[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1831 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1831

    To preserve the constitutional authority of Congress and ensure 
            accountability and transparency in legislation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 6, 2013

Mr. Bentivolio introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
                        the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To preserve the constitutional authority of Congress and ensure 
            accountability and transparency in legislation.

    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 ``Read the Bills Act''.

SEC. 2. TEXT OF BILL OR RESOLUTION TO SPECIFY ITS CONSTITUTIONAL 
              AUTHORITY AND SHOW EFFECTS ON CURRENT LAW.

    Chapter 2 of title 1, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
after section 105 the following:
``Sec. 105a. Text of bill or resolution to specify its constitutional 
              authority
    ``(a) Requirement.--
            ``(1) In general.--Any bill or resolution introduced in 
        either House of Congress shall contain a provision citing the 
        specific powers granted to Congress in the Constitution of the 
        United States to enact the proposed bill or resolution, 
        including all the provisions thereof.
            ``(2) Failure to comply.--Any bill or resolution not in 
        compliance with subsection (a)(1) shall not be accepted by the 
        Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the 
        Senate.
    ``(b) Floor Consideration.--
            ``(1) In general.--The requirements of subsection (a)(1) 
        shall apply to any bill or resolution presented for 
        consideration on the floor of either House of Congress, 
        including those bills or resolutions reported from a committee 
        of either House of Congress, those consisting of a conference 
        report to accompany or bill or resolution, or those offered as 
        a manager's amendment.
            ``(2) Failure to comply.--Any bill or resolution not 
        complying with subsection (A)(1) shall not be submitted for a 
        vote on final passage.
    ``(c) No Waiver or Modification.--Neither House of Congress, nor 
Congress jointly, by concurrent resolution, or by unanimous consent, or 
by any other order, resolution, vote, or other means, may dispense 
with, or otherwise waive or modify, the requirements set forth in this 
section.
``Sec. 105b. Text of bill or resolution to set forth current law
    ``(a) Requirement.--
            ``(1) In general.--Any bill or resolution introduced in 
        either House of Congress which is designed to amend or modify 
        the effect of, or which would have the effect of amending or 
        modifying the effect of, any current provision of law, 
        including the expiration date of any law, shall set forth--
                    ``(A) the amendments being proposed by the bill; 
                and
                    ``(B) the current section of law as it would read 
                as modified by the amendments proposed, showing deleted 
                text struck through and inserted text underlined.
            ``(2) Failure to comply.--Any bill or resolution not 
        complying with this subsection shall not be accepted by the 
        Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the 
        Senate.
    ``(b) Floor Consideration.--
            ``(1) In general.--The requirements of subsection (a)(1) 
        shall apply to all bills or resolutions presented for 
        consideration on the floor of either House of Congress, 
        including those reported from a committee of either House of 
        Congress, those consisting of a conference report to accompany 
        a bill or resolution, or those offered as a manager's 
        amendment.
            ``(2) Failure to comply.--Any bill or resolution not 
        complying with this section shall not be submitted to a vote on 
        final passage.
    ``(c) No Waiver or Modification.--Neither House of Congress, nor 
Congress jointly, by concurrent resolution, or by unanimous consent, or 
by any other order, resolution, vote, or other means, may dispense 
with, or otherwise waive or modify, the requirements set forth in this 
section.
``Sec. 105c. Text of amendment to set forth current bill
    ``(a) Requirement.--
            ``(1) In general.--Any amendment to a bill or resolution 
        introduced in either House of Congress shall set forth the 
        current section of the bill or resolution as it would read as 
        modified by the amendments proposed, showing deleted text 
        struck through and inserted text underlined.
            ``(2) Failure to comply.--Any bill or resolution not 
        complying with this subsection shall not be accepted by the 
        Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the 
        Senate.
    ``(b) Floor Consideration.--
            ``(1) In general.--The requirements of subsection (a)(1) 
        shall apply to all bills or resolutions presented for 
        consideration on the floor of either House of Congress, 
        including those reported from a committee of either House of 
        Congress, those consisting of a conference report to accompany 
        a bill or joint resolution, or those offered as a manager's 
        amendment.
            ``(2) Failure to comply.--Any bill or resolution not 
        complying with this section shall not be submitted to a vote on 
        final passage.
    ``(c) No Waiver or Modification.--Neither House of Congress, nor 
Congress jointly, by concurrent resolution, or by unanimous consent, or 
by any other order, resolution, vote, or other means, may dispense 
with, or otherwise waive or modify, the requirements set forth in this 
section.
``Sec. 105d. Procedures prior to vote on bill or resolution
    ``(a) In General.--A vote on final passage of a bill (except for 
private bills) or a resolution of a public character may not occur in 
either House of Congress, unless--
            ``(1) the full text of the bill or resolution, or original 
        language and all adopted amendments to the same effect, is 
        published at least 7 days before the vote on the official 
        public Internet site of the Office of the Clerk of the House of 
        Representatives (in the case of a bill or resolution in the 
        House of Representatives) or the Office of the Secretary of the 
        Senate (in the case of a bill or resolution in the Senate), 
        easily available to and readily usable by the public, using an 
        open format that is platform independent, machine readable, and 
        available without restrictions respecting searching, retrieval, 
        downloading, and indexing, separate and apart from the calendar 
        of the Senate or the House of Representatives; and
            ``(2) public notice of the specific calendar week during 
        which the vote is scheduled to take place is posted on the 
        official Internet website described in paragraph (1) not less 
        than 6 days before the Monday of the calendar week during which 
        the vote is scheduled to take place, with failure to take the 
        vote during the noticed week requiring a new notice.
    ``(b) Roll Call.--No vote on final passage of a bill (except for 
private bills) or resolution may occur in either House of Congress 
unless taken by roll call.
    ``(c) Journal.--With respect to each vote on final passage of a 
bill (except for a private bill) or resolution, each House of Congress 
shall cause to be recorded in the journal of its proceedings that the 
applicable publishing, notice, and reading requirements under this 
section have been met.
    ``(d) No Waiver or Modification.--Neither House of Congress, nor 
Congress jointly, by concurrent resolution, or by unanimous consent, or 
by any other order, resolution, vote, or other means, may dispense 
with, or otherwise waive or modify, the requirements set forth in this 
section.
    ``(e) Exception for Declarations of War.--This section shall not 
apply with respect to any bill or resolution which constitutes a 
declaration of war.
``Sec. 105e. Enforcement
    ``(a) In General.--An Act of Congress that does not comply with 
sections 105a, 105b, 105c, or 105d shall have no force or effect and no 
legal, equitable, regulatory, civil, or criminal action may be brought 
under such an Act of Congress.
    ``(b) Cause of Action.--Without regard to the amount in 
controversy, a cause of action under sections 2201 and 2202 of title 
28, United States Code, against the United States seeking appropriate 
relief (including an injunction against enforcement of any law the 
passage of which did not conform to the requirements of sections 105a, 
105b, 105c, or 105d) may be brought by--
            ``(1) any person aggrieved by any action of any officer or 
        employee of the Federal Government under any Act of Congress 
        that does not comply with sections 105a, 105b, 105c, or 105d; 
        and
            ``(2) any Member of Congress aggrieved by the failure of 
        the House of Congress of which the Member is a Member to comply 
        with sections 105a, 105b, 105c, or 105d.''.

SEC. 3. SEVERABILITY.

    If any provision of this Act or an amendment made by this Act, or 
the application of a provision or amendment to any person or 
circumstance, is held to be invalid for any reason in any court of 
competent jurisdiction, the remainder of this Act and amendments made 
by this Act, and the application of the provisions and amendment to any 
other person or circumstance, shall not be affected.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall apply with 
respect to bills and resolutions introduced or considered during the 
One Hundred Fourteenth Congress or any succeeding Congress.
                                 <all>