Committee Prints

SUMMARY OF MAJOR PROVISIONS OF THE LEGISLATIVE REORGANIZATION ACT OF

1970

(Public Law 91-510, Oct. 26, 1970)

Introduction

The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (Public Law 91-510) represents the first major revision of congressional procedures and organization in 25 years. Although various changes have been effected in committee structure and procedure since the enactment of the 1946 Legislative Reorganization Act, they were relatively minor and were accomplished primarily through amendments to the Standing Rules of the two Houses. Where legislation was required, these changes were accomplished in legislative appropriation acts or by amendments to other statutes.

As in the case of the 1946 Act, all of the provisions of Title I, and certain provisions of other titles, have been enacted as an exercise of the rulemaking powers of both Houses, in order to preserve to each House the right to prescribe its own rules of procedure, and to facilitate additional amendments, as necessary. Although the House of Representatives has long followed the practice of incorporating the principal provisions of the 1946 Act into its Standing Rules, as they pertain to House practices and procedures, the Senate has, for the most part, utilized the provisions of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, as amended from time to time. Accordingly, many of the changes in organization, practice and procedure, embodied in the 1970 Act, amend provisions of the 1946 Act, as they pertain to the Senate, but amend the Rules of the House, as they pertain to that body.

With one major exception, H.R. 17654, as amended in the Senate and enacted into law, would implement most of the principal recommendations contained in the final report of the Joint Committee on the Organization of the Congress, filed in the Senate in the 89th Congress (S. Rept. 1414). The major exception referred to is the omission of provisions relative to the regulation of lobbying.

As enacted, the Act contains six titles. However, the major revisions, as they pertain to the Senate, are contained in four titles: "The Committee System" (Title I); "Fiscal Controls" (Title II); "Sources of Information" (Title III); and "Congress as an Institution" (Title IV). Title V relates solely to the House of Representatives and Title VI provides effective dates.

In its final form, the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 provides for (1) modifications in standing committee procedures relating to the powers of committee chairmen, hearings, reporting of measures, proxy votes, and the exercise of more effective legislative oversight by such committees; (2) the establishment of more effective

fiscal controls, including new procedures for congressional review of the Federal budget, increased utilization of the General Accounting Office, and new fiscal responsibilities in the legislative standing committees; (3) expansion of, and improvements in, congressional sources of information, including enlargement of permanent professional staffs of standing committees, and a reorganization and strengthening of the Legislative Reference Service; and (4) improvements in internal organization and administration relative to housekeeping activities, including the establishment of a standing Committee on Veterans' Affairs, a permanent Joint Committee on Congressional Operations, an Office of Placement and Management, a reorganized Capitol Guide Service, and a mandatory adjournment date of July 31st of each year, or, in the alternative, an August recess during the first session of each Congress, subject to certain limitations. Although many changes made refer to both Houses, emphasis herein has been placed upon those relating to the Senate. All section references are keyed to Public Law 91-510.

TITLE I. THE COMMITTEE SYSTEM

Unless otherwise noted, the provisions of Title I do not apply to the Senate Committee on Appropriations, which is treated separately in Title II.

Committee meeting procedures

1. A standing committee majority will be authorized to call special meetings and require that the reports on legislation which have been approved by the committee be filed, if the chairman fails or refuses to do so. (Secs. 102(a) and 105(a)).

2. All standing committee meetings, other than hearings, will be required to be open to the public, except executive sessions for markup or voting, or if a committee majority orders an executive session. (Sec. 103(a)).

3. The results of rollcall votes taken in any standing committee meeting on any measure, or amendment thereto, will have to be announced in the committee report, unless previously announced by the committee, and such an announcement must include a tabulation of the votes cast by each member for and against such measure or amendment. (Sec. 104(a)).

4. Existing rules, requiring the actual presence of a majority of members of a standing committee (including the Senate Committee on Appropriations) to report a measure, are retained, and the concurrence of a majority of committee members present is required to report a measure or matter. Although general proxies are prohibited, proxies may be used to report a measure, unless prohibited by committee rules, but only if the absent member has been informed of the matter on which he is being recorded and has affirmatively requested that he be so recorded. Committee action in reporting a measure in compliance with the above requirements will be considered a ratification by the committee of all previous action, and no point of order will lie with respect to the reported measure on the ground of failure of compliance.

1 All of Title I will become effective immediately prior to noon on January 3, 1971.

The results of rollcall votes to report any measure must be included, in the committee report, a tabulation of the votes cast by each member for and against such measure. Standing committees (including the Senate Committee on Appropriations) may adopt rules providing for proxy voting and may, in accordance with the Rules of the Senate, provide for a lesser number as a quorum, for any action other than the reporting of measures. (Secs. 106(a) and 243.)

5. Members of standing committees who give notice of intention to file supplementary, minority or additional views, at the time of committee approval of a measure, will be entitled to no less than 3 calendar days to do so; such views then will be printed as part of the committee raport in the same volume and their inclusion must be noted on the cover of the report. However, in the absence of timely notice, the committee report may be filed and printed immediately without such views. (Sec. 107(a).)

6. Standing committee reports (including those of the Appropriations Committee) must be available to Members of the Senate at least 3 days prior to consideration of a measure (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays), except for measures providing for a congressional declaration of war or national emergency, legislative veto procedures, or if waived by joint agreement of the majority and minority leadership; and every effort must be made to have printed hearings available. (Sec. 108(a).)

7. Standing committees requiring funds in excess of the $10,000 per Congress now authorized, will be required to submit, not later than January 31st of each year, one annual authorization resolution specifying the total amount sought and the amount for each subcommittee. Thereafter, additional funds can be obtained only by a supplementary resolution specifying the purpose for which it is sought and stating explicitly why such funds could not have been sought in the first resolution. In the appointment of staff personnel, pursuant to any such resolution, the minority must receive fair consideration. If committees are not organized by January 20th in the first session of a Congress, the resolution must be filed within 30 days following the designation of a majority of committee members. (Sec. 110(a).) Committee hearing procedures

8. Standing, select, and special committees are required to (1) give at least one week's public notice of the date, place and subject matter of any hearing, unless the committee determines that good cause exists for beginning at an earlier date; (2) conduct open hearings, unless the committee determines that the testimony to be taken may relate to matters of national security, tend to reflect adversely on any individual, or divulge matters, otherwise deemed confidential under provisions of law or regulations; (3) require witnesses to file with the committee clerk, at least one day prior to a hearing at which he is to appear, a written statement of his proposed testimony, unless waived by the committee chairman and ranking minority, and to require the committee staff, if requested by the committee, to prepare a digest of such statements as well as daily summaries of the testimony presented which, if requested by the committee, may be printed in the committee hearings; (4) permit witnesses selected by a majority of the minority to testify during at least one day of such hearings, upon request to the chairman; and (5) permit open hearings to be broadcast

by radio or television, subject to committee rules. Finally, no point of order will lie with respect to any measure reported by any such committee on the ground that hearings thereon were not properly conducted if the measure was reported in compliance with requirements described in paragraph 4, above. (Secs. 111(a), 112(a), 113 (a), 114(a), 115(a), and 116.)

Committee meetings during Senate sessions

9. Except for the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is authorized to meet at any time and for any purpose, no other Senate standing committee may meet while the Senate is in session, following the completion of the morning hour or the commencement of consideration of pending business, (whichever is earlier), unless agreed to by the majority and minority leaders, in which event such committee may sit for any purpose. (Sec. 117(a).)

Legislative review

10. The oversight functions of the Senate's standing committees are redesignated as "legislative review" and restated in more specific terms. Thus, each standing committee will be required to review and study, on a continuing basis, the application, administration and execution of those laws, or parts thereof, the subject matter of which is within the jurisdiction of that committee, in order to assist the Senate in connection with its appraisal and evaluation the manner in which laws enacted by the Congress are being administered, and to aid the Senate in the formulation and enactment of such modifications or changes in those laws or in the enactment of such additional legislation as may be necessary or appropriate. In addition, each such committee would be required to submit to the Senate, not later than March 31 of each odd-numbered year, a report detailing the activities of that committee for the preceding Congress. (Sec. 118(a).)

Conference reports

11. Each Senate and House conference report will be printed as a separate report of each House and will be accompanied by an explanatory statement, prepared jointly by the conferees of both Houses; it will be sufficiently detailed and explicit to inform their respective Houses as to the effect which the amendments or propositions contained therein will have upon these amendments or propositions to which they relate. If time for debate in the consideration of a conference report upon the Senate floor is limited, the time allotted for debate shall be equally divided between the majority and minority parties. (Sec. 125 (a) and (b).)

Note: The house has added further provisions to the effect that a substitute reported by the House conferees shall not include matter not committed to conference by either House, and the House report shall not include modifications that are beyond the scope of the issues committed to the conference. Furthermore, the House now permits separate votes on nongermane amendments to House-passed measures with 40 minutes debate equally divided for and against the amendment at issue; and no such amendment shall be agreed to by House

2 This provides a permanent statutory base for the existing practice under which the Senate by unanimous consent, confers blanket authority upon the Senate Appropriations Committee, either for the duration of a session or of an entire Congress, to meet at any time and for any purpose.

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