[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 597 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 597

To allow postal patrons to contribute to funding for AIDS research and 
 education through the voluntary purchase of certain specially issued 
                     United States postage stamps.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 4, 1999

 Ms. Millender-McDonald (for herself, Mr. Coburn, Mr. LaTourette, Ms. 
    Jackson-Lee of Texas, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Serrano, Ms. 
 Kilpatrick, Mrs. Clayton, Ms. Pelosi, Mrs. Christian-Christensen, Mr. 
 McDermott, Mr. Ford, Mrs. Mink of Hawaii, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Stark, Mr. 
 Inslee, Mr. English, Mr. Frost, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, Mr. Baldacci, Ms. 
 Woolsey, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. Rangel, Ms. Norton, and 
  Mr. Dixon) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To allow postal patrons to contribute to funding for AIDS research and 
 education 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 ``Faces of AIDS Stamp Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. SPECIAL POSTAGE STAMPS FOR AIDS RESEARCH AND EDUCATION.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 4 of title 39, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 415. Special postage stamps for AIDS research and education
    ``(a) In order to afford the public a convenient way to contribute 
to funding for AIDS research and education, 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 AIDS research and 
education pursuant to this section, the United States Postal Service 
shall pay--
            ``(A) 50 percent to the National Institutes of Health for 
        AIDS research; and
            ``(B) the remainder to the Department of Health and Human 
        Services for purposes of such AIDS awareness education grant 
        programs as the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
        considers appropriate.
Payments under this section to an agency shall be made under such 
arrangements as the Postal Service shall by mutual agreement with that 
agency establish in order to carry out the purposes of this section, 
except that, under those arrangements, payments to such agency shall be 
made at least twice a year.
    ``(2) For purposes of this section, the term `amounts becoming 
available for AIDS research and education 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 National Institutes of Health, the 
        Department of Health and Human Services, or any other agency or 
        instrumentality 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.
    ``(h) For purposes of this section, the term `AIDS research and 
education' means research and public education with respect to acquired 
immune deficiency syndrome.''.
    (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.
``415. Special postage stamps for AIDS research and education.''.
    (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.''.
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