Sec. 215. Personal liability of Members of Congress
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Section 415 of the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 ( 2 U.S.C. 1415 ) is amended— in subsection (a), by inserting after the first sentence the following: Under no circumstances may an employing office use funds from the Members’ Representational Allowance under section 101 of the House of Representatives Administrative Reform Technical Corrections Act ( ; 2 U.S.C. 5341 ), the Senators' Official Personnel and Office Expense Account, or any appropriated funds other than funds appropriated under this subsection, for the payment of awards and settlements under this Act. in subsection (c), by striking section 201(a)(3) and inserting section 201(a)(1)(C) ; and by adding at the end the following:
Before a payment is made from the account described in subsection
(a)for a settlement for covered discrimination or covered harassment in an employing office described in subparagraph
(A)or
(B)of section 101(12), the chair and ranking member of the appropriate committee shall approve the payment. If a payment is made from the account described in subsection
(a)for an award or settlement that relates, in part or in whole, to an allegation of covered discrimination or covered harassment by a Member of Congress, the Member of Congress who is alleged to have committed the discrimination or harassment shall, except as provided in subparagraph (2), reimburse the account for the amount of the award or settlement. In the case of a settlement that relates, in part or in whole, to an allegation of covered discrimination or covered harassment by a Member of Congress, the Member may request a nonreimbursement determination. If the appropriate committee finds by a preponderance of the evidence, based on any record from a proceeding under this title that may have existed on the date of the payment, and using a rebuttable presumption in favor of requiring reimbursement, that the Member of Congress has not engaged in the alleged covered discrimination or covered harassment, the committee shall issue a nonreimbursement determination. The committee shall issue the determination and the committee's rationale for the determination in writing. Unless the settlement is not publicly disclosed under section 414, such determination and rationale shall be publicly disclosed by the Office. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a Member of Congress to reimburse the account under paragraph (1), with respect to an allegation of covered discrimination, or covered harassment, that is wholly committed by an employee of the employing office involved. In this section— the term appropriate committee means— if the personal office of a Member of, or a Committee of, the House of Representatives, or a joint committee chaired by such a Member, seeks a payment under subsection (d), or a Member of the House of Representatives seeks a determination under subsection (e), the Committee on Ethics of the House of Representatives; and if the personal office of a Senator, or a Committee of the Senate, or a joint committee chaired by a Senator, seeks a payment under subsection (d), or a Senator seeks a determination under subsection (e), the Senate Select Committee on Ethics; the term covered discrimination or covered harassment by a Member of Congress means— covered discrimination that was committed personally by a Member of Congress; quid pro quo covered harassment that was committed personally by a Member of Congress; and hostile environment covered harassment if a Member of Congress personally committed— severe conduct that created a hostile environment; or at least one act that was part of pervasive conduct that created a hostile environment; and the term nonreimbursement determination means a determination from the appropriate committee that the Member shall not be responsible for reimbursement under subsection (a). .
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