I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 3196
To provide for the appointment of the Architect of the Capitol, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY10, 2023
Mr. S
TEIL(for himself and Mr. MORELLE) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition
to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to
be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
A BILL
To provide for the appointment of the Architect of the
Capitol, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Architect of the Capitol 4
Appointment Act of 2023’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3196.IH H3196
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 3196 IH
SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT AND TERM OF SERVICE OF ARCHI-1
TECT OF THE CAPITOL. 2
(a) A
PPOINTMENT.—The Architect of the Capitol 3
shall be appointed, without regard to political affiliation 4
and solely on the basis of fitness to perform the duties 5
of the office, upon a majority vote of a congressional com-6
mission (referred to in this section as the ‘‘commission’’) 7
consisting of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 8
the majority leader of the Senate, the minority leaders of 9
the House of Representatives and Senate, the chair and 10
ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropria-11
tions of the House of Representatives, the chairman and 12
ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropria-13
tions of the Senate, the chair and ranking minority mem-14
ber of the Committee on House Administration of the 15
House of Representatives, and the chairman and ranking 16
minority member of the Committee on Rules and Adminis-17
tration of the Senate. 18
(b) T
ERM OFSERVICE.—The Architect of the Capitol 19
shall be appointed for a term of 10 years and, upon a 20
majority vote of the members of the commission, may be 21
reappointed for additional 10-year terms. 22
(c) R
EMOVAL.—The Architect of the Capitol may be 23
removed from office at any time upon a majority vote of 24
the members of the commission. 25
(d) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3196.IH H3196
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 3196 IH
(1) Section 319 of the Legislative Branch Ap-1
propriations Act, 1990 (2 U.S.C. 1801) is repealed. 2
(2) The matter under the heading ‘‘F
OR THE 3
C
APITOL:’’ under the heading ‘‘DEPARTMENT OF 4
THE INTERIOR.’’ of the Act of February 14, 1902 5
(32 Stat. 19, chapter 17; incorporated in 2 U.S.C. 6
1811) is amended by striking ‘‘, and he shall be ap-7
pointed by the President’’. 8
(e) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—This section, and the amend-9
ments made by this section, shall apply with respect to 10
appointments made on or after the date of enactment of 11
this Act. 12
SEC. 3. APPOINTMENT OF DEPUTY ARCHITECT OF THE 13
CAPITOL; VACANCY IN ARCHITECT OR DEP-14
UTY ARCHITECT. 15
Section 1203 of title I of division H of the Consoli-16
dated Appropriations Resolution, 2003 (2 U.S.C. 1805) 17
is amended— 18
(1) in subsection (a)— 19
(A) by inserting ‘‘(in this section referred 20
to as the ‘Architect’)’’ after ‘‘The Architect of 21
the Capitol’’; and 22
(B) by inserting ‘‘(in this section referred 23
to as the ‘Deputy Architect’)’’ after ‘‘Deputy 24
Architect of the Capitol’’; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3196.IH H3196
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 3196 IH
(2) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub-1
section (c); 2
(3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘(b) D
EADLINE.—The Architect shall appoint a Dep-5
uty Architect under subsection (a) not later than 120 days 6
after— 7
‘‘(1) the date on which the Architect is ap-8
pointed under section 2 of the Architect of the Cap-9
itol Appointment Act of 2023, if there is no Deputy 10
Architect on the date of the appointment; or 11
‘‘(2) the date on which a vacancy arises in the 12
office of the Deputy Architect.’’; 13
(4) in subsection (c), as so redesignated, by 14
striking ‘‘of the Capitol’’ each place it appears; and 15
(5) by adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘(d) F
AILURETOAPPOINT.—If the Architect does 17
not appoint a Deputy Architect on or before the applicable 18
date specified in subsection (b), the congressional commis-19
sion described in section 2(a) of the Architect of the Cap-20
itol Appointment Act of 2023 shall appoint the Deputy 21
Architect by a majority vote of the members of the com-22
mission. 23
‘‘(e) N
OTIFICATION.—If the position of Deputy Ar-24
chitect becomes vacant, the Architect shall immediately 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3196.IH H3196
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5
•HR 3196 IH
notify the members of the congressional commission de-1
scribed in section 2(a) of the Architect of the Capitol Ap-2
pointment Act of 2023.’’. 3
SEC. 4. DEPUTY ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL TO SERVE AS 4
ACTING IN CASE OF ABSENCE, DISABILITY, 5
OR VACANCY. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Deputy Architect of the Cap-7
itol (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Deputy Architect’’) 8
shall act as Architect of the Capitol (in this section re-9
ferred to as the ‘‘Architect’’) if the Architect is absent or 10
disabled or there is no Architect. 11
(b) A
BSENCE, DISABILITY, ORVACANCY INOFFICE 12
OFDEPUTYARCHITECT.—For purposes of subsection (a), 13
if the Deputy Architect is also absent or disabled or there 14
is no Deputy Architect, the congressional commission de-15
scribed in section 2(a) shall designate, by a majority vote 16
of the members of the commission, an individual to serve 17
as acting Architect until— 18
(1) the end of the absence or disability of the 19
Architect or the Deputy Architect; or 20
(2) in the case of vacancies in both positions, 21
an Architect has been appointed under section 2(a) 22
of this Act. 23
(c) A
UTHORITY.—An officer serving as acting Archi-24
tect under subsection (a) or (b) shall perform all the duties 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3196.IH H3196
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6
•HR 3196 IH
and exercise all the authorities of the Architect, including 1
the authority to delegate the duties and authorities of the 2
Architect in accordance with the matter under the heading 3
‘‘O
FFICE OF THEARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL’’ under 4
the heading ‘‘ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL’’ of the 5
Legislative Appropriation Act, 1956 (2 U.S.C. 1803). 6
(d) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—The matter under 7
the heading ‘‘
SALARIES’’ under the heading ‘‘OFFICE OF 8
THEARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL’’ under the heading 9
‘‘ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL’’ of the Legislative 10
Branch Appropriation Act, 1971 (2 U.S.C. 1804) is 11
amended by striking ‘‘: Provided,’’ and all that follows 12
through ‘‘no Architect’’. 13
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:04 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3196.IH H3196
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS