subparagraphs (1), (2), and 
        (3), and redesignate subparagraphs (4), (5), and (6), as 
        subparagraphs (1), (2), and (3), respectively.
            (2)(A) Paragraph (b)(1) is amended by striking ``(A)'', by 
        striking ``a resolution, report, recommendation, or'' and 
        inserting ``an'', and by striking ``, or, except as provided in 
        subparagraph (2), undertake an investigation'', and by striking 
        subdivision (B).
            (B) Paragraph (b) is further amended by striking 
        subparagraphs (2), (3), (4), and (5) and by redesignating 
        subparagraphs (6) and (7) as subparagraphs (2) and (3), 
        respectively.
            (3) Strike paragraphs (j), (k), (l), (m), (n), (o), (p), 
        and (q).

                             effective date

    Sec. 3.  This resolution and the amendments made by it shall take 
effect immediately before noon January 3, 2009.
                                 <all>