[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2730 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2730

  To allow postal patrons to contribute to funding for emergency food 
   relief within the United States through the voluntary purchase of 
         certain specially issued United States postage stamps.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 5, 1999

Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas (for herself, Mrs. Roukema, Mrs. Emerson, Mr. 
Green of Texas, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Kennedy of Rhode Island, Mrs. Meek of 
 Florida, Ms. Brown of Florida, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Hall of Ohio, and Mr. 
   Lantos) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To allow postal patrons to contribute to funding for emergency food 
   relief within the United States through the voluntary purchase of 
         certain specially issued United States postage stamps.

    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 ``George Thomas `Mickey' Leland Hunger 
Relief Stamp Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. SPECIAL POSTAGE STAMPS FOR EMERGENCY FOOD RELIEF WITHIN THE 
              UNITED STATES.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 4 of title 39, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after section 414 the following:
``Sec. 414a. Special postage stamps for emergency food relief within 
              the United States
    ``(a) In order to afford the public a convenient way to contribute 
to emergency food relief within the United States, the Postal Service 
shall establish a special rate of postage for first-class mail under 
this section.
    ``(b) The rate of postage established under this section--
            ``(1) shall be equal to the regular first-class rate of 
        postage, plus a differential of not to exceed 25 percent;
            ``(2) shall be set by the Governors in accordance with such 
        procedures as the Governors shall by regulation prescribe (in 
        lieu of the procedures under chapter 36); and
            ``(3) shall be offered as an alternative to the regular 
        first-class rate of postage.
The use of the special rate of postage established under this section 
shall be voluntary on the part of postal patrons.
    ``(c)(1) Of the amounts becoming available for emergency food 
relief within the United States pursuant to this section, the Postal 
Service shall pay--
            ``(A) 50 percent to the Department of Agriculture, for 
        purposes of the Emergency Food Assistance Program; and
            ``(B) 50 percent to the Agency for International 
        Development, for purposes of the Africa Food Security 
        Initiative.
Payments under this paragraph to an agency shall be made under such 
arrangements as the Postal Service shall by mutual agreement with such 
agency establish in order to carry out the purposes of this section, 
except that, under those arrangements, payments to that agency shall be 
made at least twice a year.
    ``(2) For purposes of this section, the term `amounts becoming 
available for emergency food relief within the United States pursuant 
to this section' means--
            ``(A) the total amounts received by the Postal Service that 
        it would not have received but for the enactment of this 
        section, reduced by
            ``(B) an amount sufficient to cover reasonable costs 
        incurred by the Postal Service in carrying out this section, 
        including those attributable to the printing, sale, and 
        distribution of stamps under this section,
as determined by the Postal Service under regulations that it shall 
prescribe.
    ``(d) It is the sense of the Congress that nothing in this section 
should--
            ``(1) directly or indirectly cause a net decrease in total 
        funds received by the Department of Agriculture, the Agency for 
        International Development, or any other agency of the 
        Government (or any component or program thereof) below the 
        level that would otherwise have been received but for the 
        enactment of this section; or
            ``(2) affect regular first-class rates of postage or any 
        other regular rates of postage.
    ``(e) Special postage stamps under this section shall be made 
available to the public beginning on such date as the Postal Service 
shall by regulation prescribe, but in no event later than 12 months 
after the date of the enactment of this section.
    ``(f) The Postmaster General shall include in each report rendered 
under section 2402 with respect to any period during any portion of 
which this section is in effect information concerning the operation of 
this section, except that, at a minimum, each shall include--
            ``(1) the total amount described in subsection (c)(2)(A) 
        which was received by the Postal Service during the period 
        covered by such report; and
            ``(2) of the amount under paragraph (1), how much (in the 
        aggregate and by category) was required for the purposes 
        described in subsection (c)(2)(B).
    ``(g) This section shall cease to be effective at the end of the 2-
year period beginning on the date on which special postage stamps under 
this section are first made available to the public.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--(1) The analysis for chapter 4 of title 
39, United States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to 
section 414 and inserting the following:

``414. Special postage stamps for breast cancer research.
``414a. Special postage stamps for emergency food relief within the 
                            United States.''.
    (2) The heading for section 414 of title 39, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 414. Special postage stamps for breast cancer research.''.
                                 <all>