[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''.