[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 330 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 330

  Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to require that 
legislation and conference reports be available on the Internet for 72 
    hours before consideration by the House, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 23, 2011

 Mr. Peters submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                         the Committee on Rules

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to require that 
legislation and conference reports be available on the Internet for 72 
    hours before consideration by the House, and for other purposes.

    Resolved,

SECTION 1. AMENDMENTS TO RULE XIII REGARDING AVAILABILITY OF 
              LEGISLATION AND REPORTS.

    (a) Clause 4 of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended--
            (1) in its side heading, by inserting ``legislation and'' 
        before ``reports'';
            (2) in paragraph (a) by striking subparagraph (1) and 
        inserting the following new subparagraph:
            ``(1) Except as specified in subparagraph (2), it shall not 
        be in order to consider in the House a measure or matter until 
        72 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays except when 
        the House is in session on such a day) after the text of such 
        measure or matter (and, if the measure or matter is reported, 
        the text of all accompanying reports) have been made available 
        to Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and the 
        general public pursuant to subparagraph (3).'';
            (3) by adding at the end of paragraph (a) the following new 
        subparagraph:
            ``(3) Without further amendment before floor consideration, 
        the full text of the measure or matter and each committee 
        report thereon shall be posted continuously by means of the 
        Internet in such a manner that they are conveniently accessible 
        using existing technology, anonymously and at no cost, in a 
        format that is searchable by text.''; and
            (4) in paragraph (c), by striking ``the third calendar 
        day'' and inserting ``at least 72 hours'' and by striking 
        ``on'' and inserting ``after''.
    (b) Rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives is 
further amended--
            (1) in clause 5(b), by striking ``and the Resident 
        Commissioner'' and inserting ``the Resident Commissioner, and 
        the general public''; and
            (2) in clause 6(c), by striking ``or'' at the end of 
        subparagraph (1), by striking the period at the end of 
        subparagraph (2) and inserting ``; or'', and by inserting 
        before the period ``a rule or order proposing a waiver of 
        clause 4(a) of rule XIII or of clause 8(a) or 8(b) of rule 
        XXII, unless a question of consideration of the rule is adopted 
        by a vote of two-thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being 
        present''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO RULE XXII REGARDING AVAILABILITY OF CONFERENCE 
              REPORTS AND AMENDMENTS REPORTED IN DISAGREEMENT.

    Clause 8 of rule XXII of the Rules of the House of Representatives 
is amended--
            (1) by striking subparagraph (a) and inserting the 
        following new paragraph:
    ``(a)(1) It shall not be in order to consider a conference report 
until 72 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays except when 
the House is in session on such a day) after the conference report and 
the accompanying joint explanatory statement have been available to 
Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and the general public 
pursuant to subparagraph (2).
            ``(2) Without further amendment before floor consideration, 
        the full texts of the conference report and the accompanying 
        signed joint explanatory statement shall be posted continuously 
        by means of the Internet in such a manner that they are 
        conveniently accessible using existing technology, anonymously 
        and at no cost, in a format that can be searched by text.'';
            (2) in paragraph (b), by striking subparagraphs (1) and (2) 
        and inserting the following new subparagraphs:
            ``(1) It shall not be in order to consider a motion to 
        dispose of a Senate amendment reported in disagreement by a 
        conference committee until at least 72 hours (excluding 
        Saturdays, Sundays and holidays except when the House is in 
        session on such a day) after the report in disagreement and any 
        accompanying statement have been available to Members, 
        Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and the general public 
        pursuant to subparagraph (2).
            ``(2) Without further amendment before floor consideration, 
        the full texts of a Senate amendment reported in disagreement 
        and any accompanying statement shall be posted continuously by 
        means of the Internet in such a manner that they are 
        conveniently accessible using existing technology, anonymously 
        and at no cost, in a format that can be searched by text.''.

SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.

    Nothing in this resolution or any amendment made by it shall be 
interpreted to require or permit the declassification or posting on the 
Internet of classified information in the custody of the House of 
Representatives. Such classified information shall be made available to 
Members in a timely manner as appropriate under existing laws and 
rules.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF THE HOUSE REGARDING AMENDMENTS.

    It is the sense of the House that, with the objective of preventing 
circumvention of clause 4(a) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives that the Committee on Rules should develop standardized 
policies and procedures to require that proposed amendments (except 
those offered under an open rule) that are major in size, scope, or 
cost be posted on the Internet for an appropriate number of hours.
                                 <all>