House Intern Pay Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2370 To provide an allowance to offices of Members of the House of Representa- tives which shall be available for the compensation of interns, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 25, 2019 Mr. SMITH of Washington (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. BEYER, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. MCGOV- ERN, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. CASE, Mr. GARCI´A of Illi- nois, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. TRONE, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL, Mr. POCAN, Mr. NADLER, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. GOMEZ, Ms. HOULAHAN, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. SCANLON, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. SHALALA, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. KHANNA, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, and Ms. KAPTUR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To provide an allowance to offices of Members of the House of Representatives which shall be available for the com- pensation of interns, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2370.IH H2370 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2370 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘House Intern Pay Act 2 of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. ALLOWANCE FOR COMPENSATION OF INTERNS IN 4 HOUSE MEMBER OFFICES. 5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF ALLOWANCE.—There is es- 6 tablished for the House of Representatives an allowance 7 which shall be available for the compensation of interns 8 who serve in the offices of Members of the House of Rep- 9 resentatives during a calendar year. 10 (b) AMOUNT PER OFFICE; ALLOCATION OF UNUSED 11 ALLOWANCES AMONG OTHER OFFICES.— 12 (1) AMOUNT.—The amount of the allowance 13 under this section with respect to the office of a 14 Member of the House of Representatives for a cal- 15 endar year shall be established by the Committee on 16 House Administration of the House of Representa- 17 tives, and (subject to the allocation described in 18 paragraph (2)) shall be an equivalent amount for all 19 such offices. 20 (2) ALLOCATION OF UNUSED ALLOWANCES.— 21 (A) IN GENERAL.—If, by not later than 22 the applicable deadline described in subpara- 23 graph (B), an office of a Member of the House 24 of Representatives does not certify to the Com- 25 mittee on House Administration that the office 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2370.IH H2370 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2370 IH will use the entire amount of the allowance es- 1 tablished for the office under this section with 2 respect to a calendar year, the Committee may 3 allocate the unused portion of such office’s al- 4 lowance among the allowances established for 5 other offices of the House for such calendar 6 year. 7 (B) APPLICABLE DEADLINE.—The applica- 8 ble deadline described in this subparagraph 9 with respect to a calendar year is such date es- 10 tablished by the Committee on House Adminis- 11 tration which is not earlier than January 31 of 12 the year and not later than June 30 of the 13 year. 14 (c) MINIMUM COMPENSATION RATE.— 15 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Each intern who is com- 16 pensated under the allowance under this section 17 shall be paid for each pay period at a rate which is 18 equal to or greater than the minimum compensation 19 rate for the pay period. 20 (2) DEFINITION.—In paragraph (1), the ‘‘min- 21 imum compensation rate’’ for a pay period is equal 22 to— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2370.IH H2370 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2370 IH (A) in the case of pay periods occurring 1 during the first fiscal year in which this Act is 2 in effect, $15 per hour; and 3 (B) in the case of pay periods occurring 4 during any succeeding fiscal year, the rate ap- 5 plicable under this paragraph for pay periods 6 occurring during the previous fiscal year in- 7 creased by the estimated percentage change in 8 the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Con- 9 sumers (as published by the Department of 10 Labor) for the most recent fiscal year preceding 11 such fiscal year. 12 (d) BENEFIT EXCLUSION.—Section 104(b) of the 13 House of Representatives Administrative Reform Tech- 14 nical Corrections Act (2 U.S.C. 5321(b)) shall apply with 15 respect to an intern who is compensated under the allow- 16 ance under this section in the same manner as such sec- 17 tion applies with respect to an intern who is compensated 18 under the Members’ Representational Allowance. 19 (e) NO EFFECT ON PAYMENT OF INTERNS UNDER 20 MEMBERS’ REPRESENTATIONAL ALLOWANCE.—Nothing 21 in this section may be construed to affect the use of the 22 Members’ Representational Allowance for the compensa- 23 tion of interns, as provided under section 104 of the House 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2370.IH H2370 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2370 IH of Representatives Administrative Reform Technical Cor- 1 rections Act (2 U.S.C. 5321). 2 (f) REGULATIONS.—This section shall be carried out 3 in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Com- 4 mittee on House Administration of the House of Rep- 5 resentatives, including regulations to establish the timing 6 and procedures for the allocation of amounts of unused 7 portions of allowances under subsection (b)(2). 8 (g) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 120 of the 9 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2019 (2 U.S.C. 10 5322a) is hereby repealed. 11 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 12 (1) the term ‘‘intern’’ has the meaning given 13 such term in section 104(c)(2) of the House of Rep- 14 resentatives Administrative Reform Technical Cor- 15 rections Act (2 U.S.C. 5321(c)(2)); and 16 (2) the term ‘‘Member of the House of Rep- 17 resentatives’’ means a Representative in, or a Dele- 18 gate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress. 19 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 20 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 21 this section— 22 (1) for the first fiscal year in which this Act is 23 in effect, $13,759,200, to be allocated on a pro rata 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2370.IH H2370 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 2370 IH basis for each day of such fiscal year which occurs 1 after the date of the enactment of this Act; and 2 (2) for each succeeding fiscal year, the amount 3 authorized under this section for the previous fiscal 4 year increased by the estimated percentage change 5 in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Con- 6 sumers (as published by the Department of Labor) 7 for the most recent fiscal year preceding such fiscal 8 year. 9 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 10 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 11 take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act, and 12 shall apply to the pay period which is in effect on such 13 date and each succeeding pay period. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2370.IH H2370 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS