[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 978 Introduced in House (IH)]

  1st Session
                                H. R. 978

 To amend the formula for determining the Official Mail Allowance for 
  Members of the House of Representatives; to amend the provisions of 
 title 39, United States Code, relating to the franking privilege for 
 Members of Congress and provide that the provisions of law preventing 
Members 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

                           February 16, 1995

  Mr. Blute 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 the formula for determining the Official Mail Allowance for 
  Members of the House of Representatives; to amend the provisions of 
 title 39, United States Code, relating to the franking privilege for 
 Members of Congress and provide that the provisions of law preventing 
Members 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. FORMULA FOR DETERMINING OFFICIAL MAIL ALLOWANCE.

    Section 311(e)(2)(B)(i) of the Legislative Branch Appropriations 
Act, 1991 (2 U.S.C. 59e(e)(2)(B)(i)) is amended by striking ``3'' and 
inserting ``1.5''.

SEC. 2. TRANSFER OF CERTAIN FUNDS PROHIBITED.

    Section 101(c)(2) of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 
1993 (2 U.S.C. 95b(c)(2)) is amended by striking `` ``official mail 
costs'',''.

SEC. 3. 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. 4. VOTER REGISTRATION INFORMATION.

    Subparagraph (H) of section 3210(a)(3) of title 39, United States 
Code, is repealed.

SEC. 5. RETURN OF EXCESS AMOUNTS FROM OFFICIAL ALLOWANCES OF MEMBERS OF 
              THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO THE TREASURY FOR DEFICIT 
              REDUCTION.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other law, or any rule or 
other authority, any amount remaining in an official allowance of a 
Member of the House of Representatives at the end of the session of 
Congress or other period for which the allowance is made available 
shall be returned to the Treasury, to be used for deficit reduction.
    (b) Definitions.--As used in this section--
            (1) the term ``Member of the House of Representatives'' 
        means a Representative in, or a Delegate or Resident 
        Commissioner to, the Congress; and
            (2) the term ``official allowance'' means, with respect to 
        a Member of the House of Representatives, the Official Mail 
        Allowance.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect as 
of the beginning of the first Congress beginning after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
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