[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 631 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 631

  To amend title 39, United States Code, with respect to cooperative 
                               mailings.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 17, 2003

  Mr. Santorum (for himself and Mr. Carper) introduced the following 
      bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                          Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 39, United States Code, with respect to cooperative 
                               mailings.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to clarify section 3626(j)(1)(D)(ii) of 
title 39, United States Code.

SEC. 2. COOPERATIVE MAILINGS.

    Section 3626(j) of title 39, United States Code, is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(4)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section or any 
rule or regulation of the Postal Service, but subject to subparagraph 
(D), in the case of mail matter sent (or proposed to be sent) by or on 
behalf of an authorized organization having a contractual or any other 
business relationship with an entity described in subparagraph (B)(ii), 
rates of postage under former section 4452 (b) or (c) of this title 
shall apply if those rates would apply in the case of identical mail 
matter sent by such organization absent such relationship.
    ``(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A)--
            ``(i) the term `authorized organization' means an 
        organization authorized to mail at the rates for mail under 
        former section 4452 (b) or (c) of this title; and
            ``(ii) an entity described in this clause is any 
        organization or other person that is not an authorized 
        organization.
    ``(C) This paragraph does not authorize mail that advertises, 
promotes, offers, or, for a fee or consideration, recommends, 
describes, or announces the availability of any products or services to 
be mailed at the rates of postage under former section 4452 (b) or (c) 
of this title which would otherwise be excluded from being mailed at 
such rates by any other provision of this title.''.

SEC. 3. CONFLICT OF INTEREST.

    Section 3626 of title 39, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
    ``(n)(1) For purposes of determining eligibility for use of the 
rates to mail under former section 4452 (b) or (c) of this title with 
respect to a qualified nonprofit organization that enters into a 
contract with a commercial entity to solicit funds for or on behalf of 
the nonprofit organization, or to provide counseling services for the 
solicitation of funds, the contractual relationship shall be deemed a 
conflict of interest creating a presumption against eligibility if--
            ``(A) the parties do not act severally and independently in 
        forming the contract; or
            ``(B) the contract is not approved in advance by the 
        governing body of the nonprofit organization, the controlling 
        voting percentage of which is comprised of persons other than 
        officers, board members, principals, or employees of the 
        commercial entity; or by other persons as authorized by such 
        governing body to act on its behalf.
    ``(2) If a conflict of interest is found to exist under paragraph 
(1), the presumption against eligibility may be rebutted by 
demonstrating to the Postal Service that the contract meets the 
standards required to establish a rebuttable presumption that a 
transaction is not an excess benefit transaction as set forth in 
regulation by the Internal Revenue Service under section 4958 of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986.''.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) this Act addresses only the appropriate rates of 
        postage as authorized under section 3626 of title 39, United 
        States Code;
            (2) to prevent the nonprofit mailing rates from being used 
        for any unlawful purpose, nothing in this Act should be 
        considered to alter the authority of the United States Postal 
        Service to--
                    (A) apply regular rates of postage rather than 
                nonprofit rates, to mail matter described in 
                subparagraph (A), (B), (C), or (D)(i) of section 
                3526(j)(1) of title 39, United States Code;
                    (B) enforce any criminal law within its 
                jurisdiction;
                    (C) revoke the nonprofit mail permit of an 
                authorized organization, as described in section 
                3626(j)(4)(B)(i) of title 39, United States Code, for 
                which the Internal Revenue Service and the courts of 
                the United States have issued a final revocation of 
                tax-exempt status on any legal basis, including a 
                finding of an excess benefit, private inurement, or 
                private benefit;
                    (D) prohibit schemes to obtain money or property 
                through the mail by means of false representations in 
                accordance with section 3005(a) of title 39, United 
                States Code;
                    (E) prohibit any person from conducting a lottery, 
                gift enterprise, or scheme for the distribution of 
                money through the mail in accordance with section 
                3005(a) of title 39, United States Code; or
                    (F) broadly prohibit any person having fraudulent 
                designs on others from using the Postal Service as a 
                means of effecting such fraud in accordance with 
                section 1341 of title 18, United States Code; and
            (3) nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit or 
        change the authority of the Attorney General of the United 
        States or an Attorney General of the several States from 
        exercising their consumer protection jurisdiction against 
        criminal or fraudulent fundraising practices.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLICATION.

    (a) In General.--The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 
respect to mail matter sent before, on, or after the date of enactment 
of this Act, except that section 3 of this Act shall become effective 
for contracts entered into after the date of enactment.
    (b) Application.--
            (1) Causes of action.--Nothing in this Act (including the 
        amendments made by this Act) shall be considered to create a 
        cause of action against the United States Postal Service to 
        recover postage paid on mail matter sent on or before the date 
        of enactment of this Act.
            (2) Continuation of actions.--Nothing in this Act 
        (including the amendments made by this Act) shall prohibit or 
        prevent the United States Government from proceeding--
                    (A) in any civil action instituted or formally 
                intervened by it before the date of enactment of this 
                Act; or
                    (B) in any criminal action in which a complaint or 
                indictment has been filed on or before the date of 
                enactment of this Act.
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