May 15, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 92 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Pages H2257-H2258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 REMOTE COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS REGULATIONS PURSUANT TO HOUSE RESOLUTION 
                          965, 116TH CONGRESS


                                     House of Representatives,

                                     Washington, DC, May 15, 2020.
       Madam Speaker: Pursuant to Section 4(h) of House Resolution 
     965, 116th Congress, I hereby submit the following 
     regulations regarding remote committee proceedings for 
     printing in the Congressional Record.
           Sincerely,
                                                James P. McGovern,
                                     Chairman, Committee on Rules.


 REMOTE COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS REGULATIONS PURSUANT TO HOUSE RESOLUTION 
                                  965

       A. Presence and Voting
       1. Members participating remotely in a committee proceeding 
     must be visible onscreen within the software platform when 
     joining the proceeding for the purposes of identity 
     verification.
       2. Members participating remotely in a committee proceeding 
     must continue to use the software platform's video function 
     for the remainder of the time they are attending the 
     proceeding unless they experience connectivity issues or 
     other technical problems that render the member unable to 
     fully participate on camera (except as provided in 
     regulations A.3 and A.4).
       3. The exception in regulation A.2 for connectivity issues 
     or other technical problems does not apply if a point of 
     order has been made that a quorum is not present. Members 
     must be visible to the committee chair in order to be counted 
     for the purpose of establishing a quorum.
       4. The exception in regulation A.2 for connectivity issues 
     or other technical problems does not apply during a vote. 
     Members must be visible to the committee chair in order to 
     vote.
       5. Members experiencing connectivity issues or other 
     technical problems hindering their participation in the 
     proceeding should inform committee majority or minority 
     staff.
       6. The chair shall make a good faith effort to provide 
     every member experiencing connectivity issues an opportunity 
     to participate fully in the proceedings.
       7. Members may not participate in more than one proceeding 
     simultaneously.
       B. Technology
       1. When a proceeding is conducted at a remote ``place'' 
     pursuant to section 4(a)(6) of House Resolution 965, 
     streaming the proceeding on the committee's website 
     constitutes sufficient public, Member, and press access for 
     the purposes of section 4(e) of such

[[Page H2258]]

     resolution. Proceedings may be streamed on a reasonably short 
     delay if necessary for technical reasons.
       2. Any text based or private messaging function in the 
     software platform used for virtual proceedings must be 
     disabled unless it is used to provide technical or logistical 
     support to members, witnesses, or staff, which may be 
     excluded from the public video stream and will not be 
     considered a committee record.
       3. When providing notice of a remote proceeding, chairs 
     must also provide notice of the software platform to be used 
     for participation. Notice of such software platform 
     constitutes proper notice of a ``place'' for purposes of 
     section 4(a)(6) of House Resolution 965.
       4. Members must have the opportunity to participate in a 
     non-public rehearsal on the committee's chosen software 
     platform prior to the first remote full committee hearing, 
     prior to the first remotely-attended full committee markup, 
     and prior to the first remote deposition held using that 
     platform, and members shall be given reasonable notice (no 
     less than 48 hours) regarding the timing of any such 
     rehearsal. Subcommittee chairs are encouraged to provide the 
     same non-public rehearsal opportunities to subcommittees.
       5. Members participating remotely must be provided access 
     to technical support via telephone throughout any proceeding.
       6. Only members, witnesses, temporarily designated 
     participating staff, and necessary support staff may have 
     participatory access on the software platform, meaning access 
     which enables an individual to speak and be seen, as opposed 
     to simply viewing the proceeding.
       7. The committee majority staff, in consultation with the 
     committee minority staff, must prepare a list of individuals 
     with participatory access on the software platform and share 
     the list with members at least 24 hours prior to any 
     proceeding, to the greatest extent practicable.
       8. Official reporters should be given direct access to the 
     platform itself rather than the livestream.
       9. Members of the press and the public may view remote 
     proceedings via the committee website, as outlined in 
     regulation B.1.
       10. Committees must conduct remote proceedings using 
     software platforms certified by the Chief Administrative 
     Officer. The Chief Administrative Officer should inform 
     committees, including the ranking minority members, each time 
     a software platform is certified.
       11. To the greatest extent practicable, the software 
     platform used for remote proceedings must enable participants 
     to view proceedings in a ``grid view'' format.
       12. Committee chairs should inform the chair and ranking 
     minority member of the Committee on House Administration of 
     any impactful technical issues arising from conducting 
     proceedings remotely.
       C. Deliberations
       1. Committee chairs must allow members participating 
     remotely reasonable latitude when they are seeking 
     recognition for motions, points of order, or any other 
     procedures where timeliness is a factor in the event that 
     there are problems with technology such as lag or having the 
     microphone muted.
       2. Members participating remotely must seek recognition 
     verbally. It is the responsibility of the member seeking 
     recognition to unmute their microphone prior to speaking.
       3. No one may unmute a member's microphone absent an 
     explicit request from the member, which may be via another 
     channel.
       4. The chair or an individual designated by the chair may 
     mute participants' microphones when they are not under 
     recognition for the purposes of eliminating inadvertent 
     background noise. This policy must be carried out uniformly 
     and should be announced at the outset of the proceeding. 
     Members should have a clear understanding of the need to 
     unmute their microphone each time they wish to speak.
       D. Decorum
       1. Member microphones may not be muted for the purposes of 
     enforcing decorum.
       2. Members participating remotely must conform to the same 
     standards for proper attire as are required to participate in 
     a committee proceeding in person.
       3. Members and witnesses participating remotely should 
     appear before a nonpolitical, professionally appropriate 
     background that is minimally distracting to other members and 
     witnesses, to the greatest extent possible.
       4. Members are expected to follow proper decorum with 
     respect to the display of exhibits when participating 
     remotely and should refrain from displaying an exhibit when 
     not under recognition.
       E. Committee Process
       1. For purposes of section 4(b) of House Resolution 965, 
     committees will be considered to have met the requirements 
     for conducting a meeting if they have held at least two 
     hearings with remote participation and if they have completed 
     a non-public business meeting rehearsal pursuant to 
     regulation B.4. One such hearing must be at the full 
     committee level, and the other hearing may be at the 
     subcommittee or full committee level.
       2. Committee chairs shall respect members' disparate time 
     zones when scheduling committee proceedings.
       3. Committees shall provide an electronic repository, which 
     may be an email inbox, for the submission of motions, 
     amendments, and other documents pursuant to section 4(c)(3) 
     of House Resolution 965 and shall notify members regarding 
     how to properly submit documents electronically before and 
     during a committee proceeding.
       4. Pursuant to section 4(c)(5) of House Resolution 965, in 
     determining the order in which amendments to a measure or 
     matter pending before a committee will be considered in a 
     proceeding with remote participants, the chair may give 
     priority to amendments, otherwise in order, that have been 
     filed with the committee through the electronic repository at 
     least 4 hours prior to the business meeting on said measure 
     or matter.
       5. Within 24 hours of declaring a recess pursuant to 
     section 4(c)(2) of House Resolution 965 the chair shall 
     notify members of the circumstances which required the recess 
     to be declared.
       6. Committees shall facilitate the maintenance of 
     electronically-submitted documents as part of any committee 
     record maintained pursuant to clause 2(e)(l) of rule XI.
       F. Committee Reports
       1. Committee reports shall be filed in a single 
     comprehensive submission including: (1) the report as a 
     single electronic document; (2) the electronic files 
     comprising such document; and (3) an electronic file 
     containing the reported measure. Such committee reports shall 
     not be officially processed unless all requirements are met, 
     and properly filed reports shall be processed in the form 
     submitted.
       2. Committee reports filed electronically remain subject to 
     all House rules regarding such reports to the extent 
     consistent with House Resolution 965.
       3. Except for reports submitted after the receipt of 
     separate views pursuant to clause 2(c) of rule XIII, 
     committee reports filed electronically will be officially 
     processed only when the House is in session. Committees must 
     provide reasonable notice to the Clerk when the House is out 
     of session prior to filing a report electronically upon 
     receiving all separate views pursuant to clause 2(c) of rule 
     XIII.
       4. Committees shall consult with the Clerk regarding the 
     appropriate manner in which to submit reports electronically 
     pursuant to House Resolution 965.
       5. Any committee report of activities submitted pursuant to 
     clause l(d)(l) of rule XI should include a list of 
     proceedings conducted with remote participation.
       G. Witnesses
       1. Pursuant to section 4(c)(6) of House Resolution 965, 
     witness counsel should be allowed access on the remote 
     proceeding software platform if they are not in the physical 
     presence of the witness. It is recommended that counsel 
     facilitate a separate secure line of communication with the 
     witness. A witness may not be unmuted by any other individual 
     and should be allowed to use such secure line of 
     communication while testifying to confer with counsel.
       2. A witness may not allow an individual not invited to 
     testify to speak on the platform when the witness is 
     testifying remotely. A committee chair may provide exceptions 
     on occasions where other individuals are necessary to 
     facilitate the witness participation in the hearing (e.g. 
     translators).
       H. Depositions
       1. Depositions conducted remotely shall continue to be 
     subject to regulations, including supplemental regulations, 
     submitted by the chair of the Committee on Rules pursuant to 
     section 103(a)(2) of House Resolution 6.


 =========================== NOTE =========================== 

  
  May 15, 2020, on page H2258, the following appeared: submitted 
by the chair of the Committee on Rules pursuant to section I 
03(a)(2) of House Resolution 6.
  
  The online version has been corrected to read: submitted by the 
chair of the Committee on Rules pursuant to section 103(a)(2) of 
House Resolution 6.


 ========================= END NOTE ========================= 


       I. Definitions
       1. For purposes of section 4 of House Resolution 965 and 
     these regulations, ``proceedings'' or ``committee 
     proceedings'' refers to meetings, hearings, or depositions, 
     as appropriate.
       2. For purposes of section 4 of House Resolution 965 and 
     these regulations, ``remote'' proceedings are proceedings 
     conducted entirely through a software platform instead of at 
     a physical location. ``Remotely-attended'' proceedings are 
     proceedings in which one or more (or all) members are 
     participating remotely. A member ``participating remotely'' 
     is a member who is attending the proceeding using technology, 
     and not in-person.
       3. For purposes of these regulations, ``mute'' means to 
     deactivate a microphone such that audio is not transmitted 
     from the microphone to participants of the committee 
     proceeding and ``unmute'' means to activate a microphone such 
     that audio is transmitted from the microphone to participants 
     of the committee proceeding.

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