Rules & Regulations

Dear Mr. Thompson:

The Committee on House Administration (“Committee”) is pleased to submit the following comments and suggestions regarding the revised proposed amendments to the Procedural Rules of the Office of Compliance. Although some of the proposed amendments constitute valuable and relevant changes to the Procedural Rules, we nevertheless urge the Board to reconsider some of the language and requirements of the proposed amendments in accordance with the suggestions below.

Introduction

On September 4, 2003, the Board of Directors of the Office of Compliance (“the Board”) submitted for publication in the Congressional Record, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Proposed Amendments to the Office ofCompliance’s Procedural Rules (“Proposed Amendments”). After receiving a number of comments from interested parties, including this Committee, the Board submitted a Second Notice of Proposed Rule Making revising the initial Proposed Amendments (“Revised Amendments”), The Revised Amendments include alterations to the initial set of proposed amendments, as well as brief discussions of the Board’s reasoning for all of its proposed amendments.

Comments to Proposed Procedural Rules

§ 2.03(a) Initiating a Proceeding; Formal Request for Counseling.

The language of this Proposed Amendment requires an employee wishing to initiate the administrative process under the Congressional Accountability Act (“CAA”) to file a written request for counseling with the Office of Compliance (“the Office”). As stated in our initial comments, we agree with the requirement that requests for counseling be in writing so as to prevent confusion over the timing and content of such requests. In the event that a party pursues an action before a Hearing Officer or in federal court, however, the confidentiality of the written request for counseling should be automatically waived and the Office should provide the written request for counseling to the employing office upon written request. The written request for counseling is necessary for the employing office to determine if the Hearing Officer or federal court has jurisdiction over a complaint.