[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2439 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2439

To provide for the establishment of an Official Mass Mailing Allowance 
  for Members of the House of Representatives, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 9, 1997

  Mr. Castle introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on House Oversight

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the establishment of an Official Mass Mailing Allowance 
  for Members of the House of Representatives, 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 ``Franked Mail Savings Act''.

SEC. 2. OFFICIAL MASS MAILING ALLOWANCE.

    Subsection (f) of section 311 of the Legislative Branch 
Appropriations Act, 1991 (2 U.S.C. 59e(f)) is amended to read as 
follows:
    ``(f)(1) There is established in the House of Representatives an 
Official Mass Mailing Allowance for Members of the House of 
Representatives.
    ``(2) The Official Mass Mailing Allowance of a Member of the House 
of Representatives--
            ``(A) shall be available only for postage for any mass 
        mailing sent by such Member as franked mail;
            ``(B) shall be the sole source of funding for any such 
        postage; and
            ``(C) shall be available, in a session of Congress, in an 
        amount not to exceed the total amount allocated to the Official 
        Mail Allowance of such Member in such session.
    ``(3) No amount may be transferred to or from the Official Mass 
Mailing Allowance of a Member of the House of Representatives 
(including as described in the parenthetical matter in subsection 
(a)(2)(A)), except as provided in subsection (e)(3)(B).
    ``(4) For purposes of subsection (b), the Official Mass Mailing 
Allowance of (and any mass mailing sent by) a Member of the House of 
Representatives shall be treated separately from the Official Mail 
Allowance of (and any other official mail sent by) such Member.
    ``(5)(A) Otherwise applicable provisions of law relating to mass 
mailings sent by a Member of (or Member-elect to) the House of 
Representatives shall continue to govern such mass mailings--
            ``(i) except that--
                    ``(I) for purposes of carrying out those other 
                provisions of law, the term `mass mailing' shall have 
                the meaning given it under paragraph (8); and
                    ``(II) a mass mailing may not be sent if it would 
                be postmarked during any session that begins in an 
                even-numbered calendar year, subject to subparagraph 
                (B); and
            ``(ii) except as otherwise provided in this subsection.
    ``(B) Nothing in subclause (II) of subparagraph (A)(i) shall be 
considered to preclude the mailing of any mail matter--
            ``(i) sent after the Tuesday next after the 1st Monday in 
        November of such year, and any mass mailing described in 
        section 3210(a)(6)(B) of title 39, United States Code; or
            ``(ii) which relates to an emergency or disaster declared 
        by the President, if--
                    ``(I) the mailing is sent within 60 days after the 
                emergency or disaster is declared;
                    ``(II) the recipients of the mailing are located in 
                a congressional district any portion of which is within 
                (or adjacent to) an area included in the President's 
                declaration;
                    ``(III) the mailing includes not more than 3 
                references to the Member (excluding any reference 
                appearing as the frank, consisting of the signature and 
                name at the end of the mailing, or otherwise specified 
                in regulations of the House Commission on Congressional 
                Mailing Standards), and does not include any picture, 
                sketch, or other likeness of the Member;
                    ``(IV) the mailing complies with clauses (i) and 
                (ii)(II) of section 3210(a)(6)(A) of title 39, United 
                States Code; and
                    ``(V) the mailing relates solely to the emergency 
                or disaster.
    ``(6) A Member of the House of Representatives shall--
            ``(A) before making any mass mailing, submit a sample of 
        the mail matter involved to the House Commission on 
        Congressional Mailing Standards for an advisory opinion as to 
        whether such proposed mailing is in compliance with applicable 
        provisions of law, rule, or regulation; and
            ``(B) before making any mailing of substantially identical 
        mail which totals 250 pieces or less (but more than 50) in the 
        same session, and which in every other respect meets the 
        definition of a mass mailing (determined disregarding the 
        exclusion under subclause (II) of paragraph (8)(A)(i)), submit 
        a sample of the mail matter involved to such Commission.
    ``(7)(A) The regulations prescribed in connection with subsection 
(a)(3) shall be amended to require, in addition to the information 
otherwise required to be included in the quarterly report referred to 
therein, a statement of--
            ``(i) costs charged against the Official Mass Mailing 
        Allowance of each Member; and
            ``(ii) the number of pieces of mail in any mass mailing 
        sent by a Member.
    ``(B)(i) The House Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards 
shall by regulation establish procedures under which there shall be 
made available to the public for review and copying any matter 
submitted to the Commission under paragraph (6). Any copying under the 
preceding sentence shall be at the expense of the person who requests 
the copying.
    ``(ii) Under the regulations, mail matter shall be made available 
within 2 weeks after the date on which it is requested in accordance 
with applicable procedures.
    ``(8) For the purpose of this subsection--
            ``(A) 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 250 pieces in that 
        session, except that such term does not include--
                    ``(i)(I) any mailing of matter in direct response 
                to a communication from a person to whom the matter is 
                mailed; or
                    ``(II) a single follow-up to any such direct 
                response, if it is made before the end of the Congress 
                in which the direct response was made, it occurs within 
                6 weeks after any significant congressional action (as 
                defined by the House Commission on Congressional 
                Mailing Standards) on the subject matter involved, and 
                it complies with any requirements which would be 
                applicable to it under clause (i) or (ii)(II) of 
                section 3210(a)(6)(A) of title 39, United States Code, 
                if it were a mass mailing;
                    ``(ii) any mailing from a Member of Congress to 
                other Members of Congress, or to Federal, State, or 
                local government officials;
                    ``(iii) any mailing of a news release to the 
                communications media;
                    ``(iv) any mailing described in clause (iv) or (v) 
                of section 6(b)(1)(B) of the Legislative Branch 
                Appropriations Act, 1995 (39 U.S.C. 3210 note), subject 
                to the same restriction as specified in such clause 
                (iv) with respect to a Member of the Senate; or
                    ``(v) a town meeting notice; and
            ``(B) the term `franked mail' has the meaning given such 
        term by section 3201(4) of title 39, United States Code.''.

SEC. 3. PROVISIONS RELATING TO MEMBERS' OFFICIAL MAIL ALLOWANCE.

    (a) Reduction in Maximum Allocation.--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 ``0.5''.
    (b) Limitation on Transfers.--Paragraph (3) of section 311(e) of 
such Act is amended to read as follows:
    ``(3)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), no amount may be 
transferred to or from the Official Mail Allowance of a Member of the 
House of Representatives.
    ``(B) A Member of the House of Representatives may transfer amounts 
from the Official Mass Mailing Allowance of the Member to the Official 
Mail Allowance of the Member.''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect as 
of the first day of the first regular session of Congress beginning 
after the date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>