Bill: Pending Congressional Hearing Reform Act

[Omegabiebel]

A
BILL
To

Amend the Legislative Standards Act to Reform Congressional Hearing Procedures​

The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:

1 - Short Title and Enactment
(1) This Act may be cited as the 'Congressional Hearing Reform Act.'
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) This Act has been authored by Senate President CaseyLeFaye.
(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by Senate President CaseyLeFaye.

2 - Reasons
(1) Our law on hearings is currently written as if all hearings are held in-game.
(2) Much of the law is repetitive, contradictory, and redundant.
(3) There are unreasonable limitations, such as not allowing Congress to require testimony from a Secretary more than once in a 6 week period — something that applies to no other government position. This is a restriction on Congress’s ability to hold the Executive accountable.
(4) There is currently no procedure on how to close a hearing.
(5) To amend the Legislative Standards Act.

3 - Terms
(1) The Legislative Standards Act shall be amended as follows:

“14 - Congressional Hearings​

(1) Functionality​

(a) To ensure transparency and accountability, all hearings must be summarised in writing by the Presiding Officers' Office and published.​

(b) There must be a minimum of three representatives in attendance at each question time and the most Senior Member will act as Chair of the Committee overseeing question time.​

(1) Location​

(a) Hearings must take place in a Discord channel visible to the public.​

(2) Initiating a Hearing​

(a) Through a simple majority vote in a chamber of Congress, that chamber can open a chamber-specific hearing. Through a simple majority vote in both chambers of Congress, Congress can open a joint hearing.​

(b) In chamber-specific hearings, only members of Congress from that chamber shall be able to participate. In joint hearings, members of both chambers of Congress shall be able to participate.​

(c) A motion to hold a hearing may specify whether it is a chamber-specific hearing or a joint hearing. If unspecified, then it shall automatically be assumed to be a chamber-specific hearing.​

(d) A chamber-specific hearing can become a joint hearing through a simple majority vote in both chambers, with such a motion initiating in the chamber that the hearing began in.​

(i) If a subpoena is issued in a chamber-specific hearing that later becomes a joint hearing, the subpoena is still valid and in effect.​

(e) A motion to hold a hearing may include one or more subpoenas as a part of the motion. Further subpoenas can be issued through passage of a motion in the chamber(s) holding the hearing.​

(3) Closing a Hearing​

(a) A hearing shall automatically be closed after five (5) days of no:​

(i) invitations to testify;​

(ii) questions asked by participating members of Congress;​

(iii) proposals of motions to subpoena;​

(iv) votes on motions to subpoena; and​

(v) passage of motions to subpoena.​

(b) A hearing may be closed through a consent of a simple majority of the chamber(s) holding the hearing.​

(c) No hearing shall close solely as the result of a Congressional election.​

(d) The five-day count mentioned in 3(a) of this Section shall pause when:​

(i) at least one of the chambers of Congress participating in the hearing has no presiding officer;​

(ii) at least one of the chambers of Congress participating in the hearing has not amended or reaffirmed its extant standing orders as required by law; and/or​

(iii) the hearing has no chairperson.​

(4) Attendance Subpoenas​

(a) Through a simple majority, the chamber(s) of Congress holding a hearing Congress can subpoena any citizen number of persons or entities to appear before a that hearing. The Presiding Officers' Office will arrange a time that works for Congress and the individual being subpoenaed. Failure to attend the agreed meeting time appear within 72 hours of being summoned will result in a Contempt of Congress charge.​

(b) The subpoena must state the reasoning for the hearing its reason.​

(c) In extraordinary circumstances, the executive member may be granted the ability to submit a written response to questions put forward by the Congress. This will be reviewed and decided upon by Congress.​

(c) Where the subpoena relates to is for a Government or business entity, the subpoenaed citizen entity may offer an alternative representative to attend in their place. However, if any individual (e.g. the President or a Secretary) is specifically summoned, then an alternative representative cannot be offered. e.g. The President may nominate a member of cabinet to attend in their place.​

(d) Subpoenaed persons and entities are required to testify in the hearing when questioned by any member of a participating chamber of Congress.​

(5) Invitations to Testify​

(a) The chairperson of a hearing may offer an invitation to testify to any person or entity. This does not require the consent of any other member of Congress, but may be overridden through a simple majority in the relevant chamber(s). An invitation to testify may still be overridden even if it has been accepted to the invitee, which the invitee shall no longer have permission to testify in the hearing.​

(i) If an invitation to testify in a specific hearing is overridden, then another invitation to testify in that hearing cannot be offered to the same person or entity.​

(b) Those invited to testify cannot provide false testimony, but they may choose to not answer certain questions as long as they explicitly state that they are opting not to answer.​

(c) A person or entity invited to testify may dismiss itself from the hearing at any time, and the chairperson of the hearing may dismiss any invited persons or entities at any time.​

(i) If dismissed, the person or entity shall require another invitation to testify or a subpoena to testify in the hearing once more.​

(d) Any offered invitations to testify must be disclosed to the chamber(s) of Congress holding the hearing.​

(6) Chairperson​

(a) The chairperson of a hearing shall be the member of Congress who proposed that hearing.​

(b) If the chairperson of a hearing ceases to be a member of a chamber participating in that hearing, the presiding officer of the chamber in which the hearing motion was proposed shall become the new chairperson of that hearing (once elected, if not yet elected).​

(c) The chamber(s) holding the hearing may change the chairperson of the hearing to a different member of Congress through a simple majority vote.​

(7) Right to Not Self-Incriminate​

(a) A person or entity that is subpoenaed and/or invited to testify may invoke their right not to produce self-incriminating evidence during the hearing.​

(8) Confirmation Hearings​

(a) A Confirmation Hearing shall occur within 24 hours whenever an individual is nominated for a position in which the Senate must vote on the nomination.​

(i) Positions may be exempt from this as specified in the Standing Orders of the Senate.​

(b) Confirmation Hearings shall be Senate chamber-specific hearings and may not be expanded to include both chambers.​

(c) The nominee shall automatically be subpoenaed.​

(d) Unless otherwise specified by the Standing Orders of the Senate, the President of the Senate shall be the initial chairperson of a Confirmation Hearing.​

(9) Standing Orders​

(a) Each chamber of Congress may create further rules for their own chamber-specific hearings in their Standing Orders, as long as such rules do not conflict with any law.​

(i) The Senate may create separate rules for Confirmation Hearings and other hearings specific to the Senate.​

(b) Further rules for joint hearings must be agreed upon by both chambers of Congress.​

(c) Further rules may substitute the provisions for the automatic closure of hearings described in Subsection 3(a) of this Section.​

​

​

15 - Congressional Question Time​

(1) Functionality​

(a) To ensure transparency and accountability all question times must be recorded and written down by the Clerk in a document or by another congressional official if the Clerk is unavailable, These documents should be made available to the general public at the earliest possible time.​

(b) There must be a minimum of Three representatives in attendance at each question time.​

(2) Schedule​

(a) Question time will occur when the Congress passes a motion by a simple majority to request the testimony of a secretary.​

(b) The Speaker of Congress shall propose not fewer than two and not more than four times to the Secretary/Secretaries requested to appear before Congress.​

(c) If no time proposed by the Speaker works for the Secretary/Secretaries, the Secretary may request an alternate time from the Speaker or a member of their office.​

(d) Once a time is agreed upon, the Speaker of Congress is to announce via #government-announcements that a meeting has been scheduled. This announcement is to come no fewer than three days prior to the meeting.​

(e) In the event that a time cannot be arranged with a Secretary, they may nominate their deputy or a member of the relevant cabinet department to represent them, or to submit responses to Congress' questions in writing.​

(2) Conduct​

(a) Testimony is to be heard in either of the hearing rooms in the capitol.​

(b) The hearing is to be presided over by either the chair of the committee impaneled to hear testimony or the Speaker of Congress. How the members of Congress determine the chair of the committee is to be up to the members of Congress, as is the composition of the committee.​

(c) Representatives will ask questions of the Secretary or their appointed representative in descending order of seniority.​

(d) If requested, members of the committee impaneled to hear testimony shall provide written copies of the questions they wish to ask.​

(e) Meetings are to be open to the public, and a report is to be published by the congressional Press Assistant following each meeting.​

(3) Legal Obligation​

(a) When a Secretary's presence is requested by the Congress, they are required to attend a hearing when scheduled as outlined above.​

(b) Secretaries are obligated to attend a hearing or provide testimony in writing when summoned by Congress. Secretaries may meet their legal obligation under this clause by appointing their deputy or another member of their department to stand in for them, or by submitting responses to questions asked by Congress in writing.​

(c) If a Secretary fails to meet their obligations under this section, they may be fined an amount not greater than 500 dollars if a super majority in Congress holds the Secretary in contempt.​

(d) If a Secretary fails to meet their obligations repeatedly, Congress reserves the power to remove the Secretary through Impeachment.​

(4) Limitations​

(a) Congress may not require testimony from any one secretary more than once in a period of 6 weeks.​

(b) This limitation does not apply to summons before an impeachment trial.​

​

16 - Congressional Subpoenas​

(1) Process​

(a) Any member of the Congress may propose a motion to subpoena any number of people or entities to testify.​

(b) Motions to exercise Congressional Subpoenas are accepted or denied by the chamber that they are proposed. Congressional Committees are also able to accept or deny Congressional Subpoenas.​

(c) Should the motion pass, the subject(s) of the motion will be compelled to testify before Congress by the date specified in the motion.​

(d) Should the subject of a subpoena fail to appear before Congress without reasonable justification they will be charged 1% of their balance for each day with a minimum of $100.​

(e) Subjects of Congressional subpoenas may invoke their right not to incriminate themselves during the hearing.”​

4 - Transition
(1) All ongoing House of Representatives-specific hearings shall hereby have their chairperson be the Speaker of the House.
(2) All ongoing Senate-specific hearings shall hereby have their chairperson be the President of the Senate.
(3) All ongoing joint hearings shall hereby have their chairperson be the Speaker of the House.
(4) All ongoing hearings shall hereby be subject to the rules set out by this Act.