[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.
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