Organizing Resolutions for the House

H. Res. 6 (116th Congress)
Separate Orders

H.Res.6
Adopting rules for the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress
116th Congress (2019-2020)

H. Res. 6 of the 116th Congress

H. Res. 6 of the 116th Congress (PDF)

Section-by-Section on H. Res. 6 (116th Rules)

Changes to Existing Law by H. Res. 6 (116th Congress) – Term Limits for House Budget Committee

Sec. 103. Separate Orders.

(a) Deposition Authority.—

(1) During the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, the chair of a standing committee (other than the Committee on Rules), and the chair of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, upon consultation with the ranking minority member of such committee, may order the taking of depositions, including pursuant to subpoena, by a member or counsel of such committee.

(2) Depositions taken under the authority prescribed in this subsection shall be subject to regulations issued by the chair of the Committee on Rules and printed in the Congressional Record.

(b) Providing for Transparency With Respect to Memorials Submitted Pursuant to Article V of the Constitution of the United States.—With respect to any memorial presented under clause 3 of rule XII purporting to be an application of the legislature of a State calling for a convention for proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States pursuant to Article V, or a rescission of any such prior application—

(1) the chair of the Committee on the Judiciary shall, in the case of a memorial presented in the One Hundred Fourteenth Congress or succeeding Congresses, and may, in the case of such a memorial presented prior to the One Hundred Fourteenth Congress, designate any such memorial for public availability by the Clerk; and

(2) the Clerk shall make such memorials as are designated pursuant to paragraph (1) publicly available in electronic form, organized by State of origin and year of receipt, and shall indicate whether the memorial was designated as an application or a rescission.

(c) Limitation on Advance Appropriations.—

(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), any general appropriation bill or bill or joint resolution continuing appropriations, or amendment thereto or conference report thereon, may not provide an advance appropriation.

(2) An advance appropriation may be provided for programs, activities or accounts identified in lists submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the chair of the Committee on the Budget (when elected)—

(A) for fiscal year 2020, under the heading ‘‘Accounts Identified for Advance Appropriations’’ in an aggregate amount not to exceed $28,852,000,000 in new budget authority, and for 2021, accounts separately identified under the same heading; and

(B) for fiscal year 2020, under the heading ‘‘Veterans Accounts Identified for Advance Appropriations’’ in an aggregate amount not to exceed $75,550,600,000 in new budget authority.

(3) Definition.—The term ‘‘advance appropriation’’ means any new discretionary budget authority provided in a general appropriation bill or bill or joint resolution continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2019, or any amendment thereto or conference report thereon, that first becomes available following fiscal year 2019.

(d) Exercise Facilities for Former Members.—During the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress—

(1) The House of Representatives may not provide access to any exercise facility which is made available exclusively to Members and former Members, officers and former officers of the House of Representatives, and their spouses to any former Member, former officer, or spouse who is a lobbyist registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 or any successor statute or who is an agent of a foreign principal as defined in clause 5 of rule XXV. For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘‘Member’’ includes a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Congress.

(2) The Committee on House Administration shall promulgate regulations to carry out this subsection.

(e) Numbering of Bills.—In the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, the first 10 numbers for bills (H.R. 1 through H.R. 10) shall be reserved for assignment by the Speaker and the second 10 numbers for bills (H.R. 11 through H.R. 20) shall be reserved for assignment by the Minority Leader.

(f) Inclusion of Citations for Proposed Repeals and Amendments.—To the maximum extent practicable and consistent with established drafting conventions, an instruction in a bill or joint resolution proposing to repeal or amend any law or part thereof not contained in a codified title of the United States Code shall include, in parentheses immediately following the designation of the matter proposed to be repealed or amended, the applicable United States Code citation (which may be a note in the United States Code), or, if no such citation is available, an appropriate alternative citation to the applicable law or part.

(g) Broadening Availability of Legislative Documents in Machine-Readable Formats.—The Committee on House Administration, the Clerk, and other officers and officials of the House shall continue efforts to broaden the availability of legislative documents in machine readable formats in the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress in furtherance of the institutional priority of improving public availability and use of legislative information produced by the House and its committees.

(h) Subcommittees.—Notwithstanding clause 5(d) of rule X, during the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress—

(1) the Committee on Agriculture may have not more than six subcommittees; and

(2) the Committee on Financial Services may have not more than seven subcommittees.

(i) Requiring committee hearing and markup on bills and joint resolutions.—

(1) Effective March 1, 2019, during the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, it shall not be in order to consider a bill or joint resolution pursuant to a special order of business reported by the Committee on Rules that—

(A) has not been reported by a committee; or

(B) has been reported by a committee unless the report includes a list of related committee and subcommittee hearings and a designation of at least one committee or subcommittee hearing that was used to develop or consider such bill or joint resolution.

(2) This subsection shall not apply to a bill or joint resolution—

(A) continuing appropriations for a fiscal year;

(B) containing an emergency designation under section 251(b)(2) or section 252(e) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act; or

(C) designated pursuant to clause 7(a) of rule XV.

(j) Member Day Hearing Requirement.—During the first session of the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, each standing committee (other than the Committee on Ethics) shall hold a hearing at which it receives testimony from Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner on proposed legislation within its jurisdiction, except that the Committee on Rules may hold such hearing during the second session of the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress.

(k) Empaneling Investigative Subcommittee of the Committee on Ethics.—The text of House Resolution 451, One Hundred Tenth Congress, shall apply in the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress in the same manner as such provision applied in the One Hundred Tenth Congress, except that references to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall be construed as references to the Committee on Ethics.

(l) War Powers Resolution.—During the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, a motion to discharge a measure introduced pursuant to section 6 or section 7 of the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1545–46) shall not be subject to a motion to table.

(m) Budget Matters.—During the first session of the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, pending the adoption of a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2019—

(1) the allocations, aggregates, and other appropriate levels as contained in the statement of the chair of the Committee on the Budget of the House of Representatives in the Congressional Record of May 10, 2018, as adjusted in the One Hundred Fifteenth Congress, shall be considered for all purposes in the House to be the allocations, aggregates, and other appropriate levels under titles III and IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974; and

(2) the provisions of House Concurrent Resolution 71, One Hundred Fifteenth Congress, specified in section 30104(f)(1) of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 shall have no force or effect except for sections 5201, 5202, 5203, and 5401 of such concurrent resolution.

(n) Legal Issues Related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.—To protect the institutional interests of the House of Representatives, the Speaker, on behalf of the House, is authorized to intervene, otherwise appear, or take any other steps, in the case of Texas v. United States, No. 4:18-cv-00167–O (N.D. Tex.) and in any appellate proceedings arising from such case. The Speaker, in consultation with the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, is also authorized to intervene, otherwise appear, or take any other steps in any other cases involving the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to protect the institutional interests of the House and to defend such Act, the amendments made by such Act to other provisions of law, and any amendments to such provisions, including the provisions ensuring affordable health coverage for those with preexisting conditions. The House authorizes the Office of General Counsel of the House of Representatives, at the direction of the Speaker, to represent the House in any such litigation, and to take such steps as may be appropriate, including the supervision and employment of services of outside counsel, including pro bono counsel, or other experts.

(o) Legal Issues Related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program  .—The Office of General Counsel is directed to immediately explore all possible legal options for responding to any rulemaking by the United States Department of Agriculture, announced on or after December 20, 2018, to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program involving requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents.

(p) Congressional Member Organization Transparency Reform.—

(1) Payment of salaries and expenses through account of organization.—A Member of the House of Representatives and an eligible Congressional Member Organization may enter into an agreement under which—

(A) an employee of the Member’s office may carry out official and representational duties of the Member by assignment to the Organization; and

(B) to the extent that the employee carries out such duties under the agreement, the Member shall transfer the portion of the Members’ Representational Allowance (MRA) of the Member which would otherwise be used for the salary and related expenses of the employee to a dedicated account in the House of Representatives which is administered by the Organization, in accordance with the regulations promulgated by the Committee on House Administration under paragraph (2).

(2) Regulations.—The Committee on House Administration (hereafter referred to in this subsection as the ‘‘Committee’’) shall promulgate regulations as follows:

(A) Use of mra.—Pursuant to the authority of section 101(d) of the House of Representatives Administrative Reform Technical Corrections Act (2 U.S.C. 5341(d)), the Committee shall prescribe regulations to provide that an eligible Congressional Member Organization may use the amounts transferred to the Organization’s dedicated account under paragraph (1)(B) for the same purposes for which a Member of the House of Representatives may use the Members’ Representational Allowance, except that the Organization may not use such amounts for franked mail, official travel, or leases of space or vehicles.

(B) Maintenance of limitations on number of shared employees.—Pursuant to the authority of section 104(d) of the House of Representatives Administrative Reform Technical Corrections Act (2 U.S.C. 5321(d)), the Committee shall prescribe regulations to provide that an employee of the office of a Member of the House of Representatives who is covered by an agreement entered into under paragraph (1) between the Member and an eligible Congressional Member Organization shall be considered a shared employee of the Member’s office and the Organization for purposes of such section, and shall include in such regulations appropriate accounting standards to ensure that a Member of the House of Representatives who enters into an agreement with such an Organization under paragraph (1) does not employ more employees than the Member is authorized to employ under such section.

(C) Participation in student loan repayment program.—Pursuant to the authority of section 105(b) of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2003 (2 U.S.C. 4536(b)), relating to the student loan repayment program for employees of the House, the Committee shall promulgate regulations to provide that, in the case of an employee who is covered by an agreement entered into under paragraph (1) between a Member of the House of Representatives and an eligible Congressional Member Organization and who participates in such program while carrying out duties under the agreement—

(i) any funds made available for making payments under the program with respect to the employee shall be transferred to the Organization’s dedicated account under paragraph (1)(B); and

(ii) the Organization shall use the funds to repay a student loan taken out by the employee, under the same terms and conditions which would apply under the program if the Organization were the employing office of the employee.

(D) Access to house services.—The Committee shall prescribe regulations to ensure that an eligible Congressional Member Organization has appropriate access to services of the House.

(E) Other regulations.—The Committee shall promulgate such other regulations as may be appropriate to carry out this subsection.

(3) Eligible congressional member organization defined.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘eligible Congressional Member Organization’’ means, with respect to the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress, an organization meeting each of the following requirements:

(A) The organization is registered as a Congressional Member Organization with the Committee on House Administration.

(B) The organization designates a single Member of the House of Representatives to be responsible for the administration of the organization, including the administration of the account administered under paragraph (1)(B), and includes the identification of such Member with the statement of organization that the organization files and maintains with the Committee on House Administration.

(C) At least 3 employees of the House are assigned to perform some work for the organization.

(D) During the One Hundred Fifteenth Congress, at least 15 Members of the House of Representatives used a portion of the Members’ Representational Allowance of the Member for the salary and related expenses of an employee who was a shared employee of the Member’s office and the organization.

(E) The organization files a statement with the Committee on House Administration and the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives certifying that it will administer an account in accordance with paragraph (1)(B).

(q) Non-Disclosure Agreements.—Any non-disclosure agreement imposed by any employing or contracting authority in the House of Representatives to which a paid or unpaid employee or contractor is or was required to agree as a term of employment shall—

(1) provide clear guidance that the employee or contractor may communicate concerning any matter with the Committee on Ethics, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, or any other office or entity designated by the Committee on House Administration without prior, concurrent, or subsequent notice or approval; and

(2) not be binding and shall have no legal effect to the extent to which it requires prior, concurrent, or subsequent notice or approval from anyone on any matter with respect to communications from an employee or contractor to any of the committees, offices, or entities described in paragraph (1).

(r) Requiring Members to Pay for Discrimination Settlements.—

(1) In general.—In the case of a settlement of a complaint under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 in connection with a claim alleging a violation described in paragraph (2) which is committed personally by a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, if the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner is not required under law to reimburse the Treasury for the amount of the settlement, the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on House Administration may not approve the settlement pursuant to clause 4(d)(2) of rule X unless, under the terms and conditions of the settlement, the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner is required to reimburse the Treasury for the amount of the settlement.

(2) Violations described.—A violation described in this paragraph is—

(A) a violation of section 201(a) or section 206(a) of the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995; or

(B) a violation of section 207 of such Act which consists of intimidating, taking reprisal against, or otherwise discriminating against any covered employee under such Act because of a claim alleging a violation described in subparagraph (A).

(s) Mandatory Anti-Harassment and Anti-Discrimination Policies for House Offices.—

(1) Requiring offices to adopt policy.—Each employing office of the House of Representatives under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 shall adopt an anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policy for the office’s workplace.

(2) Regulations.—Not later than April 1, 2019, the Committee on House Administration shall promulgate regulations to carry out this section, and shall ensure that such regulations are consistent with the requirements of the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, rule XXIII, and other relevant laws, rules, and regulations.

(t) Displaying Statement of Rights and Protections Provided to House Employees.—The Committee on House Administration shall issue regulations to provide that each employing office of the House of Representatives shall post in a prominent location in the office (including, in the case of the office of a Member, Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner, a prominent location in each district office) a statement of the rights and protections provided to employees of the House of Representatives under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, including the procedures available to employees of the House under such Act for responding to and adjudicating allegations of violations of such rights and protections.

 

 

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