Legislative Reorganization Act of 1994

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: House of Representatives

Title II: Senate

Title III: Joint House and Senate Matters

Subtitle A: Congressional Budget Process

Subtitle B: Staffing and Instrumentalities

Subtitle C: Application of Federal Laws

Subtitle D: Miscellaneous

Subtitle E: Budget Control

Legislative Reorganization Act of 1994 - Title I: House of Representatives - Amends rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives to require the Speaker, whenever he refers a matter simultaneously to two or more committees, to initially designate one committee as the committee of primary jurisdiction and to place appropriate time and subject-matter limitations for completion of consideration of the matter by any other committee after the committee of primary jurisdiction reports it.

(Sec. 102) Limits a Member of the House to service on no more than two standing committees and four subcommittees thereof, with exceptions: (1) for the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct; (2) after notification of the appropriate party caucus and committee and House approval; and (3) with unanimous consent or approval of a privileged motion to waive the limitation with respect to an individual Member.

Allows Members serving on the Committee on the Budget to: (1) serve on one other standing committee; and (2) take a leave of absence from service on any other committee or subcommittee without losing their seniority rights as if they had continued to serve on such committee or subcommittee.

Requires the Committee on Rules to consider a resolution amending the Rules of the House to eliminate a standing committee and transfer its jurisdiction to one or more other standing committees if its membership for a Congress is below 50 percent of its membership at the end of the 103d Congress.

Limits an exclusive or major committee (except the Committee on Appropriations) to five subcommittees and a nonmajor committee to four.

Requires authorization by the House before a committee may establish any subunit other than a subcommittee.

(Sec. 103) Expresses the sense of the House that there should be established a schedule of legislative activities of the House that: (1) provides for four full days of legislative business per week while the House is in session; (2) sets aside specific periods exclusively for floor proceedings and committee meetings and hearings; (3) rationalizes the scheduling of committee and subcommittee meetings and hearings to minimize conflicts; and (4) encourages and requires that the House Information Systems provide training on the use of computerized scheduling to minimize such conflicts.

Amends rule XI to require that the public be notified before a committee or subcommittee holds a meeting or hearing.

(Sec. 104) Prohibits a committee's subcommittee from sitting when a meeting or hearings of such committee is in progress without the committee chairman's approval.

(Sec. 105) Amends rule XXI to require a report from any committee accompanying any bill authorizing or providing obligational authority or tax expenditures or the joint explanatory statement accompanying a conference report on such bill to contain a concise statement: (1) describing the effect of any provision of the bill or conference report which changes the application of existing law; and (2) to list in a separate and identifiable part of the report or joint explanatory statement, each item in such bill, report, conference report, or joint explanatory statement that earmarks the required use of funds below the appropriation account level or provides a specific tax expenditure.

(Sec. 106) Requires: (1) the Committee on Appropriations to immediately notify the appropriate standing committee whenever the Committee orders reported any general appropriations bill that makes appropriations for any unauthorized expenditure, or that reappropriates unexpended balances of appropriations, within the jurisdiction of any other standing committee; (2) a House committee to notify such Committee whenever it reports any bill, resolution, or amendment thereto, carrying an appropriation from a committee not having jurisdiction to report appropriations; (3) such Committee to deliver copies of appropriation bills as passed the House with numbered Senate amendments to the appropriate authorizing committees at least 24 hours before requesting appointment of conferees thereon unless the Speaker determines otherwise; and (4) the Committee to deliver copies of the conference report and accompanying joint explanatory statement to the appropriate authorizing committees at least 24 hours before floor action thereon unless the Speaker determines otherwise.

(Sec. 107) Directs the Speaker and the minority leader of the House to appoint 20 independent factfinders at the beginning of each Congress to carry out investigations on behalf of the House as required by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. Disqualifies any lobbyist required under the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act to register with the Clerk of the House or the Secretary of the Senate. Requires such Committee to adopt specified rules relating to the use of independent factfinders.

(Sec. 109) Amends rule XLVIII to prohibit a Member of the House (other than the majority and minority leaders) from serving on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for more than four Congresses in any period of six successive Congresses. Allows an incumbent chairman or ranking minority member who has served on the Select Committee for four Congresses and has served in such capacity for not more than one Congress to be eligible for reappointment as chairman or ranking minority member for one additional Congress.

(Sec. 110) Amends rule X to require each standing committee of the House, by March 1 of the first session of a Congress, to submit (in conjunction with its committee expense resolution) to the Committee on House Administration an oversight agenda for that Congress addressing the Committee's oversight responsibilities with respect to reviewing and studying applicable laws, agencies, and programs within its jurisdiction. Authorizes each committee to request the assistance of the General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress (LOC) in developing its oversight agenda. Requires the Committee on House Administration, by March 31 in the first session of a Congress, to publish and report to the House the oversight agenda submitted by each committee together with the Committee's recommendations. Requires each House standing committee to hold hearings during each Congress to review appropriate reports relating to the activities of executive agencies over which the committee has oversight responsibility filed during the preceding Congress, including reports of the inspector general, the GAO, and an agency audit. Authorizes the Speaker, with approval of the House, to appoint special ad hoc oversight committees to review specific matters within the jurisdiction of two or more standing committees.

Amends rule XI to require each committee's oversight report to the House on its activities during the Congress to include separate sections on legislative and oversight activities, the latter to include a summary of the committee's oversight agenda.

(Sec. 111) Expresses the sense of the House that the Committee on House Administration should: (1) review the training and orientation programs currently available for the personal, committee, and administrative staff of the House; (2) evaluate their overall effectiveness and utility; and (3) develop, administer, and coordinate a comprehensive training program for House staff employees.

(Sec. 112) Expresses the sense of the House that: (1) the three-day layover requirement for committee reports on legislation and on conference reports may not be waived unless the legislation and any accompanying report have been available to each Member for at least 24 hours before its consideration on the House floor; (2) an amendment to a bill to be considered under suspension of the rules should be printed and available to each Member for at least 24 hours before its consideration; (3) committees and conference committees should endeavor to file reports on word processing computer disks to facilitate availability to Members; (4) an internal cable system, a cable channel, or party specific channels should be developed to provide Members with summaries of the pending legislation and should be available in their offices, committee hearing rooms, and the cloakrooms; and (5) the full text of bills, amendments, reports, Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimates, GAO reports, Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) reports, CRS reports and Issue Briefs, the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and the annotated CFR, the Congressional Record, and the Federal Register should be made available to all Members and congressional staff via computer by the beginning of the 105th Congress and such appropriate legislative information should also be made available to the public and the Depository Libraries through a low-cost computer connection.

(Sec. 113) Expresses the sense of the House that specified steps should be taken to improve the public's understanding of the Congress and the legislative process.

(Sec. 114) Expresses the sense of the House that the Committee on House Administration and the House Committee on Appropriations should conduct a study of the salary ranges of congressional personal, committee, and administrative staff with a view toward achieving bicameral salary parity for House and Senate staff performing analogous functions.

(Sec. 115) Amends rule XXI to make it out of order to consider any provision of a general appropriation bill (except a conference report) that would exceed any applicable authorization level as set forth in any authorization measure as passed by the House.

(Sec. 116) Amends rule XI to prohibit the Committee on Rules from reporting any rule or order which would prevent a motion to recommit, including a motion to recommit with amendatory instructions (except in the case of a Senate measure for which the language of a House-passed measure has been proposed to be substituted) if offered by the minority leader (or a designee).

Amends rule I to allow the Speaker to postpone for not to exceed two hours the consideration of any motion to recommit.

(Sec. 117) Amends rule XIV to revise the scope of debate in the House to include descriptions relating to the rules of the Senate and the effect of such rules on actions concerning measures or matters in the Senate.

(Sec. 118) Amends rule XI: (1) with respect to roll call votes on motions to report any public bill, resolution, or matter, to require that the names of those Members voting for and against reporting the measure or matter be included in the committee report; and (2) with respect to each nonrecord vote on such a motion, to require the committee report to include the names of those Members of the committee actually present at the time the measure or matter is ordered reported.

(Sec. 119) Requires each committee to keep a complete record of all subcommittee actions, including their roll call votes. Requires the chairman of each committee to publish in the Congressional Record the committee and subcommittee attendance and voting records (by calendar day) of each member of the committee on or before July 1 and on the last day of the session of each calendar year.

(Sec. 120) Amends rule XIV to: (1) require the Congressional Record to be a substantially verbatim account of remarks made during the proceedings of the House, subject only to technical, grammatical, and typographical corrections authorized by the Member making the remarks; (2) permit unparliamentary remarks to be deleted only by unanimous consent or by other order of the House; and (3) apply specified provisions of rule X relating to administrative actions by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to violations of this rule.

(Sec. 121) Requires the Parliamentarian of the House, by the end of the 105th Congress, to recodify the Rules of the House by clarifying conflicting definitions, eliminating anachronisms, and reorganizing the rules into a more coherent and logical structure. Authorizes the Parliamentarian to utilize the services of CRS and GPO personnel to carry out the recodification.

Title II: Senate - (Bill language to be supplied at a later date).

Title III: Joint House and Senate Matters - Subtitle A: Congressional Budget Process - Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to revise the Federal and congressional budget processes by establishing a two-year budgeting and appropriations cycle and timetable. Defines the budget biennium as the two consecutive fiscal years beginning on October 1 of any odd-numbered year.

Devotes the first session of any Congress to the budget resolution and to appropriations decisions, retaining current deadlines in most cases. Changes certain deadlines to conform to the biennial scheme. Devotes each second session to authorization activity, subject to specified deadlines.

(Sec. 303) Conforms provisions governing the President's budget to the biennial framework.

(Sec. 305) Amends the Rules of the House of Representatives to conform to the biennial framework.

(Sec. 306) Prohibits the House or Senate from considering any legislation that authorizes appropriations for a period of less than two fiscal years, unless the activity for which the funds are to be spent is of less than two years duration.

(Sec. 321) Requires CBO to make quarterly budget reports to the House and Senate Committees on the Budget.

(Sec. 322) Amends the Employment Act of 1946 to require the President to include in the annual economic report a gross national product budget analysis. Requires the President to make fiscal policy reports to the Congress after submission of the annual economic report.

(Sec. 323) Directs the Director of CBO to report to the Congress and the President on a review of Government user fees.

(Sec. 324) Requires budget resolutions to include revenue losses attributable to tax laws.

(Subtitle B: Staffing and Instrumentalities - Requires a House task force (to be appointed by the Speaker) and the appropriate Senate committees to submit to the House and Senate leadership, respectively, recommendations to achieve: (1) economic efficiencies and cost savings in the administrative operations of the legislative branch; and (2) reductions from the level as of September 30, 1992, in the total number of full-time employee positions in the legislative branch, consistent with the reductions for the executive branch implemented pursuant to the Report of the National Performance Review submitted by the Vice President on September 7, 1993.

Requires the recommendations approved by the appropriate leadership to be implemented in the regular appropriation bill for the legislative branch for FY 1997, as reported by the House Committee on Appropriations or the Senate Committee on Appropriations, as applicable.

(Sec. 342) Provides that GAO, CBO, CRS, the Government Printing Office (GPO), and OTA shall be authorized by the enactment every eighth year beginning for FY 1997 of an Act to authorize appropriations for those offices for the next eight fiscal years.

(Sec. 343) Requires the appropriate committees of the House and of the Senate to study and report: (1) recommendations to their leadership providing for better coordination of specified legislative branch services, positions, and entities; and (2) on the feasibility of providing competitive bidding for the right to operate such facilities and to provide legislative branch services such as barber and beauty shops, a gymnasium, health and medical services, restaurants, automobile services, and child care.

Subtitle C: Application of Federal Laws - Applies, by a specified conditional date, provisions of the following laws to a congressional employee (an employee of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Architect of the Capitol): (1) the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938; (2) the Civil Rights Act of 1964; (3) the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990; (4) the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967; and (5) the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.

Makes applicable to a congressional employee any provision of Federal law to the extent that it relates to: (1) the terms and conditions of employment; (2) protection from discrimination in personnel actions; (3) the health and safety of employees; or (4) the availability of information to the public.

(Sec. 353) Establishes in the legislative branch an Office of Compliance to study and report to the Congress on the application of such laws to a congressional employee and an employee of an instrumentality of the legislative branch. Requires the Office's Director to propose regulations governing such applicability which shall be subject to congressional approval under specified procedures.

Requires the Board of Directors of the Office to carry out an information program to acquaint Members of the House, Senators, and congressional employees with the provisions, including remedies, of the laws applicable to the Congress under this Act.

(Sec. 355) Requires the Office to carry out an education program for Members of Congress and other employing authorities of the Congress respecting the laws made applicable to them. Sets forth procedures for consideration of alleged violations of such laws consisting of the following steps: (1) counseling; (2) mediation; (3) formal complaint and hearing by a hearing board; and (4) judicial review if a congressional employee is aggrieved by a dismissal, final decision, or an order by the hearing board or if a member of Congress is aggrieved by a final decision or would be subject to an order issued by such board.

Declares that any intimidation of, or reprisal against, any employee because of the exercise of a right under this Act constitutes an unlawful employment practice that may be remedied in the same manner under this Act as is a violation of a law made applicable to congressional employees.

Permits the records and decisions of hearing boards to be made public if required for judicial review. Authorizes the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to have access to the hearings, deliberations, and decisions of the hearing board only after the board has made a decision with respect to the matter for which such hearings and deliberations of the board were made.

(Sec. 365) Limits a congressional employee to the judicial proceeding provided by this Act to redress prohibited practices. Prohibits courts or administrative bodies from having jurisdiction to entertain any civil action concerning or related to such prohibited practices.

Subtitle D: Miscellaneous - Directs the Committees on Government Operations in the House and on Governmental Affairs in the Senate to conduct, with the assistance of GAO, a comprehensive survey of all statutory reporting requirements, soliciting the views of the congressional committees, and to report legislation on or before December 31, 1996, to eliminate obsolete, nonessential, or duplicative reports.

Requires the Committees to establish a uniform and appropriate procedure for requiring agency reports to the Congress to expire after five years, subject to their specific reauthorization, and to report legislation by December 31, 1996, to sunset statutory reporting requirements.

(Sec. 372) Repeals provisions of Federal law and the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 to abolish the Joint Committee on Printing and the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library.

Establishes the Joint Committee on Information Management to: (1) coordinate information management for the Congress; (2) establish standards and applications policies for the Congress and its support agencies for information technologies; (3) ensure dissemination of executive branch information to the public; and (4) carry out all functions of the Joint Committee on Printing and the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library. Provides for the transfer of functions to the Joint Committee, except that those related to the supervision of the Botanic Garden and the Capitol art collection shall be transferred to the House Committee on Administration and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration.

Subtitle E: Budget Control - Budget Control Act of 1993 - Requires initial direct spending targets for FY 1994 through 1997 to equal total outlays for all direct spending except net interest and deposit insurance.

(Sec. 383) Sets forth required actions by the President and the Congress if actual or projected costs exceed targeted levels.

(Sec. 390) Requires the President and the Congress to seriously consider other alternatives before proposing reductions in means-tested programs.