Introducing a House Bill or Resolution
Mark J. Oleszek
Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process
July 7, 2014
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
98-458
CRS Report for Congress
Pr
epared for Members and Committees of Congress
Introducing a House Bill or Resolution
Developing Ideas for Legislation
Ideas and recommendations for legislation come from a wide variety of sources, such as
individual Representatives, committees and other House working groups, party and chamber
leaders, executive branch agencies and the White House, states and localities, and citizens or
interest groups. Any or all of these individuals or entities may participate in drafting legislation,
although only a Member may formally introduce legislation.
Some of the most common considerations that might be taken into account when drafting a bill
are
• To what committee or committees is the measure likely to be referred?
• Will the bill attract cosponsors?
• Does the measure have bipartisan appeal?
• Is the measure best introduced at the beginning or toward the end of a Congress?
• What are the budgetary or appropriations implications?
• Should there be a companion measure introduced in the Senate?
Drafting Legislation
Although there is no requirement that bills and other measures introduced in the House be
prepared by the House Office of Legislative Counsel, the office plays an important role in
drafting legislation. Its staff attorneys are both subject-matter specialists and experts in legislative
drafting. Legislative counsel staff are often assigned to serve a specific committee or committees
and focus almost exclusively on related policy areas in which they are expert. They act as
nonpartisan, shared staff, working closely with committee members and staff. Numerous drafts of
a bill or resolution may be required before a measure is ready for formal introduction.
Those drafting legislation may seek assistance from legislative counsel at any stage. All
communications with the office are considered confidential. The office is located at 136 Cannon
House Office Building (5-6060).
Under House Rule XII, clause 2, the Speaker of the House refers legislation based on
recommendations from the Office of the Parliamentarian. After introduction, a bill will normally
be referred to the committee (or committees) having jurisdiction, as defined in House Rule X,
over the subject (or subjects) addressed in the bill.1 Representatives and staff drafting legislation
may consult the Office of the Parliamentarian on the referral that a draft bill would be likely to
receive. The office is located at H209 Capitol Building (5-7373).
1 For further information on committee referral, see CRS Report 98-175,
House Committee Jurisdiction and Referral:
Rules and Practice, by Judy Schneider.
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Introducing a House Bill or Resolution
Introducing a Bill
The formal procedures that govern the practical activity of introducing legislation are few and are
found in House Rule XII. Former House Parliamentarian William Holmes Brown has stated: “The
system for introducing measures in the House is a relatively free and open one.”2 House rules do
not limit the number of bills a Member may introduce.
When a Representative who is the primary sponsor has determined that a bill or resolution is
ready for introduction, the measure is printed in a form that leaves room for the parliamentarian’s
office to note the committee or committees of referral and for a clerk to insert a number. The
Representative must sign the measure and attach the names of any cosponsors on the form
provided by the Clerk’s office (cosponsors do not sign the bill). The Representative then deposits
the measure in the box, or “hopper,” at the bill clerk’s desk in the House chamber when the House
is in session. A Member need not seek recognition in order to introduce a measure.
In the 112th Congress, the House changed its rules regarding bill introduction to add a new
requirement that Members provide a statement of constitutional authority to show why Congress
has the authority to take the steps recommended in the proposed legislation. The new clause 7(c)
of Rule XII establishes that the statement must be as “specific as practicable,” and must be
attached to the bill when it is dropped in the hopper for introduction.3
A sponsor may reclaim a measure he or she has placed in the hopper from the clerk so long as the
measure has not been assigned a number and referred to committee (a process that normally takes
one day). Once a measure has been numbered and referred, it becomes the property of the House
and cannot be reclaimed. The House has the authority to consider an introduced bill or resolution
even if the sponsor resigns from the House or dies.
In the first days of a new Congress, hundreds of bills and resolutions are introduced. Measures are
numbered sequentially and Representatives may seek to reserve numbers, as these are sometimes
seen as providing a shorthand meaning to the legislation, or having some other symbolic
meaning. In recent Congresses, the House has ordered that bill numbers H.R. 1 through H.R. 10
be reserved for the majority leader and numbers H.R. 11 through H.R. 20 be reserved for the
minority leader.4
2 See W[illia]m Holmes Brown,
House Practice: A Guide to the Rules, Precedents and Procedures of the House, 104th
Cong., 1st sess., (Washington: GPO, 1996), chapter 27, §1, p. 547.
3 For the constitutional authority form, see HouseNet link, at http://legcoun.house.gov/members/cas.html. For further
information on the kinds of authority that could be cited to meet this requirement, see CRS Report R41548,
Sources of
Constitutional Authority and House Rule XII, Clause 7(c), by Kenneth R. Thomas, as well as guidance issued from the
House Legislative Counsel, at http://legcoun.house.gov/members/HOLC/Resources/const_auth_statement.html.
4 See Rules of the House of Representatives, in
House Manual, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, H.Doc. 111-157, 111th
Cong., 2nd sess., [compiled by] John V. Sullivan, Parliamentarian (Washington: GPO, 2011)
, §825, pp. 619-621.
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Introducing a House Bill or Resolution
Author Contact Information
Mark J. Oleszek
Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process
moleszek@crs.loc.gov, 7-7084
Acknowledgments
This report was originally prepared by former CRS Specialist Richard C. Sachs. Please direct any inquiries
to the listed author.
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