IV
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. RES. 23
Permitting parental remote voting by proxy, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2025
Ms. P
ETTERSEN(for herself, Mrs. LUNA, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. LAWLER, Mr.
G
OMEZ, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. LEGERFERNANDEZ, Mr. CISCOMANI, Ms.
P
EREZ, Mrs. KIM, Mr. VANDREW, and Mr. NEGUSE) submitted the fol-
lowing resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules
RESOLUTION
Permitting parental remote voting by proxy, and for other
purposes.
Resolved, 1
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 2
This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Proxy Voting 3
for New Parents Resolution’’. 4
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF REMOTE VOTING BY PROXY IN 5
HOUSE AND IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE 6
FOR MEMBERS BECOMING PARENTS. 7
(a) A
UTHORIZATION.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding rule III, in 9
the case of a Member who has given birth or whose 10
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spouse has given birth, such Member may designate 1
another Member as a proxy who may cast the vote 2
of such Member or record the presence of such 3
Member in the House and in the Committee of the 4
Whole House on the state of the Union in accord-5
ance with this section. 6
(2) P
ERIOD OF AUTHORIZATION .— 7
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided 8
under subparagraph (B), the authority to vote 9
by proxy or record a presence pursuant to para-10
graph (1) shall begin on the date of the birth 11
and shall terminate 12 weeks thereafter. 12
(B) D
ESIGNATION PRIOR TO BIRTH .—Not-13
withstanding subparagraph (A), a Member may 14
instead make a designation prior to the birth of 15
a child in the event that such Member’s health 16
care provider advises that her pregnancy pre-17
sents a serious medical condition or that she is 18
unable to travel safely. Such authority to vote 19
by proxy or record a presence shall terminate 20
12 weeks after the initial designation. Each 21
week prior to the birth of the child during 22
which a Member does not have a designated 23
proxy shall not constitute a week for purposes 24
of this subparagraph. 25
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(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR DESIGNATION BY MEM-1
BER.— 2
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In order for a Member to 3
designate another Member as a proxy under sub-4
section (a), the Member shall submit to the Clerk a 5
signed and dated letter (which may be in electronic 6
form). Such letter must be submitted prior to the 7
start of the first vote in which the Member wishes 8
to vote by proxy and must include— 9
(A) an affirmative statement of— 10
(i) the birth of a child in the case of 11
a designation under subparagraph (A) of 12
subsection (a)(2); or 13
(ii) the existence of a medical condi-14
tion related to pregnancy as stipulated by 15
the Member’s health care provider in the 16
case of a designation under subparagraph 17
(B) of subsection (a)(2); 18
(B) a statement of intent to vote by proxy, 19
including the name and State of the Member 20
who has agreed to be designated as a proxy; 21
and 22
(C) an original signature of the Member 23
making the designation. 24
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(2) ALTERATION AND REVOCATION .—At any 1
time after submitting a letter to designate a proxy 2
under paragraph (1), such Member may submit to 3
the Clerk a signed letter (which may be in electronic 4
form) altering or revoking the designation. 5
(3) A
UTOMATIC REVOCATION UPON CASTING OF 6
VOTE OR RECORDING OF PRESENCE .—If a Member 7
who has designated another Member as a proxy 8
under this section casts the Member’s own vote or 9
records the Member’s own presence in the House or 10
in the Committee of the Whole House on the state 11
of the Union, the Member shall be considered to 12
have revoked the designation of any proxy under this 13
section. Revocation of proxy does not prohibit a 14
Member from designating a proxy at a later time. 15
(c) R
ESPONSIBILITIES OFCLERK.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Upon receipt of a letter sub-17
mitted by a Member pursuant to subsection (b), the 18
Clerk shall— 19
(A) verify the letter; 20
(B) notify the Speaker, the Majority Lead-21
er, the Minority Leader, and the other Member 22
or Members involved in the designation, alter-23
ation, or revocation; and 24
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(C) if a letter is missing any of the items 1
under subsection (b)(1), notify the submitting 2
Member of the deficiency, which shall result in 3
the proxy being unable to vote on the Member’s 4
behalf. 5
(2) M
AINTENANCE OF LIST .—The Clerk shall 6
maintain an updated list of the active designations, 7
alterations, and revocations pursuant to this section 8
and shall make such list publicly available in elec-9
tronic form. 10
(d) P
ROCEDURES FOR CASTINGVOTES ORRECORD-11
INGPRESENCE BYPROXIES.— 12
(1) U
SE OF BALLOT CARD .—In the case of a 13
vote by electronic device, a Member who casts a vote 14
or records a presence as a designated proxy for an-15
other Member under this section shall do so by bal-16
lot card, indicating on the ballot card ‘‘by proxy’’. 17
(2) I
NSTRUCTIONS FROM MEMBER .—Prior to 18
casting the vote or recording the presence of another 19
Member as a designated proxy under this section, 20
the Member shall obtain an exact instruction from 21
the other Member with respect to such vote. The 22
Member voting by proxy, to the maximum extent 23
practicable, shall provide written voting instruction 24
to the Member serving as proxy. 25
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(3) RECOGNITION BY CHAIR .—Immediately 1
prior to casting the vote or recording the presence 2
of another Member as a designated proxy under this 3
section, the Member shall seek recognition from the 4
Chair to announce the intended vote or recorded 5
presence pursuant to the exact instruction received 6
from the other Member under paragraph (2). 7
(4) F
OLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS FROM MEM -8
BER.—A Member casting the vote or recording the 9
presence of another Member as a designated proxy 10
under this section shall cast such vote or record such 11
presence pursuant to the exact instruction received 12
from the other Member under paragraph (2). 13
(e) P
ROHIBITINGUSE OFPROXYTOESTABLISH 14
Q
UORUM.—Any Member whose vote is cast or whose pres-15
ence is recorded by a designated proxy under this section 16
shall not be counted for purposes of establishing a quorum 17
under the rules of the House. 18
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF REMOTE VOTING BY PROXY IN 19
COMMITTEE FOR MEMBERS BECOMING PAR-20
ENTS. 21
(a) A
UTHORIZATION.—Notwithstanding rule XI, a 22
Member who has designated another Member as a proxy 23
who may cast the vote of such Member under section 2 24
may designate a member of each committee on which the 25
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Member sits as a proxy who may cast the vote of such 1
Member in committee in accordance with this section dur-2
ing the same period in which another Member is author-3
ized to cast the vote of such Member under section 2. 4
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR DESIGNATION.—In order 5
for a Member to designate a committee member as a proxy 6
under subsection (a), the Member shall submit to the chair 7
and ranking minority member a signed and dated letter 8
(which may be in electronic form) specifying by name the 9
other Member who is designated as a proxy for such Mem-10
ber. Such letter must be submitted prior to the start of 11
the first committee meeting in which the Member wishes 12
to vote by proxy. 13
(c) A
LTERATION AND REVOCATION.—At any time 14
after submitting a letter to designate a proxy under sub-15
section (b), such Member may submit to the chair and 16
ranking minority member a signed letter (which may be 17
in electronic form) altering or revoking the designation. 18
(d) A
UTOMATICREVOCATIONUPONCASTING OF 19
V
OTE ORRECORDING OFPRESENCE.—If a Member who 20
has designated another Member as a proxy under this sec-21
tion casts the Member’s own vote in a committee, the 22
Member shall be considered to have revoked the designa-23
tion of proxy in that committee under this section. Revoca-24
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tion of proxy does not prohibit a Member from designating 1
a proxy at a later time. 2
(e) I
NSTRUCTIONSFROMMEMBER.—Prior to casting 3
the vote of another Member as a designated proxy under 4
this section, the Member shall obtain an exact instruction 5
from the other Member with respect to such vote. The 6
Member voting by proxy, to the maximum extent prac-7
ticable, shall provide written voting instruction to the 8
Member serving as proxy. 9
(f) P
ROHIBITINGUSE OFPROXYTOESTABLISH 10
Q
UORUM.—Any Member whose vote is cast in committee 11
by a designated proxy under this section shall not be 12
counted for purposes of establishing a quorum under the 13
rules of the committee. 14
SEC. 4. APPLICATION TO DELEGATES AND THE RESIDENT 15
COMMISSIONER. 16
For purposes of sections 2 and 3, the term ‘‘Member’’ 17
shall include a Delegate and the Resident Commissioner 18
and the term ‘‘State’’ shall include the District of Colum-19
bia and a territory, except that— 20
(1) nothing in this section authorizes a Dele-21
gate or the Resident Commissioner to cast a vote in 22
the House or record their presence in the House; 23
and 24
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(2) a Delegate and the Resident Commissioner 1
may be designated as a proxy for purposes of section 2
2 only by a Delegate or the Resident Commissioner. 3
Æ
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