[House Report 110-547]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



110th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session                                                     110-547

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PROVIDING FOR THE ADOPTION OF THE RESOLUTION (H. RES. 895) ESTABLISHING 
WITHIN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AN OFFICE OF CONGRESSIONAL ETHICS, 
                         AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

                                _______
                                

   March 10, 2008.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be 
                                printed

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    Ms. Sutton, from the Committee on Rules, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                      [To accompany H. Res. 1031]

    The Committee on Rules, having had under consideration 
House Resolution 1031, by a nonrecord vote, report the same to 
the House with the recommendation that the resolution be 
adopted.

                SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS OF THE RESOLUTION

    The resolution provides for the adoption of H. Res. 895, 
which establishes an Office of Congressional Ethics within the 
House of Representatives, with the amendment printed in this 
report upon adoption of the resolution.

                            COMMITTEE VOTES

    The results of each record vote on an amendment or motion 
to report, together with the names of those voting for and 
against, are printed below:

Rules Committee record vote No. 448

    Date: March 10, 2008.
    Measure: H. Res. 895.
    Motion by: Mr. Dreier.
    Summary of motion: To grant an open rule.
    Results: Defeated 4-7.
    Vote by Members: Hastings (FL)--Nay; Matsui--Nay; Welch--
Nay; Castor--Nay; Arcuri--Nay; Sutton--Nay; Dreier--Yea; Diaz-
Balart--Yea; Hastings (WA)--Yea; Sessions--Yea; Slaughter--Nay.

Rules Committee record vote No. 449

    Date: March 10, 2008.
    Measure: H. Res. 895.
    Motion by: Mr. Dreier.
    Summary of motion: To provide for consideration of H. Res. 
895, as amended, under a structured rule, making in order the 
amendment in the nature of a substitute No. 10 offered by Rep. 
Lamar Smith (TX), to be separately debatable for one hour 
equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an 
opponent. The amendment would reconstitute the Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct as a 10-member committee, 3 
currently Members of each party (6 total) and 4 former Members 
of the House who are not currently registered lobbyists. It 
would require that the Chairmanship of the committee rotate 
every Congress between the parties, regardless of who holds the 
majority. It would require the Inspector General to transmit 
any alleged violations by outside organizations to the 
Committee. It would require monthly reports from the Standards 
Committee. It would require that any issues not able to be 
resolved by the Committee for partisan reasons would be 
referred to the Justice Department. Requires that, upon the 
request of a Member, the Committee publicly disclose whether or 
not the requesting Member is or is not under investigation. The 
amendment would preserve the Standards Committee subpoena 
authority. The Smith substitute would not establish an 
independent outside commission.
    Results: Defeated 4-8.
    Vote by Members: Hastings (FL)--Nay; Matsui--Nay; Cardoza--
Nay; Welch--Nay; Castor--Nay; Arcuri--Nay; Sutton--Nay; 
Dreier--Yea; Diaz-Balart--Yea; Hastings (WA)--Yea; Sessions--
Yea; Slaughter--Nay.

Rules Committee record vote No. 450

    Date: March 10, 2008.
    Measure: H. Res. 895.
    Motion by: Mr. Sessions.
    Summary of motion: To report a rule that would allow for a 
separate debate and vote on H. Res. 895.
    Results: Defeated 4-8.
    Vote by Members: Hastings (FL)--Nay; Matsui--Nay; Cardoza--
Nay; Welch--Nay; Castor--Nay; Arcuri--Nay; Sutton--Nay; 
Dreier--Yea; Diaz-Balart--Yea; Hastings (WA)--Yea; Sessions--
Yea; Slaughter--Nay.

Rules Committee record vote No. 451

    Date: March 10, 2008.
    Measure: H. Res. 895.
    Motion by: Mr. Hastings (WA).
    Summary of motion: To make in order an amendment structure 
that would allow three separate votes on the Capuano proposal, 
the Smith proposal, and the Hill/Wamp proposal, and that the 
proposal with the most votes shall be considered as adopted.
    Results: Defeated 4-8.
    Vote by Members: Hastings (FL)--Nay; Matsui--Nay; Cardoza--
Nay; Welch--Nay; Castor--Nay; Arcuri--Nay; Sutton--Nay; 
Dreier--Yea; Diaz-Balart--Yea; Hastings (WA)--Yea; Sessions--
Yea; Slaughter--Nay.

            SUMMARY OF AMENDMENT TO BE CONSIDERED AS ADOPTED

    The amendment would (1) require that all appointments to 
the board be made by the Speaker and Minority Leader; (2) 
expand the board to include at least one alternate member from 
each side; (3) provide that Office of Congressional Ethics 
(``OCE'') reviews be initiated at the request of at least one 
member appointed by the Speaker and one member appointed by the 
Minority Leader; (4) clarify that the board can initiate 
preliminary reviews; (5) require the affirmative vote of at 
least three members to move to a second-phase review; (6) 
provide that if three members do not vote to commence a second-
phase review, then the matter is terminated; (7) clarify that 
subjects of OCE review may make presentations to the board 
before the board transmits a recommendation or statement to the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct; (8) provide that 
any time before the end of the preliminary review, four members 
of the board can vote to terminate it; (9) clarify that 
Members, officers, and staff may not communicate with the OCE 
regarding OCE cases; (10) impose new confidentiality rules and 
ex parte communication bars on OCE members and staff; (11) 
clarify that the elective office agreement pertains also to 
alternate members and OCE staff but refers only to seeking a 
seat in the U.S. House or Senate; (12) subject OCE staff to 
restrictions on political activities; and (13) clarify that the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct may not receive 
referrals from the Office of Congressional Ethics within 60 
days prior to Federal, state, or local elections.

             TEXT OF AMENDMENT TO BE CONSIDERED AS ADOPTED

  Page 2, strike lines 3 through 13 and insert the following:
  (b) Board.--(1) The Office shall be governed by a board 
consisting of six individuals of whom three shall be nominated 
by the Speaker subject to the concurrence of the minority 
leader and three shall be nominated by the minority leader 
subject to the concurrence of the Speaker. The Speaker shall 
nominate at least one alternate board member subject to the 
concurrence of the minority leader and the minority leader 
shall nominate at least one alternate board member subject to 
the concurrence of the Speaker. If any vacancy occurs in the 
board, then the most senior alternate board member nominated by 
the same individual who nominated the member who left the board 
shall serve on the board until a permanent replacement is 
selected. If a permanent appointment is not made within 90 
days, the alternate member shall be deemed to have been 
appointed for the remainder of the term of the member who left 
the board and the Speaker or the minority leader, as 
applicable, shall nominate a new alternate subject to the 
concurrence of the other leader.
  Page 5, line 1, strike ``any''.
  Page 5, line 2, after ``the board'' insert ``(one of whom was 
nominated by the Speaker and one by the minority leader)''.
  Page 5, line 9, after ``specific matter,'' insert ``initiate 
a preliminary review and''.
  Page 5, strike line 20 and all that follows thereafter 
through the period on page 6, line 2, and insert the following:
          (C) Before the end of the applicable time period, 
        vote on whether to commence a second-phase review of 
        the matter under consideration. An affirmative vote of 
        at least 3 members of the board is required to commence 
        a second-phase review. If no such vote to commence a 
        second-phase review has succeeded by the end of the 
        applicable time period, the matter is terminated. At 
        any point before the end of the applicable time period, 
        the board may vote to terminate a preliminary review by 
        the affirmative vote of not less than 4 members.
  Page 9, strike lines 3 through 14 and redesignate the 
succeeding clauses accordingly.
  Page 10, line 11, insert ``or staff of the Office'' after 
``the board''.
  Page 10, line 13, before the period insert ``, and that no 
Member, officer, or employee of the House may communicate with 
any member of the board or staff of the Office regarding any 
matter under review by the board except as authorized by the 
board''.
  Page 11, strike lines 18 through 22 and insert the following 
new subsection:
  (f) Prohibition on Public Disclosure.--(1)(A) When an 
individual becomes a member of the board or staff of the 
Office, that individual shall execute the following oath or 
affirmation in writing: ``I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that 
I will not disclose to any person or entity outside of the 
Office any information received in the course of my service 
with the Office, except as authorized by the board as necessary 
to conduct official business or pursuant to its rules.''. 
Copies of the executed oath shall be provided to the Clerk of 
the House as part of the records of the House.
  (B) No testimony received or any other information obtained 
as a member of the board or staff of the Office shall be 
publicly disclosed by any such individual to any person or 
entity outside the Office. Any communication to any person or 
entity outside the Office may occur only as authorized by the 
board as necessary to conduct official business or pursuant to 
its rules.
  (C) The Office shall establish procedures necessary to 
prevent the unauthorized disclosure of any information received 
by the Office. Any breaches of confidentiality shall be 
investigated by the board and appropriate action shall be 
taken.
  Page 12, line 3, strike ``transmits any report'' and insert 
``votes on a recommendation or statement to be transmitted''.
  Page 13, line 6, insert ``(including an individual who is an 
alternate) or before any individual is hired to be a staff 
member of the Office'' before ``may do so''.
  Page 13, line 8, strike ``seek any Federal public office'' 
and insert ``be a candidate for the office of Senator or 
Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the 
Congress for purposes of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 
1971''.
  Page 13, line 10, insert ``or staff'' after ``board''.
  Page 13, after line 18, insert the following new paragraph:
  (3) The following rules shall be applicable to the staff of 
the Office:
          (A) The staff is to be assembled and retained as a 
        professional, nonpartisan staff.
          (B) Each member of the staff shall be professional 
        and demonstrably qualified for the position for which 
        he is hired.
          (C) The staff as a whole and each member of the staff 
        shall perform all official duties in a nonpartisan 
        manner.
          (D) No member of the staff shall engage in any 
        partisan political activity directly affecting any 
        congressional or presidential election.
          (E) No member of the staff may accept public speaking 
        engagements or write for publication on any subject 
        that is in any way related to his or her employment or 
        duties with the Office without specific prior approval 
        from the chairman and cochairman.
  Page 19, line 6, strike ``an election'' and insert ``a 
Federal, State, or local election''.

                                  
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