[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1291 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1291

 To amend title 39, United States Code, to provide that the provisions 
of law preventing Members of Congress from sending mass mailings within 
 the 60-day period immediately before an election be expanded so as to 
 prevent Members from mailing any unsolicited franked mail within that 
                    period, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 22, 1995

  Mr. Greenwood (for himself, Mr. Franks of New Jersey, Mr. Frank of 
 Massachusetts, and Mr. Horn) introduced the following bill; which was 
 referred to the Committee on House Oversight, and in addition to the 
   Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned.

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 39, United States Code, to provide that the provisions 
of law preventing Members of Congress from sending mass mailings within 
 the 60-day period immediately before an election be expanded so as to 
 prevent Members from mailing any unsolicited franked mail within that 
                    period, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Franking Reform Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF RULE.

    Paragraph (6) of section 3210(a) of title 39, United States Code, 
is amended to read as follows:
    ``(6)(A) It is the intent of Congress--
            ``(i) that a Member of, or Member-elect to, Congress may 
        not send any unsolicited franked mail postmarked fewer than 60 
        days immediately before the date of any primary election or 
        general election (whether regular, special, or runoff) in which 
        the Member is a candidate for reelection; and
            ``(ii) that a Member of, or Member-elect to, the House of 
        Representatives who is a candidate for any other public office 
        may not send--
                    ``(I) any unsolicited franked mail for delivery 
                within any portion of the jurisdiction of or the area 
                covered by the public office which is outside the area 
                constituting the congressional district from which the 
                Member or Member-elect was elected; or
                    ``(II) any unsolicited franked mail postmarked 
                fewer than 60 days immediately before the date of any 
                primary election or general election (whether regular, 
                special, or runoff) in which the Member or Member-elect 
                is a candidate for such office.
    ``(B) No Senator may send any unsolicited franked mail postmarked 
fewer than 60 days immediately before the date of any primary election 
or general election (whether regular, special, or runoff) for any 
national, State or local office in which such Senator is a candidate 
for election.
    ``(C) For purposes of subparagraphs (A) and (B), if mail matter is 
of a type which is not customarily postmarked, the date on which such 
matter would have been postmarked if it were of a type customarily 
postmarked shall apply.
    ``(D) The Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate and the House 
Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards shall prescribe for their 
respective Houses rules and regulations, and shall take such other 
action as the Committee or the Commission considers necessary and 
proper for Members of, and Members-elect to, Congress to comply with 
the provisions of this paragraph. The rules and regulations shall 
include provisions prescribing the time within which mailings shall be 
mailed at or delivered to any postal facility and the time when the 
mailings shall be deemed to have been mailed or delivered to comply 
with the provisions of this paragraph.
    ``(E) As used in this section, the term `mass mailing' means, with 
respect to a session of Congress, any mailing of newsletters or other 
pieces of mail with substantially identical content (whether such mail 
is deposited singly or in bulk, or at the same time or different 
times), totaling more than 500 pieces in that session, except that such 
term does not include any mailing--
            ``(i) of matter in direct response to a communication from 
        a person to whom the matter is mailed;
            ``(ii) from a Member of Congress to other Members of 
        Congress, or to Federal, State, or local government officials; 
        or
            ``(iii) of a news release to the communications media.
    ``(F) Subparagraphs (A) through (D) shall not apply with respect to 
any mailing which would satisfy clause (i), (ii), or (iii) of 
subparagraph (E) (determined without consideration as to the number of 
pieces in such mailing), except that for purposes of this subparagraph, 
subparagraph (E)(i) shall not be considered satisfied if the mailing is 
postmarked later than 60 days after the communication (or latest 
communication) to which it responds.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall take effect as of the 180th day after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, and shall apply with respect to any mailing 
made on or after that day.
                                 <all>