G:\CMTE\RU\16\PROXY.XML ..................................................................... (Original Signature of Member) 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. RES. ll Authorizing remote voting by proxy in the House of Representatives and providing for official remote committee proceedings during a designated pandemic emergency, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Mr. MCGOVERN submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on lllllllllllllll RESOLUTION Authorizing remote voting by proxy in the House of Representatives and providing for official remote committee proceedings during a designated pandemic emergency, and for other purposes. 1 2 Resolved, SECTION 1. AUTHORIZATION OF REMOTE VOTING BY 3 4 PROXY DURING PANDEMIC EMERGENCY. (a) AUTHORIZATION.—Notwithstanding rule III, at 5 any time after the Speaker or the Speaker’s designee is 6 notified by the Sergeant-at-Arms, in consultation with the 7 Attending Physician, that a pandemic emergency is in efg:\VHLC\042120\042120.272.xml April 21, 2020 (11:49 p.m.) VerDate Mar 15 2010 23:49 Apr 21, 2020 Jkt 000000 (761574 9) PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\NLWOFSY\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\PROXY.XML G:\CMTE\RU\16\PROXY.XML 2 1 fect, the Speaker or the Speaker’s designee, in consulta2 tion with the Minority Leader or the Minority Leader’s 3 designee, may designate a period (hereafter in this resolu4 tion referred to as a ‘‘covered period’’) during which a 5 Member who is designated by another Member as a proxy 6 in accordance with section 2 may cast the vote of such 7 other Member or record the presence of such other Mem8 ber in the House. 9 (b) LENGTH OF COVERED PERIOD.— 10 (1) IN as provided in para- 11 graphs (2) and (3), a covered period designated by 12 the Speaker or the Speaker’s designee under sub- 13 section (a) shall terminate 60 days after the Speaker 14 or the Speaker’s designee designates such period. 15 (2) EXTENSION.—If, during a covered period, 16 the Speaker or the Speaker’s designee receives fur- 17 ther notification from the Sergeant-at-Arms, in con- 18 sultation with the Attending Physician, that the 19 pandemic emergency involved remains in effect, the 20 Speaker or the Speaker’s designee, in consultation 21 with the Minority Leader or the Minority Leader’s 22 designee, may extend the covered period for an addi- 23 tional 60 days. 24 (3) EARLY 25 23:49 Apr 21, 2020 TERMINATION.—If, during a covered period, the Speaker receives further notification by g:\VHLC\042120\042120.272.xml April 21, 2020 (11:49 p.m.) VerDate Mar 15 2010 GENERAL.—Except Jkt 000000 (761574 9) PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\NLWOFSY\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\PROXY.XML G:\CMTE\RU\16\PROXY.XML 3 1 the Sergeant-at-Arms, in consultation with the At- 2 tending Physician, that the pandemic emergency is 3 no longer in effect, the Speaker or the Speaker’s 4 designee shall terminate the covered period. 5 SEC. 2. PROCESS FOR DESIGNATION OF PROXIES. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.— 7 (1) DESIGNATION SIGNED LETTER.—In 8 order for a Member to designate another Member as 9 a proxy for purposes of section 1, the Member shall 10 submit to the Clerk a signed letter (including in 11 electronic form) specifying by name the Member who 12 is designated for such purposes. 13 14 (2) ALTERATION OR REVOCATION OF DESIGNA- TION.— 15 (A) IN GENERAL.—At any time after sub- 16 mitting a letter to designate a proxy under 17 paragraph (1), a Member may submit to the 18 Clerk a signed letter (including in electronic 19 form) altering or revoking the designation. 20 (B) AUTOMATIC REVOCATION UPON CAST- 21 ING OF VOTE OR RECORDING OF PRESENCE.— 22 If during a covered period described in section 23 1, a Member who has designated another Mem- 24 ber as a proxy under this section casts the 25 Member’s own vote or records the Member’s g:\VHLC\042120\042120.272.xml April 21, 2020 (11:49 p.m.) VerDate Mar 15 2010 BY 23:49 Apr 21, 2020 Jkt 000000 (761574 9) PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\NLWOFSY\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\PROXY.XML G:\CMTE\RU\16\PROXY.XML 4 1 own presence in the House, the Member shall 2 be considered to have revoked the designation 3 of any proxy under this subsection with respect 4 to such covered period. 5 (3) NOTIFICATION.—Upon receipt of a letter 6 submitted by a Member pursuant to paragraphs (1) 7 or (2), the Clerk shall notify the Speaker, the Major- 8 ity Leader, the Minority Leader, and the other 9 Member or Members involved of the authorization, 10 alteration, or revocation. 11 (b) MAINTENANCE AND AVAILABILITY OF LIST OF 12 DESIGNATIONS.—The Clerk shall maintain an updated 13 list of the designations, alterations, and revocations sub14 mitted or in effect under subsection (a), and shall make 15 such list publicly available in electronic form and available 16 during any vote conducted pursuant to section 3. 17 SEC. 3. PROCESS FOR VOTING DURING COVERED PERIODS. 18 (a) RECORDED VOTES ORDERED.— 19 (1) IN clause 6 of 20 rule I, during a covered period under section 1, the 21 yeas and nays shall be considered as ordered on any 22 vote on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays 23 are requested, or which is objected to under clause 24 6 of rule XX. g:\VHLC\042120\042120.272.xml April 21, 2020 (11:49 p.m.) VerDate Mar 15 2010 GENERAL.—Notwithstanding 23:49 Apr 21, 2020 Jkt 000000 (761574 9) PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\NLWOFSY\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\PROXY.XML G:\CMTE\RU\16\PROXY.XML 5 1 (2) INDICATIONS OF PROXY STATUS.—A Mem- 2 ber who casts a vote or records a presence as a des- 3 ignated proxy for another Member under this resolu- 4 tion— 5 (A) in the case of a vote by electronic de- 6 vice, shall do so by ballot card, indicating on 7 the ballot card that such vote is ‘‘by proxy’’; or 8 (B) in the case of a vote conducted by call 9 of the roll, shall indicate when responding to 10 the call of the roll that the vote is ‘‘by proxy’’. 11 (b) DETERMINATION OF QUORUM.—Any Member 12 whose vote is cast or whose presence is recorded by a des13 ignated proxy under this resolution shall be counted for 14 the purpose of establishing a quorum under the rules of 15 the House. 16 (c) INSTRUCTIONS FROM MEMBER AUTHORIZING 17 PROXY.— 18 (1) RECEIVING to cast- 19 ing the vote or recording the presence of another 20 Member as a designated proxy under this resolution, 21 the Member shall obtain an exact instruction from 22 the other Member with respect to such vote or 23 quorum call, in accordance with the regulations re- 24 ferred to in section 6. g:\VHLC\042120\042120.272.xml April 21, 2020 (11:49 p.m.) VerDate Mar 15 2010 INSTRUCTIONS.—Prior 23:49 Apr 21, 2020 Jkt 000000 (761574 9) PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\NLWOFSY\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\PROXY.XML G:\CMTE\RU\16\PROXY.XML 6 1 (2) FOLLOWING Member 2 casting the vote or recording the presence of another 3 Member as a designated proxy under this resolution 4 shall cast such vote or record such presence pursu- 5 ant to the exact instruction received from the other 6 Member under paragraph (1). 7 (d) LIMITATIONS.— 8 (1) MEASURES 9 FOR WHICH VOTES MAY BE CAST OR PRESENCE RECORDED.—A Member may 10 only cast the vote or record the presence of another 11 Member as a designated proxy under this resolution 12 with respect to— 13 (A) any vote related to a measure des- 14 ignated by the Speaker or the Speaker’s des- 15 ignee, in consultation with the Minority Leader 16 or the Minority Leader’s designee, as a re- 17 sponse to the COVID–19 pandemic; 18 (B) any vote related to a question of the 19 privileges of the House under rule IX; 20 (C) any vote on a question unrelated to a 21 specific measure or matter; or 22 (D) a quorum call. 23 (2) NO APPEAL OF DETERMINATION.—A deter- 24 mination by the Chair under paragraph (1) shall not 25 be subject to appeal. g:\VHLC\042120\042120.272.xml April 21, 2020 (11:49 p.m.) VerDate Mar 15 2010 INSTRUCTIONS.—A 23:49 Apr 21, 2020 Jkt 000000 (761574 9) PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\NLWOFSY\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\PROXY.XML G:\CMTE\RU\16\PROXY.XML 7 1 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZING REMOTE PROCEEDINGS IN COMMIT- 2 3 TEES. (a) AUTHORIZATION.—During any covered period 4 designated by the Speaker or the Speaker’s designee under 5 section 1(a), and notwithstanding any rule of the House 6 or its committees— 7 (1) any committee may conduct proceedings re- 8 motely, and any proceedings conducted remotely 9 shall be considered as official proceedings for all 10 purposes in the House; 11 (2) any committee conducting proceedings shall, 12 to the greatest extent practicable, ensure the ability 13 of members to participate remotely; 14 (3) committee members participating remotely 15 pursuant to this subsection shall be counted for the 16 purpose of establishing a quorum under the rules of 17 the House or the committee; 18 19 (4) committee members may cast a vote or record their presence remotely; and 20 (5) witnesses may appear remotely, and any 21 committee or chair thereof empowered to authorize 22 and issue subpoenas may authorize and issue sub- 23 poenas for return at a hearing or deposition con- 24 ducted remotely. 25 (b) RESOLUTION OF CONFLICTS.—In the event of 26 any conflict between the rules of the House or the comg:\VHLC\042120\042120.272.xml April 21, 2020 (11:49 p.m.) VerDate Mar 15 2010 23:49 Apr 21, 2020 Jkt 000000 (761574 9) PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\NLWOFSY\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\PROXY.XML G:\CMTE\RU\16\PROXY.XML 8 1 mittee and the technology employed by the committee for 2 remote participation, the chair of the committee, in con3 sultation with the ranking minority member, shall deter4 mine how to proceed in a manner consistent, to the max5 imum extent practicable, with the rules of the House and 6 the committee. 7 8 (c) APPLICATION TO SELECT COMMITTEES AND SUBCOMMITTEES.—For purposes of this section, the term 9 ‘‘committee’’ or ‘‘committees’’ includes a select committee 10 and a subcommittee. 11 SEC. 5. STUDY OF USE OF TECHNOLOGY TO FACILITATE 12 13 ABILITY OF MEMBERS TO WORK REMOTELY. (a) STUDY.—The Committee on House Administra- 14 tion, in consultation with the Committee on Rules and the 15 Clerk, shall study the feasibility of using technology to fa16 cilitate the remote participation of Members in the House 17 of Representatives who are unable to physically attend the 18 proceedings of the House of Representatives due to ex19 traordinary circumstances such as a pandemic emergency. 20 Such study shall include an assessment of the security and 21 usability of such technology, an assessment of remote com22 mittee proceedings held pursuant to section 4 of this reso23 lution, and an evaluation of remote legislative proceedings 24 held at the State or international level. g:\VHLC\042120\042120.272.xml April 21, 2020 (11:49 p.m.) VerDate Mar 15 2010 23:49 Apr 21, 2020 Jkt 000000 (761574 9) PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\NLWOFSY\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\PROXY.XML G:\CMTE\RU\16\PROXY.XML 9 1 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The chair of the Com- 2 mittee on House Administration, in consultation with the 3 ranking minority member, shall make the results of the 4 study publicly available on the Committee website. 5 SEC. 6. REGULATIONS. 6 To the greatest extent practicable, sections 1, 2, and 7 3 of this resolution shall be carried out in accordance with 8 regulations submitted for printing in the Congressional 9 Record by the chair of the Committee on Rules. g:\VHLC\042120\042120.272.xml April 21, 2020 (11:49 p.m.) VerDate Mar 15 2010 23:49 Apr 21, 2020 Jkt 000000 (761574 9) PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\NLWOFSY\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\PROXY.XML