[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8581 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8581

 To require States to hold special elections to fill vacancies in the 
House of Representatives not later than 180 days after a vacancy occurs 
        in the House of Representatives, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 29, 2026

   Mr. Menefee (for himself, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Clarke of New York, Ms. 
    Norton, Mrs. Beatty, and Mr. Johnson of Georgia) introduced the 
     following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House 
                             Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require States to hold special elections to fill vacancies in the 
House of Representatives not later than 180 days after a vacancy occurs 
        in the House of Representatives, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Special Election Timeliness Act'' or 
the ``SET Act''.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING SPECIAL ELECTIONS TO BE HELD TO FILL VACANCIES IN 
              HOUSE.

    (a) In General.--Section 26(a) of the Revised Statutes of the 
United States (2 U.S.C. 8(a)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(a) In General.--
            ``(1) Special election to fill vacancy.--Except as provided 
        in subsection (b) and subject to the requirements under 
        paragraph (2), the time for holding elections in any State, 
        District, or Territory for a Representative or Delegate to fill 
        a vacancy, whether such vacancy is caused by a failure to elect 
        at the time prescribed by law, or by the death, resignation, or 
        incapacity of a person elected, may be prescribed by the laws 
        of the several States and Territories respectively.
            ``(2) Deadline for special election.--A special election to 
        fill a vacancy under paragraph (1) shall occur not later than 
        180 days after the date the vacancy occurs, unless a regularly 
        scheduled general election for the office involved is to be 
        held at any time during the 180-day period which begins on the 
        date the vacancy occurs.
            ``(3) Civil enforcement.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Attorney General may bring a 
                civil action against the chief executive of the State 
                concerned in an appropriate district court for such 
                declaratory or injunctive relief as is necessary to 
                carry out this subsection.
                    ``(B) Private right of action.--A person who is 
                aggrieved by a violation of this subsection, including 
                the Speaker of the House of Representatives or the 
                Minority Leader of the House, may bring a civil action 
                against the chief executive of the State concerned in 
                an appropriate district court for such declaratory or 
                injunctive relief as may be necessary to carry out this 
                subsection.
            ``(4) Special election defined.--For purposes of this 
        subsection, the term `special election' means an election for 
        purposes of electing a candidate to fill a vacancy described in 
        paragraph (1) and does not include an election for purposes of 
        nominating candidates to fill such a vacancy.''.
                                 <all>