[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 40 Introduced in House (IH)]

  1st Session
H. RES. 40

   Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to establish a 
 minority bill of rights to require the House to be administered in a 
   bipartisan manner and to require regular order in the legislative 
                                process.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 9, 2007

Mr. McHenry (for himself, Mr. Gerlach, Mr. Carter, Mr. Wilson of South 
 Carolina, Mr. Feeney, Mr. Boustany, Mr. Cantor, Mr. Price of Georgia, 
   Mr. Kline of Minnesota, Mr. Campbell of California, Mr. Burton of 
  Indiana, Mr. Hensarling, Mr. Issa, Ms. Granger, Mr. Garrett of New 
    Jersey, Mr. Coble, Mr. Gingrey, Mr. Franks of Arizona, and Mrs. 
Schmidt) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                           Committee on Rules

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to establish a 
 minority bill of rights to require the House to be administered in a 
   bipartisan manner and to require regular order in the legislative 
                                process.

    Resolved,

SECTION 1. BIPARTISAN ADMINISTRATION OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

    (a) In General.--The Rules of the House of Representatives are 
amended by adding at the end the following:

                              ``rule xxix

                  ``bipartisan administration of house

    ``1. (a) The elected leadership of the majority and minority 
parties shall engage in regular consultations with each other to 
discuss scheduling, administration, and operations of the House.
    ``(b) The chair and ranking minority member of each committee, as 
well as their staffs, shall have regular meetings with each other.
    ``2. The House should have a predictable, professional, family-
friendly schedule that allows the legislative process to proceed in a 
manner that ensures timely and deliberate dispensation of the work of 
the Congress.''.
    (b) Allocation of Committee Expenses.--Clause 6 of rule X of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by adding at the end 
the following new paragraph:
    ``(f) Of the amount provided to a committee under a primary expense 
resolution or a supplemental expense resolution under this clause, or 
during an interim funding period described in clause 7, one-third of 
such amount, or such greater percentage as may be agreed to by the 
chair and ranking minority member of the committee, shall be paid at 
the direction of the ranking minority member.''.

SEC. 2. REGULAR ORDER FOR LEGISLATION.

    The Rules of the House of Representatives, as amended by section 1, 
are further amended by adding at the end the following:

                               ``rule xxx

                    ``regular order for legislation

    ``1. Legislation shall be developed following full hearings and 
open subcommittee and committee markups, with appropriate referrals to 
other committees. Members should have at least 24 hours to examine any 
legislation before its consideration at the subcommittee level.
    ``2. Legislation shall generally come to the floor under a 
procedure that allows open, full, and fair debate consisting of a full 
amendment process that grants the minority the right to offer its 
alternatives, including a substitute.
    ``3. Members shall have at least 24 hours to examine bill and 
conference report text prior to floor consideration. Rules governing 
floor debate must be reported before 10 p.m. for any legislation to be 
considered the following day.
    ``4. Floor votes shall be completed within 15 minutes, with the 
customary 2-minute extension to accommodate Members' ability to get to 
the House Chamber to cast their votes. No vote shall be held open in 
order to manipulate the outcome.
    ``5. Conference committees shall hold regular meetings (at least 
weekly) of all conference committee Members. All managers appointed to 
a conference committee shall be informed of the schedule of conference 
committee activities in a timely manner, and given ample opportunity 
for input and debate as decisions are made toward final language for 
the conference report.
    ``6. The Suspension Calendar shall be restricted to non-
controversial legislation, and the ratio of legislation on the Calendar 
which is sponsored by members of the minority party shall be the same 
as the ratio of the number of members of the party to the membership of 
the whole House.''.
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