V.O.I.C.E. on Term Limits Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 198 To require a national nonbinding referendum at the regularly scheduled general election for Federal office in 2020 to advise Congress on term limits for Members of Congress, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 3, 2019 Mr. NORMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To require a national nonbinding referendum at the regularly scheduled general election for Federal office in 2020 to advise Congress on term limits for Members of Con- gress, 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 ‘‘National Voter Oppor- 4 tunity To Inform Congress Effectively on Term Limits 5 Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘V.O.I.C.E. on Term Limits Act of 6 2019’’. 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Jan 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H198.IH H198 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 198 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds that— 2 (1) the right of citizens of the United States to 3 vote is a fundamental right; 4 (2) the right of citizens of the United States to 5 have an effective voice in the decision-making proc- 6 esses of the Congress is grounded in the right to pe- 7 tition and is a fundamental part of American democ- 8 racy; 9 (3) Congress should provide an opportunity for 10 citizens to express their views on important public 11 issues; 12 (4) there is an increasing public sentiment and 13 demand for limiting the terms of Members of Con- 14 gress; and 15 (5) voters in 15 States have already voted and 16 approved State laws to limit the terms of their state 17 legislators, and voters in other States have expressed 18 their interest in having term limits for Members of 19 Congress. 20 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 21 The purposes of this Act are— 22 (1) to give the citizens of every State the oppor- 23 tunity to express their opinion on whether or not the 24 terms of Members of Congress should be limited; 25 and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Jan 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H198.IH H198 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 198 IH (2) to conduct a national nonbinding ref- 1 erendum on term limits at the 2020 general election, 2 thereby having an opportunity to study the feasi- 3 bility of conducting national nonbinding referenda 4 on other important issues in the future. 5 SEC. 4. NATIONAL NONBINDING REFERENDUM ON TERM 6 LIMITS. 7 (a) NONBINDING REFERENDUM REQUIRED.—The 8 chief election official of each State, in the regularly sched- 9 uled general election for Federal office in 2020, shall place 10 on the ballot in each congressional district in the State 11 a nonbinding referendum consisting of the following: 12 (1) The title ‘‘National Advisory Referendum 13 on Term Limits’’. 14 (2) The advisory question ‘‘Should Congress ap- 15 prove a constitutional amendment to limit the num- 16 ber of terms that a Member of the United States 17 House of Representatives and United States Senator 18 can serve in office?’’. 19 (3) The options of answering ‘‘Yes’’ or ‘‘No’’. 20 (b) PROCEDURES FOR NONBINDING REF- 21 ERENDUM.—Each chief election official of a State shall 22 ensure that the nonbinding referendum is conducted in the 23 same manner as an election for Federal office in such 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Jan 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H198.IH H198 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 198 IH State, including with respect to the printing, preparation, 1 tabulation, and certification of ballots. 2 (c) RESULTS OF NONBINDING REFERENDUM.—The 3 chief election official of each State shall— 4 (1) tabulate the results of the nonbinding ref- 5 erendum for each congressional district in the State 6 and on a statewide basis; and 7 (2) certify and transmit such results to Con- 8 gress in the same manner and at the same time of 9 the certification of election of Members of the House 10 of Representatives and Senate for the regularly 11 scheduled 2020 general election. 12 (d) RECOMMENDATIONS.— 13 (1) CHIEF STATE ELECTION OFFICIALS.—Not 14 later than 90 days after the date of the regularly 15 scheduled general election for Federal office in 2020, 16 the chief election official of each State shall submit 17 to the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of 18 Representatives and the Senate comments with re- 19 spect to recommended changes or other improve- 20 ments related to the conduct of the nonbinding ref- 21 erendum, for consideration in conducting national 22 nonbinding referenda on other issues in future gen- 23 eral elections for Federal office. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Jan 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H198.IH H198 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 198 IH (2) COMMITTEES ON THE JUDICIARY OF THE 1 HOUSE AND SENATE.—Not later than 6 months 2 after the date of the regularly scheduled general 3 election for Federal office in 2020, the Committees 4 on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives 5 and the Senate shall prepare and report to the 6 House and Senate, respectively, recommendations 7 with respect to the response of Congress to the re- 8 sults of the nonbinding referendum. 9 (e) REIMBURSEMENT.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Election Assistance 11 Commission shall reimburse an eligible State for the 12 reasonable costs incurred by the State to conduct 13 the nonbinding referendum. 14 (2) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible for reimburse- 15 ment under paragraph (1), a State shall submit to 16 the Election Assistance Commission an application 17 at such time, in such form, and containing such in- 18 formation as the Commission may require. 19 (f) APPLICABILITY OF RELATED FEDERAL LAWS TO 20 NONBINDING REFERENDUM.—All Federal laws which 21 apply to an election for Federal office shall apply to the 22 nonbinding referendum. 23 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 24 In this Act: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Jan 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H198.IH H198 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 198 IH (1) CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.—The term 1 ‘‘congressional district’’ includes the district of a 2 Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Congress. 3 (2) NONBINDING REFERENDUM.—The term 4 ‘‘nonbinding referendum’’ means the referendum re- 5 quired by section 4(a) of this Act. 6 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes the 7 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 8 Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 9 Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Is- 10 lands of the United States. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Jan 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H198.IH H198 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS