RULES OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ADMINISTRATIVE LAW AND GOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS GENERAL RULES 1. The subcommittee shall meet at least once a week unless otherwise directed by the chairman. 2. Each subcommittee hearing and all other subcommittee meetings for the transaction of business, including the markup of legislation, shall be open to the public except when the subcommittee, in open session and with a majority present, determines by rollcall vote that all or part of the remainder of the meeting on that day shall be closed to the public.* 3. For the purposes of taking testimony and receiving evidence, a quorum shall consist of two members. A quorum for reporting a measure or recommendation to the full committee, authorizing the issuance of a subpoena, or closing a meeting to the public shall consist of six members. A quorum for the transaction of all other subcommittee business shall consist of four members. RULES APPLICABLE TO PRIVATE BILLS 1. No consideration shall be given to any bill until the subcommittee has received sufficient evidence. Upon request, the clerk will secure departmental or agency comments on the bill. 2. Upon completion of the file, the staff shall present the bill to the subcommittee. The chairman may then refer the bill to a special subcommittee which may consist of one or more members. 3. Presentation or oral evidence at hearings on private bills shall be limited to 15 minutes for each side. This rule may be modified by order of the chairman in his discretion. 4. The chairman is authorized to report favorably bills favorably reported in a preceding Congress by the committee and passed by the House but, if it shall appear to the chairman that the bill requires further consideration, rule 2 shall apply. *See: House Rule XI(2.) (g) (1). 5. The chairman is authorized to report favorably bills appropriating not more than $500, when such bills are recommended for enactment by the Government department or office involved. 6. The subcommittee shall not consider any claim which accrued more than 15 years before January 1 of the year in which the first session of the current Congress convenes, unless the claim was favorably reported during the immediately preceding Congress, but this rule will not bar the consideration of those claims which were finally disposed of after that date by a court or Government agency. This rule may be waived only upon order of two-thirds of the subcommittee, present and voting. NOTE TIME RULE An exception is provided in the rule for claims antedating the time limit which had been favorably reported during the immediately preceding Congress. This enables the subcommittee to continue its consideration of claims which had previously been approved by the committee, but not enacted by the Congress. The rule applies to all claims regardless of the form of the bill. Thus, the rule cannot be avoided by changing a bill which would ordinarily call for settlement by decision of the Congress and direct appropriation into a jurisdictional bill, so as to require determination of the claim by a court or some other authority. It should be noted that the rule applies to the date a claim "accrued," not the date it was presented to the Congress, thereby differing from the ordinary statute of limitations, the operation of which is estopped by formal presentation of the matter, or the filing of suit. Consequently, many claims heretofore presented to the committee cannot, and will not, under the rule, be considered by it. The rule penalizes either for delay in presentation of a claim or delay in the assertion of the claim before the Congress after its presentation. 7. The subcommittee shall not consider any claim adversely reported by it at a previous consideration and tabled by the full committee except upon presentation of new and substantial evidence disclosing a material change in facts which, in the chairman's opinion, is sufficient to warrant reopening the case. NOTE BILLS ADVERSELY REPORTED OR REJECTED While this rule is of long standing, many of the private bills referred to the subcommittee concern claims considered and rejected by it in previous years. The number of bills referred to the subcommittee make it impossible to continue to review cases which were the subjects of unfavorable consideration at a prior time. The subcommittee has adopted the position that a claim considered by it and rejected at a previous consideration should be viewed in the same light as a case which has been adversely decided by a court. In a judicial proceeding, a second case involving the same subject matter would be summarily dismissed by the court, and the subcommittee has concluded that the same considerations apply in matters brought before it. In applying the exception contained in the rule, the subcommittee has required that the evidence be material in that it relate to the facts of the case and the change in the facts referred to in the rule. Further, the evidence must not have been available, or, with due diligence, capable of having been presented at the time of the prior consideration. 8. The subcommittee shall not consider any claim filed with the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, Department of Labor, considered on its merits and disallowed; or any bill awarding or increasing compensation to an employee or his dependents in lieu of that prescribed by chapter 81.-Compensation for Work Injuries, of title 5, United States Code (formerly the Federal Employees' Compensation Act of September 7, 1916, as amended), or otherwise interfering with the provisions and compensation of that chapter, except bills to waive the limitations of time contained in sections 8119, 8121 and 8122, of chapter 81 of title 5 (or of sections 15 to 20, inclusive, of the previous act), and these sections may be waived only upon order of twothirds of the subcommittee, present and voting. NOTE EMPLOYEES' COMPENSATION This rule has the effect of removing from the committee's jurisdiction the subject of employees' compensation in any but the one permissible form, the time limitation waiver. The subject is not now nor has it ever been considered a proper one for the committee, and it is specifically covered, in all phases, by the codified provisions of the Federal Employees' Compensation Act of September 7, 1916, as amended, now set forth in chapter 81 of title 5, U.S.C. and administered thereunder by the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, Department of Labor. Bills to waive the limitations of time contained in sections 8119, 8121 and 8122 of chapter 81 of title 5, U.S.C. (formerly sections 15 to 20, inclusive, of the Employees' Compensation Act of September 7, 1916), may be considered upon vote of two-thirds of the subcommittee. These limitations relate to the time within which claims must be filed with the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, Department of Labor, the longest allowable period being 5 years. Bills authorizing their waiver do not in any manner adjudicate the claim involved, a function which is performed by the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, Department of Labor, under the remaining provisions of chapter 81 (Compensation for Work Injuries) of title 5, U.S.C., as if timely claim has been made direct to that Office in the first instance. As a matter of policy, these bills will include, if approved by the committee, a provision precluding the receipt of benefits for any period prior to their date of approval. In addition, it is customary for such bills to include a limitation requiring presentation of claims thereunder within 6 months from the date of approval. The showing required by the committee to warrant favorable consideration of such a bill is at least a prima facie case, coupled with justification for failure to file within the time prescribed by the act. These are the only bills relat ing to employees' compensation which the committee will entertain. In the past, private bills have been referred to the committee which would have modified the application of the substantive provisions of the Federal Employee's Compensation Act (now codified in chapter 81 of title 5, U.S.C.) in specific cases. For example, a bill might provide for the granting of compensation in a case where a claim was denied by the Bureau of Employee's Compensation (or the successor Office of Workers' Compensation Programs), or it might provide for greater compensation than that stated in the act, or it might provide compensation in an instance not recognized under the act. The subcommittee will not consider such bills, for rule 11 explicitly bars such consideration. In the past, the provisions of the Employees' Compensation Act have been extended in a limited manner to employees of the Civil Works Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration, and to other categories of Claimants. Rule 11 would bar the consideration of bills varying the application of the law in any such instance which would extend the provisions of the act to an individual employee for a disease disability, or compensate him therefor, or which would grant compensation over and above the limited amount, or in any manner interfere with the provisions of the act as extended to specific categories of claimants. The committee has concluded that if relief is extended to Government employees or persons entitled to such benefits under the general law, the remedy is that provided by general law, and alternative remedies cannot be provided by enactment of discriminatory private legislation in selected cases. 9. The subcommittee shall not consider any claim for retirement benefits, compensation, pension, or gratuity by an employee of the Government, or a member of the Armed Forces or the Reserves, or by his dependents, when the retirement benefits, compensation, pension, or gratuity to which such person claims to be entitled is specifically covered by statutes, which apply in a uniform manner to all similarly situated individuals. NOTE RETIREMENT BENEFITS, COMPENSATION, PENSION, OR GRATUITY Civil-service retirement benefits, the persons entitled thereto, the amount thereof, and upon what conditions they may be awarded are fully covered by Chapter 83.—RETIREMENT, of Title 5, United States Code. Similarly, the benefits and compensation accruing to Federal employees are provided for by laws which have general application. The committee will not entertain private legislation interfering with the general provisions of such laws by conferring a special benefit or privilege on a claimant. Private legislation of this class has not, at any time, been considered proper under the jurisdiction of this committee. The subjects of benefits, compensation, retirement or pension rights of persons who serve or who previously served in the Armed Forces of the United States are fully covered by public law. Private bills providing for the award of such benefits to persons or their dependents contrary to the system of benefits awarded under applicable law to other similarly situated individuals, will not be entertained by the committee. Such bills would be discriminatory and would set the precedent for an unending stream of similar private legislation. Consideration of these bills is not regarded as included within the proper functions of the subcommittee. As employed in the rule, the term "Armed Forces" is construed to include all members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, and their respective Reserves, and all other persons not engaged in the civil pursuits of the Government. 10. The subcommittee shall not consider any claim for injuries or damage, either to a member or to third persons, resulting from service in or activities by the National Guard maintained within the several States. NOTE NATIONAL GUARD In the application of this rule, the subcommittee is guided by the original authority for the establishment of the National Guard as is set forth in article 1, section 8, clause 16 of the Constitution which includes the following as within the powers of Congress: "To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the States, respectively, the appointment of officers and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress." Pursuant to the foregoing and other constitutional provisions, the Congress has provided the necessary laws and authorized the necessary regulations to carry them into execution as in the National Defense Act of 1916, as amended, the National Guard Regulations, and others. While the Guard may be employed by the Federal Government under certain conditions, such as war or other national emergency, the statutes are careful in defining the extent to which Federal control may be exercised. In order to insure the effectiveness of the Guard in case of their need and use in emergencies affecting the whole Nation, the Government has some authority over their training, and to compensate for this it provides money for maintenance of the Guard, in part, and loans property for its use. Claims against the United States arising from such training activities may be settled administratively under the authority of section 715 of title 32, U.S.C. or pursuant to the tort claims provisions of chapter 171 of title 28 as amended by the National Guard Tort Claims Act (December 29, 1981, Pub. L. 97-124, 95 Stat. 1666). While the Government assists in National Guard maintenance and training since it is a Reserve component of the Armed Forces of the United States, as to State-directed activity it remains primarily a State organization. State-directed activity may take the form of a mobilization of National Guard units by State executive officers in time of disasters or other disorders, and claims arising from that activity are barred by the rule. 11. The subcommittee shall not consider any claim over which another tribunal, court, or department has jurisdiction, until all remedies under such jurisdiction are exhausted. NOTE JURISDICTION OF ANOTHER TRIBUNAL In the settlement of claims, Congress is always the place of last resort. If another manner of obtaining redress against the Government has been provided (as in the jurisdiction of the United States Claims Court, the revenue laws, and bond redemption statutes, for example), it obviously was provided by the Congress, and the committee |