Metric Conversion Act
Latest action. Measure failed of passage in House, roll call #208 (153-240).
Metric Conversion Act - Establishes a National Metric Conversion Board to implement the change of the United States to the metric system by devising and carrying out a program of encouragement, coordination and public education. Requires the Board to consult with industry, commerce, science, consumers, engineering, education, labor, State and local governments, foreign governments, and such others as are deemed appropriate in carrying out its duties. Requires the Board, within 12 months after the appropriation of funds to carry out this Act, to develop and submit to the Secretary of Commerce, for transmittal to the President and Congress, a plan to convert to the metric system. Provides that such plan will be implemented within 60 days unless disapproved by Congress. Authorizes the Board to hold hearings and enter into contracts. Provides that an executive director shall be responsible for carrying out the Board's duties. Authorizes appropriations necessary to carry out this Act.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on October 18, 1973. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
This bill failed the vote the record describes below. A measure that fails is not revived; the same text has to be introduced again as a new measure.
The record's latest action, on May 7, 1974: Measure failed of passage in House, roll call #208 (153-240).
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
OLIN TEAGUE (D-TX) introduced it on October 18, 1973, and 24 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 14 Democrats, 10 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseDid not advance · May 7, 1974
- SenateNot reached
- PresidentNot reached