Rules of the House

House Rules Recodification

Recodification of House Rules (106th Congress)

Because the House rules had not been comprehensively recodified since the 1880s, the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress recommended the rules of the House be thoroughly reassessed and reorganized.  Once the Rules Committee received the approval of the Speaker (as is required by that for that Committee to take action), it created a task force for that purpose during the committee’s organizational meeting for the 105th Congress.

Fifty-one rules were collapsed to twenty-eight, without substantive change but with deletion of obsolete provisions.  Consistent language was used and to combine and associate provisions of similar purpose. The Rules Committee presented its recommendations to House leaders, chairs, and ranking minority Members in October 1998. The proposed recodification was adopted when the House adopted its rules for the 106th Congress on January 6, 1999.

The parliamentarian’s notes in the House Rules and Manual, attached to specific rules, clauses, or paragraphs, trace the recodification of specific provisions of House rules, in addition to changes to the text of the rules.

Preface to the House Rules Manual for the 106th Congress: Explanation of the Recodification of the Rules (Charles W. Johnson, Parliamentarian)

Citation Changes Pursuant to the Recodification of the Rules of the House

Recodification Headings and Subheadings of the Rules of the House

Recodification of the House Rules Side-by-Side

Summary of Recodification at the Beginning of the 106th Congress

Recodification Chart from the House Manual (106th Congress)

Task Force on the Recodification of the House Rules