[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2676 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2676

To amend chapter 4 of title 39, United States Code, to provide for the 
    issuance of a semipostal stamp in order to provide funding for 
  childhood drinking prevention and education, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 15, 2004

Mrs. Hutchison (for herself and Ms. Mikulski) introduced the following 
      bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                          Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend chapter 4 of title 39, United States Code, to provide for the 
    issuance of a semipostal stamp in order to provide funding for 
  childhood drinking prevention and education, 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. SEMIPOSTAL STAMP TO BENEFIT CHILDHOOD DRINKING PREVENTION 
              AND EDUCATION.

    (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 to benefit childhood drinking 
              prevention and education
    ``(a) In this section the term `childhood drinking' means the 
consumption of alcoholic beverages by children who are between 9 and 15 
years of age.
    ``(b) In order to afford the public a convenient way to contribute 
to funding for childhood drinking prevention and education, the Postal 
Service shall establish a special rate of postage for first-class mail 
under this section.
    ``(c)(1) The rate of postage established under this section--
            ``(A) shall be equal to the regular first-class rate of 
        postage, plus a differential of not to exceed 25 percent;
            ``(B) 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
            ``(C) shall be offered as an alternative to the regular 
        first-class rate of postage.
    ``(2) The use of the special rate of postage established under this 
section shall be voluntary on the part of postal patrons.
    ``(d)(1) Amounts becoming available for childhood drinking 
prevention and education under this section shall be paid to the 
Department of Health and Human Services. Payments under this section 
shall be made under such arrangements as the Postal Service shall by 
mutual agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services 
establish in order to carry out the purposes of this section, except 
that, under those arrangements, payments to the Department of Health 
and Human Services shall be made at least twice a year.
    ``(2) In this subsection, the term `amounts becoming available for 
childhood drinking prevention and education under 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 full 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.
    ``(e) It is the sense of the Congress that nothing in this section 
should--
            ``(1) directly or indirectly cause a net decrease in total 
        Federal funding for childhood drinking prevention and education 
        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 in no event later than 1 year 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 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) Section 416 shall not apply to this section. For purposes of 
section 416 (including any regulation prescribed under subsection 
(e)(1)(C) of that section), the special postage stamp issued under this 
section shall not apply to any limitation relating to whether more than 
1 semipostal may be offered for sale at the same time.
    ``(i) This section shall cease to be effective 2 years after the 
date of enactment of this section.''.
    (b) 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 to benefit breast cancer research.
``414a. Special postage stamps to benefit childhood drinking prevention 
                            and education.''.
            (2) Amendment to heading.--The heading for section 414 of 
        title 39, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 414. Special postage stamps to benefit breast cancer research''.
                                 <all>