The House introduced a major bipartisan bill that would overhaul the way Congress deals with sexual harassment cases on Thursday.

The legislation is the result of months’ work by members of both parties to improve transparency and reporting options for employees on Capitol Hill, in the wake of sexual harassment allegations against several members. Sen. Al Franken and Reps. John Conyers and Trent Franks resigned in the wake of recent allegations against them, while Reps. Ruben Kihuen and Blake Farenthold have announced they will not seek reelection.

Among other changes, the legislation, which is an amendment to the 1995 Congressional Accountability Act, would require members to reimburse any taxpayer money they paid as settlements for sexual harassment complaints against them personally to the US Treasury. Any taxpayer money used for settlements must be paid back within 90 days, or could result in withholding funds from a member’s salary until the amount is paid off.

Taxpayer-funded settlements have become a major issue on Capitol Hill, after BuzzFeed News reported in November that Conyers had settled a sexual harassment claim using money from his office budget. Since then, the Office of Compliance, a secretive body that handles workplace complaints in Congress, has revealed that it paid out more than $700,000 in federal money to settle complaints against members and their staff since 2008.


“No way that taxpayers should be paying for this,” Republican Rep. Gregg Harper, who chairs the House Administration Committee that wrote this bill, told BuzzFeed News last week.

Significantly, the bill would extend protections for congressional employees to unpaid staff, such as interns. And it would now require the OOC to release public reports on complaints it has handled twice per year.

And it would establish a new Office of Employee Advocacy, which would for the first time provide legal assistance and consultation for employees on Capitol Hill to help address complaints and explain the procedures Congress has to address them. The office could not, however, represent an employee should a complaint go to federal court.

One common criticism of the current complaint process was that employees did not have an advocate because the OOC ultimately works for the House of Representatives. While complainants had to pay for legal representation, members of Congress and their offices could be represented by the House counsel.