H. Res. 20 (119th)Bill Overview

Establishing the Select Committee on Electoral Reform.

Simple ResolutionCongress|CongressCongressional committees
Cosponsors
Support
Democratic
Introduced
Jan 7, 2025
Discussions
Bill Text
Current stageCommittee

Referred to the House Committee on Rules.

Introduced
Committee
Floor
President
Law
Congressional Activities
01 · The brief
Plain-English summaryWhat this bill actually does

<p>This resolution establishes&nbsp;the House Select Committee on Electoral Reform to examine current methods of electing Members of Congress, consider alternative&nbsp;methods of election, and report appropriate recommendations to Congress and the President.</p><p>Specifically, the committee must (1) determine how alternative methods of election would affect the responsiveness, accountability, and functionality of Congress; (2) conduct hearings to take testimony and receive evidence from appropriate expert witnesses; and (3) examine federal barriers to state experimentation with alternative electoral systems.&nbsp;The committee must consider alternatives to current methods that include&nbsp;adopting multi-member congressional districts with proportional representation;&nbsp;adjusting the total number of Members of the House of Representatives; adopting alternative methods of voting (e.g., ranked-choice voting); and holding open and nonpartisan primaries.</p><p>The committee shall be made up of 14 Members of Congress appointed by the Speaker of the House, 7 of whom shall be appointed in consultation with the minority leader. The committee's co-chairs shall be designated by the Speaker and minority leader, respectively.&nbsp;The resolution provides that the committee must hold its first meeting within 30 days after all of its members have been appointed.</p><p>The committee shall issue its final report to Congress and the President within one year after the committee's first meeting.</p>

Why people may split

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Watch point

The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.

<p>This resolution establishes&nbsp;the House Select Committee on Electoral Reform to examine current methods of electing Members of Congress, consider alternative&nbsp;methods of election, and report appropriate recommendations to Congress and the President.</p><p>Specifically, the committee must (1) determine how alternative methods of election would affect the responsiveness, accountability, and functionality of Congress; (2) conduct hearings to take testimony and receive evidence from appropriate expert witnesses; and (3) examine federal barriers to state experimentation with alternative electoral systems.&nbsp;The committee must consider alternatives to current methods that include&nbsp;adopting multi-member congressional districts with proportional representation;&nbsp;adjusting the total number of Members of the House of Representatives; adopting alternative methods of voting (e.g., ranked-choice voting); and holding open and nonpartisan primaries.</p><p>The committee shall be made up of 14 Members of Congress appointed by the Speaker of the House, 7 of whom shall be appointed in consultation with the minority leader.

The committee's co-chairs shall be designated by the Speaker and minority leader, respectively.&nbsp;The resolution provides that the committee must hold its first meeting within 30 days after all of its members have been appointed.</p><p>The committee shall issue its final report to Congress and the President within one year after the committee's first meeting.</p>

Passage38/100

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

CredibilityPartial

How solid the drafting looks.

Contention62/100

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

02 · What it does

Who stands to gain, and who may push back.

Likely benefits vs burdens0% / 100%
Likely helpedLikely burdened

These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.

Likely helped
  • No clear beneficiaries surfaced yet.
Likely burdened
  • No clear downsides surfaced yet.
03 · Why people split

Why the argument around this bill splits.

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
Progressive

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Centrist

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Conservative

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
04 · Can it pass?

The path through Congress.

Introduced

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Committee

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Floor

Still ahead

President

Still ahead

Law

Still ahead

Passage likelihood38/100

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

Why this could stall
  • The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.
05 · Recent votes

Recent votes on the bill.

No vote history yet

The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.

06 · Go deeper

Go deeper than the headline read.

Included on this page

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

Unlocked analysis

Pro readers get the full perspective split, passage barriers, legislative design review, stakeholder impact map, and lens-based policy tradeoff analysis for Establishing the Select Committee on Electoral Reform..

Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.

Perspective breakdownsPassage barriersLegislative design reviewStakeholder impact map
Open full analysis