text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``House Ethics Commission 
  Establishment Act of 2007''.
  
  SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF HOUSE ETHICS COMMISSION.
  
      (a) Establishment.--There is established an independent ethics 
  commission within the legislative branch of the Government to be known 
  as the House Ethics Commission (in this Act referred to as the 
  ``Commission'').
      (b) Membership and Terms of Office.--(1) The Commission shall 
  consist of 12 individuals. Six former Democratic Members shall be 
  appointed by the Republican leader and 6 former Republican Members by 
  the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives. Except as 
  provided by paragraph (2), the terms of all members of the Commission 
  shall be 2 years and no member may serve for more than 6 years.
      (2) Of the members first appointed--
              (A) 2 appointed by each leader shall be for a term of 2 
          years;
              (B) 2 appointed by each leader shall be for a term of 4 
          years; and
              (C) 2 appointed by each leader shall be for a term of 6 
          years;
  as designated by each such leader at the time of appointment.
      (c) Chairman and Vice Chairman.--The chairman and the vice chairman 
  of the Commission shall be selected by the members of the Commission at 
  its first meeting. No member may serve for more than one 2-year term as 
  chairman and no member may serve for more than one 2-year term as vice 
  chairman.
      (d) Qualifications.--Only former Members of the House of 
  Representatives shall be eligible for appointment to the Commission.
              (1) Disqualifications for appointments.--
                      (A) Lobbying.--No individual who has been a 
                  lobbyist registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act 
                  of 1995 or engages in, or is otherwise employed in, 
                  lobbying of the Congress or who is an agent of a 
                  foreign principal registered under the Foreign Agents 
                  Registration Act within the 4-year period immediately 
                  preceding appointment shall be eligible for appointment 
                  to, or service on, the Commission.
                      (B) Incompatible office.--No member of the 
                  Commission appointed under subsection (b) may be an 
                  elected public official or an officer or employee of 
                  the Government.
              (2) Vacancies.--A vacancy on the Commission shall be filled 
          in the manner in which the original appointment was made.
      (e) Compensation.--Members shall each be entitled to receive the 
  daily equivalent of the maximum annual rate of basic pay in effect for 
  Level III of the Executive Schedule for each day (including travel 
  time) during which they are engaged in the actual performance of duties 
  vested in the Commission.
      (f) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the Commission shall 
  constitute a quorum.
      (g) Meetings.--The Commission shall meet at the call of the 
  chairman or a majority of its members.
  
  SEC. 3. DUTIES OF COMMISSION.
  
      The Commission is authorized--
              (1) to investigate any alleged violation, by a Member, 
          officer, or employee of the House of Representatives, of any 
          law, rule, regulation, or other standard of conduct applicable 
          to the conduct of such Member, officer, or employee in the 
          performance of his duties or the discharge of his 
          responsibilities, and after notice and hearing (unless the 
          right to a hearing is waived by the Member, officer, or 
          employee), shall report to the House of Representatives its 
          findings of fact and recommendations, if any, upon the final 
          disposition of any such investigation, and such action as the 
          Commission may deem appropriate in the circumstances;
              (2) to issue any letter of reproval or admonishment with 
          respect to such an alleged violation;
              (3) to report to the appropriate Federal or State 
          authorities any substantial evidence of a violation, by a 
          Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives, 
          of any law applicable to the performance of his duties or the 
          discharge of his responsibilities, which may have been 
          disclosed in a Commission investigation; and
              (4) to adopt rules governing its procedures to provide 
          protections to respondents comparable to those that were 
          provided by clause 3 of rule XI of the Rules of the House of 
          Representatives in effect immediately before the amendments to 
          such rule made by section 8.
  
  SEC. 4. POWERS OF COMMISSION.
  
      (a) Hearings and Evidence.--The Commission or, on the authority of 
  the Commission, the chairman or vice chairman, may, for the purpose of 
  carrying out this Act--
              (1) hold such hearings and sit and act at such times and 
          places, take such testimony, receive such evidence, administer 
          such oaths; and
              (2) subject to subsection (b), require, by subpoena or 
          otherwise, the attendance and testimony of such witnesses and 
          the production of such books, records, correspondence, 
          memoranda, papers, and documents, as the Commission or the 
          chairman or vice chairman may determine advisable.
      (b) Subpoenas.--
              (1) In general.--A subpoena may be issued only under the 
          signature of the chairman or the vice chairman, and may be 
          served by any person designated by the chairman or the vice 
          chairman.
      (c) Obtaining Information.--Upon request of the Commission, the 
  head of any agency or instrumentality of the Government shall furnish 
  information deemed necessary by the panel to enable it to carry out its 
  duties.
  
  SEC. 5. PROCEDURAL RULES.
  
      (a) Majority Approval.--No report or recommendation relating to the 
  official conduct of a Member, officer, or employee of the House of 
  Representatives shall be made by the Commission, and no investigation 
  of such conduct shall be undertaken by the Commission, unless approved 
  by the affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the Commission.
      (b) Investigations.--Except in the case of an investigation 
  undertaken by the Commission on its own initiative, the Commission may 
  undertake an investigation relating to the official conduct of an 
  individual Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives 
  only--
              (1) upon receipt of a complaint, in writing and under oath, 
          made by or submitted to a Member of the House of 
          Representatives and transmitted to the Commission by such 
          Member, or
              (2) upon receipt of a complaint from the chairman of the 
          Committee on Standards of Official Conduct of the House of 
          Representatives, in writing and under oath, made by that 
          committee.
      (c) Prohibition of Certain Investigations.--No investigation shall 
  be undertaken by the Commission of any alleged violation of a law, 
  rule, regulation, or standard of conduct not in effect at the time of 
  the alleged violation.
      (d) Disclosure.--No information or testimony received, or the 
  contents of a complaint or the fact of its filing, shall be publicly 
  disclosed by any member of the Commission or staff of the Commission 
  unless specifically authorized in each instance by a vote of the 
  Commission.
  
  SEC. 6. STAFF OF COMMISSION.
  
      The Commission may appoint and fix the compensation of such staff 
  as the Commission considers necessary to perform its duties. The 
  director shall be appointed jointly by the Speaker and minority leader 
  and shall be paid at a rate not to exceed the rate of basic pay payable 
  for Level III of the Executive Schedule.
  
  SEC. 7. ACTION ON COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS.
  
      (a) Printing of Reports in Congressional Record.--Upon receipt by 
  the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct of the House of 
  Representatives of any report of the Commission, the Speaker of the 
  House of Representatives shall have the report printed in the 
  Congressional Record.
      (b) House Consideration of Independent Ethics Commission 
  Recommendations.--Within 14 calendar days after a report referred to in 
  subsection (a) is printed in the Congressional Record, that portion of 
  the report recommending action by the House of Representatives 
  respecting any alleged violation, by a Member, officer, or employee of 
  the House of Representatives, of any law, rule, regulation, or other 
  standard of conduct applicable to the conduct of such Member, officer, 
  or employee in the performance of his duties or the discharge of his 
  responsibilities shall be introduced (by request) in the House by the 
  Speaker of the House, for himself and the minority leader of the House 
  in the form of a resolution. This resolution shall constitute a 
  question of privilege under rule IX of the Rules of the House of 
  Representatives. Any Member favoring the resolution may call it up as a 
  question of privilege but only on the third day after the calendar date 
  upon which such Member announces to the House his intention to do so.
  
  SEC. 8. AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES OF THE HOUSE TO CHANGE THE DUTIES OF 
                THE COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CONDUCT.
  
      (a) House Rules Amendments.--Clause 3 of rule XI of the Rules of 
  the House of Representatives is amended as follows:
              (1) In paragraph (a), strike subparagraphs (1), (2), and 
          (3), and redesignate subparagraphs (4), (5), and (6), as 
          subparagraphs (1), (2), and (3), respectively.
              (2)(A) Paragraph (b)(1) is amended by striking ``(A)'', by 
          striking ``a resolution, report, recommendation, or'' and 
          inserting ``an'', and by striking ``, or, except as provided in 
          subparagraph (2), undertake an investigation'', and by striking 
          subdivision (B).
              (B) Paragraph (b) is further amended by striking 
          subparagraphs (2), (3), (4), and (5) and by redesignating 
          subparagraphs (6) and (7) as subparagraphs (2) and (3), 
          respectively.
              (3) Strike paragraphs (j) (k), (l), (m), (n), (o), (p), and 
          (q).
      (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 803 of the Ethics Reform Act of 
  1989 (2 U.S.C. 29d) is amended by striking subsections (c) and (d).
  
  SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE.
  
      This Act shall take effect upon the date of its enactment, except 
  that sections 3, 4, and 8 shall not take effect until the later of 6 
  months after such date of enactment or immediately prior to noon 
  January 3, 2009.
target: House Ethics Commission Establishment Act of 2007 - Establishes an independent House Ethics Commission within the legislative branch.
  
  Amends Rule XI (Procedures of Committees and Unfinished Business) of the Rules of the House of Representatives to revise the duties of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to conform with this Act.
feat_title: To establish the House Ethics Commission, and for other purposes.