[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 59 (Wednesday, April 22, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H4665-H4666]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        STATUTORY TIME-PERIODS TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2009

  Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 1626) to make technical amendments to laws containing time 
periods affecting judicial proceedings.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 1626

       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 ``Statutory Time-Periods 
     Technical Amendments Act of 2009''.

     SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS RELATED TO TITLE 11, UNITED STATES CODE.

       Title 11, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) in section 109(h)(3)(A)(ii), by striking ``5-day'' and 
     inserting ``7-day'';
       (2) in section 322(a), by striking ``five days'' and 
     inserting ``seven days'';
       (3) in section 332(a), by striking ``5 days'' and inserting 
     ``7 days'';
       (4) in section 342(e)(2), by striking ``5 days'' and 
     inserting ``7 days'';
       (5) in section 521(e)(3)(B), by striking ``5 days'' and 
     inserting ``7 days'';
       (6) in section 521(i)(2), by striking ``5 days'' and 
     inserting ``7 days'';
       (7) in section 704(b)(1)(B), by striking ``5 days'' and 
     inserting ``7 days'';
       (8) in section 749(b), by striking ``five days'' and 
     inserting ``seven days''; and
       (9) in section 764(b), by striking ``five days'' and 
     inserting ``seven days''.

     SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS RELATED TO TITLE 18, UNITED STATES CODE.

       Title 18, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) in section 983(j)(3), by striking ``10 days'' and 
     inserting ``14 days'';
       (2) in section 1514(a)(2)(C), by striking ``10 days'' each 
     place it appears and inserting ``14 days'';
       (3) in section 1514(a)(2)(E), by inserting after ``the 
     Government'' the following: ``, excluding intermediate 
     weekends and holidays,'';
       (4) in section 1963(d)(2), by striking ``ten days'' and 
     inserting ``fourteen days'';
       (5) in section 2252A(c), by striking ``10 days'' and 
     inserting ``14 days'';
       (6) in section 2339B(f)(5)(B)(ii), by striking ``10 days'' 
     and inserting ``14 days'';
       (7) in section 2339B(f)(5)(B)(iii)(I), by inserting after 
     ``trial'' the following: ``, excluding intermediate weekends 
     and holidays'';
       (8) in section 2339B(f)(5)(B)(iii)(III), by inserting after 
     ``appeal'' the following: ``, excluding intermediate weekends 
     and holidays'';
       (9) in section 3060(b)(1), by striking ``tenth day'' and 
     inserting ``fourteenth day'';
       (10) in section 3432, by inserting after ``commencement of 
     trial'' the following: ``, excluding intermediate weekends 
     and holidays,'';
       (11) in section 3509(b)(1)(A), by striking ``5 days'' and 
     inserting ``7 days''; and
       (12) in section 3771(d)(5)(B), by striking ``10 days'' and 
     inserting ``14 days''.

     SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS RELATED TO THE CLASSIFIED INFORMATION 
                   PROCEDURES ACT.

       The Classified Information Procedures Act (18 U.S.C. App.) 
     is amended--
       (1) in section 7(b), by striking ``ten days'' and inserting 
     ``fourteen days'';
       (2) in section 7(b)(1), by inserting after ``adjournment of 
     the trial,'' the following: ``excluding intermediate weekends 
     and holidays,''; and
       (3) in section 7(b)(3), by inserting after ``argument on 
     appeal,'' the following: ``excluding intermediate weekends 
     and holidays,''.

     SEC. 5. AMENDMENT RELATED TO THE CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT.

       Section 413(e)(2) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 
     U.S.C. 853(e)(2)) is amended by striking ``ten days'' and 
     inserting ``fourteen days''.

     SEC. 6. AMENDMENTS RELATED TO TITLE 28, UNITED STATES CODE.

       Title 28, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) in section 636(b)(1), by striking ``ten days'' and 
     inserting ``fourteen days'';
       (2) in section 1453(c)(1), by striking ``not less than 7 
     days'' and inserting ``not more than 10 days''; and
       (3) in section 2107(c), by striking ``7 days'' and 
     inserting ``14 days''.

     SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.

       The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on 
     December 1, 2009.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Weiner) and the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King) each will 
control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.


                             General Leave

  Mr. WEINER. I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 
legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include 
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. WEINER. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the Statutory Time-Periods Technical Amendments Act 
changes the court filing deadlines in a number of statutes so that they 
correspond with new Federal court rules that are scheduled to go into 
effect on December 1, 2009.

[[Page H4666]]

  Cosponsors of this bill include the chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee, John Conyers; as well as the full committee ranking member, 
Lamar Smith; the Courts Subcommittee chairman, Hank Johnson; and the 
Courts Subcommittee ranking member, Howard Coble.
  As anyone who has practiced law knows, calculating court deadlines 
can be extremely confusing. Even experienced lawyers have to expend 
considerable time and effort determining deadlines for filing. This can 
be especially problematic when there is a holiday or a deadline falls 
on the weekend. Calculating deadlines is also complicated by the fact 
that the Federal court rules for banking, civil and criminal 
proceedings currently do not use one standard method for determining 
time periods.
  Unfortunately, because of the confusion and discrepancies involved 
with calculating deadlines under the current system, parties can too 
easily lose their right to their day in court because of procedural 
mistakes, regardless of the merits of the case.
  The Judicial Conference has sent Congress amended rules for 
calculating these deadlines. The new rules are easier to understand and 
apply, and are also the same across the board.
  Under the new rules, deadlines will not fall on weekends, and every 
calendar day will be counted when calculating deadlines--a commonsense 
``days are days'' approach. The new rules will also standardize 
deadline calculation for very short time periods, taking weekends into 
account. This bill complements the Judicial Conference's rules package 
by changing the deadlines in several important statutes so that the 
statutes match up with the Judicial Conference's rule changes.
  The bill is widely supported by judges and by the lawyers who 
practice before them in court. It will help ensure that courts are able 
to reach the merits of the cases before them rather than having to 
dismiss them due to an inadvertently missed deadline filing.
  I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may 
consume.
  (Mr. KING of Iowa asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. KING of Iowa. After thorough study and deliberation, the United 
States Judicial Conference developed draft language that slightly 
alters time deadlines in 28 statutory provisions that affect court 
proceedings. This text is incorporated in H.R. 1626, the Statutory 
Time-Periods Technical Amendments Act of 2009.
  These statutory provisions are limited to those that have short time 
periods, that use a rules method for calculating time periods, that are 
frequently applied or are otherwise important, and that do not 
prescribe a method to calculate time.
  These legislative changes are necessary to account for the effect of 
amendments to the time computation rules in the Federal Rules of 
Practice and Procedure that are due to take effect on December 1, 2009, 
unless Congress acts to modify or reject them.
  The rules amendments simplify the provisions for calculating 
deadlines and make those rules consistent in each set of the Federal 
rules. They respond to years of complaints by practitioners that the 
present rules are confusing and can lead to missing deadlines and to 
losing important rights.
  To simplify calculating deadlines, the amended rules count 
intermediate weekends and holidays for all time periods rather than 
excluding them for some short time periods and including them for 
longer time periods. This simple ``days are days'' approach can have 
the effect of shortening a time period.
  A large number of statutory time periods could theoretically be 
affected by the proposed shift in the Federal rules' time-computation 
approach. However, the number of statutory provisions to which case law 
has applied the rules' time-computation method is much smaller. An even 
smaller number of statutes is either frequently used or has time 
periods that could hopefully be adjusted to avoid inconsistency and 
confusion when the rules' time-computation method changes.
  The proposed legislation provides short extensions of short time 
deadlines in a small number of statutes to offset the effective 
shortening caused by the new rules approach.
  Mr. Speaker, the proposed statutory amendments are noncontroversial. 
They were the subject of extensive study and public comment during the 
Rules Enabling Act process. They have been vetted by numerous legal and 
bar organizations, including the Department of Justice. The Judicial 
Conference, led by District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal, Chair of the 
Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, provided bipartisan staff 
briefings on the need for the legislation.
  H.R. 1626 addresses obscure but important subject matter that will 
allow our Federal courts to operate more smoothly. I urge the Members 
to support the bill.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, I inquire of my colleague:
  Do you have any more speakers?
  Mr. KING of Iowa. I have no more speakers.
  Mr. WEINER. In that case, I just want to offer my thanks to all of 
the Members and the staff who worked on this bill, including Talia 
Wenzel, who did a great job working on this and who wrote my opening 
remarks.
  I urge a ``yes'' vote, and I yield back my time.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  I will just recognize that the gentleman from New York, in spite of 
the fury of our previous debate, has significant confidence that I 
won't close with anything except an endorsement of the passage of the 
bill. I appreciate that.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of this legislation.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 1626.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________