IV. Member Advisory Groups

Members may also form advisory groups to receive advice and counsel from private individuals and organizations, subject to the following limitations. House Rule 24 applies to both CMOs and Member advisory groups because each plays a direct role in assisting individual Members in the conduct of their official responsibilities. Nevertheless, the giving of advice by informal advisory groups to a Member does not constitute the type of private contribution of funds, goods, or in-kind services to the support of congressional operations that is prohibited by House Rule 24, clauses 1 and 3.[9] While the rule prohibits private activities in support of the operations of a House office that could be deemed an improper subsidy of official allowances, the rule was not intended to interfere with a Member’s ability to communicate with and gain input from constituents, to consult with knowledgeable persons, or generally to gather any information that the Member deems relevant to the representational or legislative role. Thus, it is entirely appropriate for a Member (or group of Members) to constitute a group to advise them on any topic. Such groups do not register with the Committee on House Administration.

In forming an advisory group, however, a Member should exercise care to ensure that the “wall” between public and private activities and resources is not breached. Like volunteers, members of advisory groups, and any individuals associated with those members, should not be assigned work that supplants the regular duties of paid congressional staff. It would be a violation of House Rule 24 for Members or staff to assign members of the advisory panel to draft legislation, congressional statements, or other legislative materials. In addition, consistent with the House gift rule (House Rule 25, clause 5), Members and staff should not solicit the preparation of any such materials from the members of the advisory panel. Members and staff, however, are free to accept from advisory panel members any such materials that they prepare of their own volition, without any prompting.

Also relevant are the regulations of the Committee on House Administration applicable to CMOs. The main provision states that “[n]either CMOs nor individual Members may accept goods, funds, or services from private organizations or individuals to support the CMO. Members may use personal funds to support the CMO.”[10]

Because an advisory group is not itself an official House entity, and since the individual members of the group are not House employees, neither the advisory group itself nor any of its members individually are entitled to the use of the frank, official letterhead, congressional office equipment (including computers, telephones, and facsimile machines), office supplies (including official stationery and envelopes), work stations in congressional office space, congressional staff time, the services of the Congressional Research Service, or any other official resources. Members of the advisory group may not use the congressional office address or telephone number as a point of contact. Underlying the requirement for separation is 31 U.S.C. § 1301(a), which provides that official House resources may be used only for the purposes appropriated. Other statutory provisions and regulations of the Committee on House Administration further emphasize that official House allowances may be used only for official House business.

In addition, a Member should not authorize the members of the advisory group to represent themselves as having any official status or as acting on the Member’s behalf. They should not be issued congressional business cards or other forms of official identification. Furthermore, members of the advisory group may not contact federal agencies or any other entity on a Member’s behalf, even if they are seeking information that they believe will be helpful to the member. These individuals may contact agencies or persons on their own behalf, however, to gather such information.