[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 287 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 287

  Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to permit absent 
 Members to participate in committee hearings using video conferencing 
and related technologies and to establish a remote voting system under 
which absent Members may cast votes in the House on motions to suspend 
                               the rules.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 28, 2013

 Mr. Swalwell of California (for himself, Mr. Pearce, and Mrs. Lummis) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                                on Rules

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to permit absent 
 Members to participate in committee hearings using video conferencing 
and related technologies and to establish a remote voting system under 
which absent Members may cast votes in the House on motions to suspend 
                               the rules.

    Resolved,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This resolution may be cited as the ``Members Operating to Be 
Innovative and Link Everyone Resolution'' or the ``MOBILE Resolution''.

SEC. 2. PARTICIPATION OF ABSENT MEMBERS IN COMMITTEE HEARINGS THROUGH 
              VIDEO CONFERENCING AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES.

    (a) Enabling Participation of Absent Members.--Rule XI of the Rules 
of the House of Representatives is amended by adding at the end the 
following new clause:
``Participation of absent members
    ``7. Each committee shall permit any member of the committee who is 
absent from the site of a hearing convened by the committee, as well as 
any other individual who is invited to participate in the hearing and 
who is absent from the site of the hearing, to use video conferencing 
and related technologies in order to participate in the hearing to the 
same extent as members of the committee and other individuals (as the 
case may be) who are present at the site of the meeting.''.
    (b) Inclusion of Members Participating Remotely in Determination of 
Quorum.--Subparagraphs (2) and (3) of clause 2(h) of rule XI of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives are each amended by adding at the 
end the following sentence: ``A committee shall adopt a rule under 
which a member who participates in a hearing remotely pursuant to 
clause 7 shall be included in determining the number of members 
constituting a quorum at the hearing for purposes of this 
subparagraph.''.

SEC. 3. PERMITTING ABSENT MEMBERS TO VOTE REMOTELY ON SUSPENSION 
              MOTIONS.

    Clause 1 of rule XV of the Rules of the House of Representatives is 
amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(d) The Clerk, Chief Administrative Officer, and Sergeant at Arms 
shall work together to develop and implement a secure remote voting 
system under which any member who is absent from the floor shall be 
permitted to cast a vote remotely on a motion to suspend the rules 
under this clause if the vote is taken by electronic device. A member 
who casts such a vote using the remote voting system under this 
subparagraph shall be treated as present for purposes of determining 
the existence of a quorum for considering the motion.''.
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