[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4437 Introduced in House (IH)]
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4437
To grant to the United States Postal Service the authority to issue
semipostals, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 11, 2000
Mr. McHugh (for himself and Mr. Fattah) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform, and in
addition to the Committees on Commerce, and Armed Services, 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 grant to the United States Postal Service the authority to issue
semipostals, 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 ``Semipostal Authorization Act''.
SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO ISSUE SEMIPOSTALS.
(a) In General.--Chapter 4 of title 39, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 416. Authority to issue semipostals
``(a) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term
`semipostal' means a postage stamp which is issued and sold by the
Postal Service, at a premium, in order to help provide funding for a
particular area of medical research.
``(b) Authority.--The Postal Service is hereby authorized to issue
and sell semipostals under this section.
``(c) Rates.--The rate of postage on a semipostal issued under this
section shall be established by the Governors, in accordance with such
procedures as they shall by regulation prescribe (in lieu of the
procedures under chapter 36), except that--
``(1) the rate established for a semipostal under this
section shall be equal to the rate of postage that would
otherwise regularly apply, plus a differential of not to exceed
25 percent; and
``(2) no regular rates of postage or fees for postal
services under chapter 36 shall be any different from what they
otherwise would have been if this section had not been enacted.
The use of any semipostal issued under this section shall be voluntary
on the part of postal patrons.
``(d) Amounts Becoming Available.--
``(1) In general.--The amounts becoming available from the
sale of a semipostal under this section shall be transferred to
the appropriate agency or agencies under such arrangements as
the Postal Service shall by mutual agreement with each such
agency establish.
``(2) Areas of medical research and agencies.--Decisions
under this section concerning areas of medical research, and
the appropriate agency or agencies to receive amounts becoming
available under this section, shall be made applying the
criteria and procedures established under subsection (e).
``(3) Administrative costs.--The amounts becoming available
from the sale of a semipostal under this section shall be
determined in a manner similar to that provided for under
section 414(c)(2) (as in effect on July 1, 2000). Any
regulations under subsection (e) shall specifically address how
the costs incurred by the Postal Service in carrying out this
section shall be computed, recovered, and kept to a minimum.
``(4) Other funding not to be affected.--Amounts which have
or may become available from the sale of a semipostal under
this section shall not be taken into account in any decision
relating to the level of appropriations or other Federal
funding to be furnished to an agency in any year.
``(5) Agency defined.--For purposes of this section, the
term `agency' means an Executive agency (as defined by section
105 of title 5).
``(e) Regulations.--
``(1) In general.--The Postal Service shall prescribe any
regulations necessary to carry out this section, including
provisions relating to--
``(A) which office or other body within the Postal
Service will be responsible for making the decisions
described in subsection (d)(2);
``(B) what criteria and procedures will be applied
in making those decisions;
``(C) any limitations relating to the issuance of
semipostals, such as whether more than 1 semipostal may
be offered for sale at any given time; and
``(D) how the price of a semipostal will be
established.
``(2) Notice and comment.--Before any regulation is
prescribed under this section, a copy of the proposed
regulation shall be published in the Federal Register and an
opportunity provided to interested parties to present written
comment and, where practicable, oral comment. Initial
regulations shall be prescribed not later than 30 days before
the date on which semipostals are first made available to the
public under this section.
``(f) Annual Reports.--
``(1) In general.--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 any program established
under this section.
``(2) Specific requirement.--If any semipostal ceases to be
offered during the period covered by a report, the information
contained in such report shall also include--
``(A) the dates as of which the sale of such
semipostal commenced and terminated;
``(B) the total amount that became available from
the sale of such semipostal; and
``(C) of that total amount, how much was applied
toward medical research and how much toward
administrative costs.
For each year before the year in which a semipostal ceases to
be offered, any report under this subsection shall include, for
that semipostal and for the year covered by that report, the
information described in subparagraphs (B) and (C).
``(g) Termination.--This section shall cease to be effective at the
end of the 10-year period beginning on the date on which semipostals
are first made available to the public under this section.''.
(b) Reports by Agencies.--Each agency that receives any funding in
a year under section 416 of title 39, United States Code (as amended by
this section) shall submit a written report under this subsection with
respect to such year to the congressional committees with jurisdiction
over the United States Postal Service. Each report under this
subsection shall include--
(1) the total amount of funding received by such agency
under section 416 of such title 39 during the year to which the
report pertains;
(2) an accounting of how any funds received by such agency
under section 416 of such title 39 were allocated or otherwise
used by such agency in such year; and
(3) a description of any medical advances or
accomplishments achieved in such year that were funded, in
whole or in part, out of amounts made available under section
416 of such title 39.
(c) Reports by the General Accounting Office.--
(1) Interim report.--The General Accounting Office shall
submit to the President and each House of Congress an interim
report on the operation of the program established under
section 416 of title 39, United States Code (as amended by this
section) not later than 4 years after semipostals are first
made available to the public under such section.
(2) Final report.--The General Accounting Office shall
transmit to the President and each House of Congress a final
report on the operation of the program established under such
section 416, not later than 6 months before the date it is
scheduled to terminate. The final report shall contain a
detailed statement of the findings and conclusions of the
General Accounting Office, together with any recommendations it
considers appropriate.
(d) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 4 of
title 39, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``416. Authority to issue semipostals.''.
(d) Effective Date.--The program under section 416 of title 39,
United States Code (as amended by this section) shall be established
within 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY TO ISSUE SEMIPOSTALS FOR BREAST CANCER
RESEARCH.
(a) In General.--Subsection (g) of section 414 of title 39, United
States Code, is amended to read as follows:
``(g) This section shall cease to be effective after July 29, 2002,
or the end of the 2-year period beginning on the date of enactment of
the Semipostal Authorization Act, whichever is later.''.
(b) Reporting Requirement.--No later than 3 months and no earlier
than 6 months before the date as of which section 414 of title 39,
United States Code (as amended by this section) is scheduled to expire,
the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the
Congress a report on the operation of such section. Such report shall
be in addition to the report required by section 2(b) of Public Law
105-41, and shall address at least the same matters as were required to
be included in that earlier report.
<all>