IB
Union Calendar No. 766
118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION H. R. 3196
[Report No. 118–741, Part I]
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
N
OVEMBER18, 2024
Reported from the Committee on House Administration
N
OVEMBER18, 2024
Referral to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure extended for
a period ending not later than December 19, 2024
D
ECEMBER19, 2024
Additional sponsors: Mr. L
OUDERMILKand Mrs. BICE
D
ECEMBER19, 2024
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure discharged; committed to the
Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered
to be printed
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•HR 3196 RH
A BILL
To provide for the appointment of the Architect of the
Capitol, and for other purposes.
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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
SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT AND TERM OF SERVICE OF ARCHI-6
TECT OF THE CAPITOL. 7
(a) A
PPOINTMENT.—The Architect of the Capitol 8
shall be appointed, without regard to political affiliation 9
and solely on the basis of fitness to perform the duties 10
of the office, upon a majority vote of a congressional com-11
mission (referred to in this section as the ‘‘commission’’) 12
consisting of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 13
the majority leader of the Senate, the minority leaders of 14
the House of Representatives and Senate, the chair and 15
ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropria-16
tions of the House of Representatives, the chairman and 17
ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropria-18
tions of the Senate, the chair and ranking minority mem-19
ber of the Committee on House Administration of the 20
House of Representatives, and the chairman and ranking 21
minority member of the Committee on Rules and Adminis-22
tration of the Senate. 23
(b) T
ERM OFSERVICE.—The Architect of the Capitol 24
shall be appointed for a term of 10 years and, upon a 25
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•HR 3196 RH
majority vote of the members of the commission, may be 1
reappointed for additional 10-year terms. 2
(c) R
EMOVAL.—The Architect of the Capitol may be 3
removed from office at any time upon a majority vote of 4
the members of the commission. 5
(d) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 6
(1) Section 319 of the Legislative Branch Ap-7
propriations Act, 1990 (2 U.S.C. 1801) is repealed. 8
(2) The matter under the heading ‘‘F
OR THE 9
C
APITOL:’’ under the heading ‘‘DEPARTMENT OF 10
THE INTERIOR.’’ of the Act of February 14, 1902 11
(32 Stat. 19, chapter 17; incorporated in 2 U.S.C. 12
1811) is amended by striking ‘‘, and he shall be ap-13
pointed by the President’’. 14
(e) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—This section, and the amend-15
ments made by this section, shall apply with respect to 16
appointments made on or after the date of enactment of 17
this Act. 18
SEC. 3. APPOINTMENT OF DEPUTY ARCHITECT OF THE 19
CAPITOL; VACANCY IN ARCHITECT OR DEP-20
UTY ARCHITECT. 21
Section 1203 of title I of division H of the Consoli-22
dated Appropriations Resolution, 2003 (2 U.S.C. 1805) 23
is amended— 24
(1) in subsection (a)— 25
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(A) by inserting ‘‘(in this section referred 1
to as the ‘Architect’)’’ after ‘‘The Architect of 2
the Capitol’’; and 3
(B) by inserting ‘‘(in this section referred 4
to as the ‘Deputy Architect’)’’ after ‘‘Deputy 5
Architect of the Capitol’’; 6
(2) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub-7
section (c); 8
(3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-9
lowing: 10
‘‘(b) D
EADLINE.—The Architect shall appoint a Dep-11
uty Architect under subsection (a) not later than 120 days 12
after— 13
‘‘(1) the date on which the Architect is ap-14
pointed under section 2 of the Architect of the Cap-15
itol Appointment Act of 2023, if there is no Deputy 16
Architect on the date of the appointment; or 17
‘‘(2) the date on which a vacancy arises in the 18
office of the Deputy Architect.’’; 19
(4) in subsection (c), as so redesignated, by 20
striking ‘‘of the Capitol’’ each place it appears; and 21
(5) by adding at the end the following: 22
‘‘(d) F
AILURETOAPPOINT.—If the Architect does 23
not appoint a Deputy Architect on or before the applicable 24
date specified in subsection (b), the congressional commis-25
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•HR 3196 RH
sion described in section 2(a) of the Architect of the Cap-1
itol Appointment Act of 2023 shall appoint the Deputy 2
Architect by a majority vote of the members of the com-3
mission. 4
‘‘(e) N
OTIFICATION.—If the position of Deputy Ar-5
chitect becomes vacant, the Architect shall immediately 6
notify the members of the congressional commission de-7
scribed in section 2(a) of the Architect of the Capitol Ap-8
pointment Act of 2023.’’. 9
SEC. 4. DEPUTY ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL TO SERVE AS 10
ACTING IN CASE OF ABSENCE, DISABILITY, 11
OR VACANCY. 12
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Deputy Architect of the Cap-13
itol (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Deputy Architect’’) 14
shall act as Architect of the Capitol (in this section re-15
ferred to as the ‘‘Architect’’) if the Architect is absent or 16
disabled or there is no Architect. 17
(b) A
BSENCE, DISABILITY, ORVACANCY INOFFICE 18
OFDEPUTYARCHITECT.—For purposes of subsection (a), 19
if the Deputy Architect is also absent or disabled or there 20
is no Deputy Architect, the congressional commission de-21
scribed in section 2(a) shall designate, by a majority vote 22
of the members of the commission, an individual to serve 23
as acting Architect until— 24
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(1) the end of the absence or disability of the 1
Architect or the Deputy Architect; or 2
(2) in the case of vacancies in both positions, 3
an Architect has been appointed under section 2(a) 4
of this Act. 5
(c) A
UTHORITY.—An officer serving as acting Archi-6
tect under subsection (a) or (b) shall perform all the duties 7
and exercise all the authorities of the Architect, including 8
the authority to delegate the duties and authorities of the 9
Architect in accordance with the matter under the heading 10
‘‘O
FFICE OF THEARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL’’ under 11
the heading ‘‘ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL’’ of the 12
Legislative Appropriation Act, 1956 (2 U.S.C. 1803). 13
(d) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—The matter under 14
the heading ‘‘
SALARIES’’ under the heading ‘‘OFFICE OF 15
THEARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL’’ under the heading 16
‘‘ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL’’ of the Legislative 17
Branch Appropriation Act, 1971 (2 U.S.C. 1804) is 18
amended by striking ‘‘: Provided,’’ and all that follows 19
through ‘‘no Architect’’. 20
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766
118
TH
CONGRESS
2
D
S
ESSION
H. R. 3196
[Report No. 118–741, Part I]
A BILL
To provide for the appointment of the Architect of
the Capitol, and for other purposes.
D
ECEMBER
19, 2024
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure dis-
charged; committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union and ordered to be
printed
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