There’s a new select committee for modernizing Congress. What does it mean for legislative IT?

The House of Representatives voted Friday to establish a Select Committee for the Modernization of Congress. Title II of the House rules package, which includes a provision on tech modernization, passed by a resounding 418 yea votes.

The select committee holds a wide mandate to “investigate, study, make findings, hold public hearings, and develop recommendations on modernizing Congress” in a number of areas, including rules, procedures, staff diversity and more. The committee can also make recommendations on modernizing Congress’ “technology and innovation.”

The committee will be bipartisan — with six Democratic members chosen by the House speaker and six Republican members chosen by the minority leader. Of the 12, at least two will be freshmen members. The committee can issue recommendations for modernization to Congress, but only once two-thirds of the members agree. Under current legislation, following the delivery of a final report, the committee will terminate on Feb. 1, 2020.

So far the group has a chairperson — Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she’s chosen Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., to lead the effort on Friday afternoon.

So what does the creation of this select committee mean for IT systems in the legislative branch?

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