[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4872 Introduced in House (IH)]

                                    


106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4872

  To allow postal patrons to invest in vanishing wildlife protection 
  programs through the voluntary purchase of specially issued postage 
                                stamps.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 18, 2000

 Mr. Gilman (for himself, Mr. Saxton, Mr. George Miller of California, 
and Mr. Abercrombie) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                 to the Committee on Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To allow postal patrons to invest in vanishing wildlife protection 
  programs through the voluntary purchase of specially issued 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 ``Vanishing Wildlife Stamp Act of 
2000''.

SEC. 2. SPECIAL POSTAGE STAMPS RELATING TO VANISHING WILDLIFE 
              PROTECTION.

    (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 relating to funding vanishing 
              wildlife protection programs
    ``(a) In order to afford the public a convenient way to invest in 
vanishing wildlife protection programs, 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 no more than 25 percent higher than the rate 
        that would otherwise apply;
            ``(2) may be established without regard to any procedures 
        under chapter 36 of title 39, United States Code, and 
        notwithstanding any other provision of law; and
            ``(3) shall be offered as an alternative to the regular 
        first class rate of postage.
    ``(c) The use of the rate of postage established under this section 
shall be voluntary on the part of postal patrons.
    ``(d)(1) Amounts becoming available from public investment in 
wildlife protection programs shall be paid by the Postal Service to the 
Department of Interior Multilateral Species Conservation Fund. Payments 
under this section shall be made under such arrangements as the Postal 
Service shall, by mutual agreement with the Department of Interior, 
establish in order to carry out the purposes of this section, except 
that under those arrangements, payments to the Department of Interior 
shall be made at least twice a year.
    ``(2) For purposes of this section, the term `amounts becoming 
available from public investment in vanishing wildlife protection 
programs' means--
            ``(A) the total amount of revenues 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 costs attributable to the printing, sale, and 
        distribution of stamps under this section,
as determined by the Postal Service under regulations that it shall 
prescribe.
    ``(e) It is the sense of Congress that nothing in this section 
should--
            ``(1) directly or indirectly cause a net decrease in total 
        funds received by the Department of Interior 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.
    ``(f) 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 not later than 12 months after the 
date of the enactment of this section.
    ``(g) 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 report shall include--
            ``(1) the total amount described in subsection (d)(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 (d)(2)(B).
    ``(h) 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) Report by the Comptroller General of the United States.--Not 
later than 3 months (but no earlier than 6 months) before the end of 
the 2-year period referred to in section 414a(h) of title 39, United 
States Code (as amended by subsection (a)), the Comptroller General of 
the United States shall submit to the Congress a report on the 
operation of such section. Such report shall include--
            (1) an evaluation of the effectiveness and the 
        appropriateness of the authority provided by such section as a 
        means of fund-raising; and
            (2) a description of the monetary and other resources 
        required of the Postal Service in carrying out such section.
    (c) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Table of sections.--The table of sections 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 relating to breast cancer.
``414a. Special postage stamps relating to funding vanishing wildlife 
                            protection programs.''.
            (2) Section heading.--The heading for section 414 of title 
        39, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 414. Special postage stamps relating to breast cancer''.
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