[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 2 (Monday, January 4, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H41-H42]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 REMOTE COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS REGULATIONS PURSUANT TO HOUSE RESOLUTION 
                           8, 117TH CONGRESS

                                               Committee on Rules,


                                     House of Representatives,

                                  Washington, DC, January 4, 2021.
     Hon. Nancy Pelosi,
     Speaker, House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Madam Speaker: Pursuant to section 3(s) of House Resolution 
     8, 117th Congress, I hereby submit the following regulations 
     regarding remote committee proceedings for printing in the 
     Congressional Record.
           Sincerely,

                                            James P. McGovern,

                                                         Chairman,
                                               Committee on Rules.

Remote Committee Proceedings Regulations Pursuant to House Resolution 8


                         a. presence and voting

       l. Members participating remotely in a committee proceeding 
     must be visible on the software platform's video function to 
     be considered in attendance and to participate unless 
     connectivity issues or other technical problems render the 
     member unable to fully participate on camera (except as 
     provided in regulations A.2 and A.3).
       2. The exception in regulation A.1 for connectivity issues 
     or other technical problems does not apply if a point of 
     order has been made that a quorum is not present. Members 
     participating remotely must be visible on the software 
     platform's video function in order to be counted for the 
     purpose of establishing a quorum.
       3. The exception in regulation A.1 for connectivity issues 
     or other technical problems does not apply during a vote. 
     Members participating remotely must be visible on the 
     software platform's video function in order to vote.
       4. Members participating remotely off-camera due to 
     connectivity issues or other technical problems pursuant to 
     regulation A.1 must inform committee majority and minority 
     staff either directly or through staff.
       5. The chair shall make a good faith effort to provide 
     every member experiencing connectivity issues an opportunity 
     to participate fully in the proceedings, subject to 
     regulations A.2 and A.3.

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       6. Members may not participate in more than one committee 
     proceeding simultaneously. To facilitate secure remote 
     participation, members may maintain a connection to a 
     software platform while not in attendance (but may not 
     transmit video or audio on the software platform at such 
     times).


                             b. technology

       1. When a proceeding is conducted at a remote ``place'' 
     pursuant to section 4(a)(6) of House Resolution 965 of the 
     116th Congress, streaming the proceeding on the committee's 
     website constitutes sufficient public, Member, and press 
     access for the purposes of section 4(e) of such resolution. 
     Proceedings may be streamed on a reasonably short delay if 
     necessary for technical reasons.
       2. Any text based or private messaging function in the 
     software platform used for virtual proceedings must be 
     disabled unless it is used to provide technical or logistical 
     support to members, witnesses, or staff, which may be 
     excluded from the public video stream and will not be 
     considered a committee record.
       3. When providing notice of a remote proceeding, chairs 
     must also provide notice of the software platform to be used 
     for participation. Notice of such software platform 
     constitutes proper notice of a ``place'' for purposes of 
     section 4(a)(6) of House Resolution 965 of the 116th 
     Congress.
       4. Members participating remotely must be provided access 
     to technical support via telephone throughout any proceeding.
       5. Only members, witnesses, temporarily designated 
     participating staff, and necessary support staff may have 
     participatory access on the software platform, meaning access 
     which enables an individual to speak and be seen, as opposed 
     to simply viewing the proceeding.
       6. The committee majority staff, in consultation with the 
     committee minority staff, must prepare a list of names or 
     titles of individuals with participatory access on the 
     software platform and share the list with members at least 24 
     hours prior to any proceeding, to the greatest extent 
     practicable.
       7. Official reporters should be given direct access to the 
     platform itself rather than the livestream.
       8. Members of the press and the public may view remote 
     proceedings via the committee website, as outlined in 
     regulation B.1.
       9. Committees must conduct remote proceedings using 
     software platforms certified by the Chief Administrative 
     Officer. The Chief Administrative Officer should inform 
     committees, including the ranking minority members, each time 
     a software platform is certified.
       10. To the greatest extent practicable, the software 
     platform used for remote proceedings must enable participants 
     to view proceedings in a ``grid view'' format.
       11. Committee chairs should inform the chair and ranking 
     minority member of the Committee on House Administration of 
     any impactful technical issues arising from conducting 
     proceedings remotely.


                            c. deliberations

       1. Committee chairs must allow members participating 
     remotely reasonable latitude when they are seeking 
     recognition for motions, points of order, or any other 
     procedures where timeliness is a factor in the event that 
     there are problems with technology such as lag or having the 
     microphone muted.
       2. Members seeking recognition while participating remotely 
     must do so verbally and identify themselves to the chair. It 
     is the responsibility of the member seeking recognition to 
     unmute their microphone prior to speaking.
       3. No one may unmute a member's microphone absent an 
     explicit request from the member, which may be via another 
     channel.
       4. The chair or an individual designated by the chair may 
     mute participants' microphones when they are not under 
     recognition for the purposes of eliminating inadvertent 
     background noise. This policy must be carried out uniformly 
     and should be announced at the outset of the proceeding. 
     Members should have a clear understanding of the need to 
     unmute their microphone each time they wish to speak.


                               d. decorum

       1. Member microphones may not be muted for the purposes of 
     enforcing decorum.
       2. Members participating remotely must conform to the same 
     standards for proper attire as are required to participate in 
     a committee proceeding in person.
       3. Members and witnesses participating remotely should 
     appear before a nonpolitical, professionally appropriate 
     background that is minimally distracting to other members and 
     witnesses, to the greatest extent possible.
       4. Members are expected to follow proper decorum with 
     respect to the display of exhibits when participating 
     remotely and should refrain from displaying an exhibit when 
     not under recognition.


                          e. committee process

       l. Committee chairs shall respect members' disparate time 
     zones when scheduling committee proceedings.
       2. Committees shall provide an electronic repository, which 
     may be an email inbox, for the submission of motions, 
     amendments, and other documents pursuant to section 4(c)(3) 
     of House Resolution 965 of the 116th Congress and shall 
     notify members regarding how to properly submit documents 
     electronically before and during a committee proceeding.
       3. Pursuant to section 4(c)(5) of House Resolution 965 of 
     the 116th Congress, in determining the order in which 
     amendments to a measure or matter pending before a committee 
     will be considered in a proceeding with remote participants, 
     the chair may give priority to amendments, otherwise in 
     order, that have been filed with the committee through the 
     electronic repository at least 4 hours prior to the business 
     meeting on said measure or matter.
       4. Within 24 hours of declaring a recess pursuant to 
     section 4(c)(2) of House Resolution 965 of the 116th Congress 
     the chair shall notify members of the circumstances which 
     required the recess to be declared.
       5. Committees shall facilitate the maintenance of 
     electronically-submitted documents as part of any committee 
     record maintained pursuant to clause 2(e)(1) of rule XI.


                          f. committee reports

       1. Committee reports shall be filed in a single 
     comprehensive submission including: (1) the report as a 
     single electronic document; (2) the electronic files 
     comprising such document; and (3) an electronic file 
     containing the reported measure. Such committee reports shall 
     not be officially processed unless all requirements are met, 
     and properly filed reports shall be processed in the form 
     submitted.
       2. Committee reports filed electronically remain subject to 
     all House rules regarding such reports to the extent 
     consistent with House Resolution 965 of the 116th Congress.
       3. Except for reports submitted after the receipt of 
     separate views pursuant to clause 2(c) of rule XIII, 
     committee reports filed electronically will be officially 
     processed only when the House is in session. Committees must 
     provide reasonable notice to the Clerk when the House is out 
     of session prior to filing a report electronically upon 
     receiving all separate views pursuant to clause 2(c) of rule 
     XIII.
       4. Committees shall consult with the Clerk regarding the 
     appropriate manner in which to submit reports electronically 
     pursuant to House Resolution 965 of the 116th Congress.
       5. Any committee report of activities submitted pursuant to 
     clause 1(d)(I) of rule XI should include a list of 
     proceedings conducted with remote participation.


                              g. witnesses

       1. Witnesses participating remotely in a committee 
     proceeding shall be visible onscreen within the software 
     platform unless they are experiencing technical or 
     connectivity issues.
       2. Pursuant to section 4(c)(6) of House Resolution 965 of 
     the 116th Congress, witness counsel should be allowed access 
     on the remote proceeding software platform if they are not in 
     the physical presence of the witness. It is recommended that 
     counsel facilitate a separate secure line of communication 
     with the witness. A witness may not be unmuted by any other 
     individual and should be allowed to use such secure line of 
     communication while testifying to confer with counsel.
       3. A witness may not allow an individual not invited to 
     testify to speak on the platform when the witness is 
     testifying remotely. A committee chair may provide exceptions 
     on occasions where other individuals are necessary to 
     facilitate the witness participation in the hearing (e.g. 
     translators).


                             h. depositions

       1. Depositions conducted remotely shall continue to be 
     subject to regulations, including supplemental regulations, 
     submitted by the chair of the Committee on Rules pursuant to 
     section 3(b)(2) of House Resolution 8.


                             i. definitions

       1. For purposes of section 4 of House Resolution 965 of the 
     116th Congress and these regulations, ``proceedings'' or 
     ``committee proceedings'' refers to meetings, hearings, or 
     depositions, as appropriate.
       2. For purposes of section 4 of House Resolution 965 of the 
     116th Congress and these regulations, ``remote'' proceedings 
     are proceedings conducted entirely through a software 
     platform instead of at a physical location. ``Remotely-
     attended'' proceedings are proceedings in which one or more 
     (or all) members are participating remotely. A member 
     ``participating remotely'' is a member who is attending the 
     proceeding using technology, and not in-person.
       3. For purposes of these regulations, ``mute'' means to 
     deactivate a microphone such that audio is not transmitted 
     from the microphone to participants of the committee 
     proceeding and ``unmute'' means to activate a microphone such 
     that audio is transmitted from the microphone to participants 
     of the committee proceeding.

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