A bill to provide that the chairmanship of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe shall rotate between members appointed from the House of Representatives and Members appointed from the Senate, and for other purposes.
Public Law 99-7 · S. 592 · 99th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on Mar 27, 1985 · Congress
Sponsor: Sen. Robert Dole (R-KS)
Cosponsors (2): Sen. Robert Byrd, Sen. Claiborne Pell
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateVoice vote
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Increases the number of members of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe from 15 to 21. Requires that the House of Representatives and the Senate shall each appoint nine (currently six) members to the Commission. Requires that five of the nine Commission members from the House and five of the nine from the Senate shall be selected from the majority party in the House and Senate respectively.
Provides that the Chairman of the Commission shall be designated, on a rotating basis, at the beginning of each Congress by the President of the Senate from among Senate members of the Commission (odd-numbered Congress) and by the Speaker of the House of Representatives from among House members of the Commission (even-numbered Congress). Requires the Cochairman of the Commission to be designated, on a similarly rotating basis, by the President of the Senate at the beginning of each even-numbered Congress and by the Speaker of the House at the beginning of each odd-numbered Congress.
Directs the President of the Senate to designate a Commission member from the Senate as Chairman of the Commission for the duration of the 99th Congress. Directs the Speaker of the House to designate a House member to serve as Cochairman of the Commission for such period.
Directs the Commission to monitor compliance by the signatories of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, particularly with regard to its human rights provisions.
Revises the authorization of appropriations to the Commission and the method for disbursing such appropriations.
Permits either the Chairman or Cochairman of the Commission to authorize foreign travel for official purposes.
Requires the Commission to have a personnel and administration committee which shall make the personnel decisions for the Commission, with specified exceptions.
Requires staff personnel of the Commission to be considered employees in the legislative branch.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 7 actions.
- Mar 27, 1985Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 99-7.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Mar 20, 1985PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Mar 19, 1985FloorFloor · Passed House by Voice Vote.
- Mar 6, 1985FloorFloor · Introduced in the Senate, read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed without amendment by Voice Vote.
- CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Foreign Affairs Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.