    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 109th Congress]
    [109th Congress]
    [House Document 108-241]
    [Rules of the House of Representatives]
    [Pages 901-905]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                    Rule XXIV

    Limitations on use of official and unofficial accounts
                      limitations on use of official funds

    1096. Limitation on accounts.

      1.  (a) Except as provided in
    paragraph (b), a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not
    maintain, or have maintained for his use, an unofficial office account.
    Funds may not be paid into an unofficial office account.

      (b)(1) Except as provided in subparagraph (2), a Member, Delegate, or
    Resident Commissioner may defray official expenses with funds of his
    principal campaign committee under the Federal Election Campaign Act of
    1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.).

      (2) The funds specified in subparagraph (1) may not be used to defray
    official expenses for mail or other communications, compensation for
    services, office space, furniture, or equipment, and any associated
    information technology services (excluding handheld communications
    devices).

    [[Page 902]]

    Studio revolving fund for telecommunications satellite services, the
    Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may accept reimbursement from
    nonpolitical entities in that amount for transmission to the Clerk for
    credit to the Official Expenses Allowance.
      2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this rule, if an amount from
    the Official Expenses Allowance of a Member, Delegate, or Resident
    Commissioner is paid into the House Recording

      3. In this rule the term ``unofficial office account'' means an
    account or repository in which funds are received for the purpose of
    defraying otherwise unreimbursed expenses allowable under section 162(a)
    of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as ordinary and necessary in the
    operation of a congressional office, and includes a newsletter fund
    referred to in section 527(g) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

      This provision (formerly rule XLV) was adopted in the 95th Congress
    (H. Res. 287, Mar. 2, 1977, pp. 5933-53). It was amended in the 102d
    Congress to permit Members to receive reimbursements to their expense
    allowances for recording studio charges attributable to nonpolitical
    organizations receiving the transmissions (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p.
    39). When the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, it
    consolidated former rules XLV and XLVI under clauses 1 through 9 of rule
    XXV and the second sentence of former clause 8 of rule I and former
    clauses 2(n)(5) and 5(e) of rule XI under clause 10 of rule XXV (H. Res.
    5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. 47). This rule was redesignated as rule XXIV in the
    107th Congress (sec. 2(s), H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 2001, p. 24). In the 109th
    Congress clause 1 was amended to permit campaign funds to be used to
    defray certain official expenses (sec. 2(j), H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 2005, p.
    25).

    Limitations on use of the frank
      For an in-depth discussion of this rule prepared by the Committee on
    Standards of Official Conduct, see the House Ethics Manual (102d Cong.,
    2d Sess.).

    [[Page 903]]

    1097. Limitations on use of frank.

      4.  A Member, Delegate,
    or Resident Commissioner shall mail franked mail under section 3210(d)
    of title 39, United States Code at the most economical rate of postage
    practicable.

      5. Before making a mass mailing, a Member, Delegate, or Resident
    Commissioner shall submit a sample or description of the mail matter
    involved to the House Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards for
    an advisory opinion as to whether the proposed mailing is in compliance
    with applicable provisions of law, rule, or regulation.

      6. A mass mailing that is otherwise frankable by a Member, Delegate,
    or Resident Commissioner under the provisions of section 3210(e) of
    title 39, United States Code, is not frankable unless the cost of
    preparing and printing it is defrayed exclusively from funds made
    available in an appropriation Act.

      7. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not send a mass
    mailing outside the congressional district from which he was elected.

      8. In the case of a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, a mass
    mailing is not frankable under section 3210 of title 39, United States
    Code, when it is postmarked less than 90 days before the date of a
    primary or general election (whether regular, special, or runoff) in
    which he is a candidate for public office. If the mail matter is of a
    type that is not customarily postmarked, the date on which it would have
    been postmarked, if it were of a type customarily postmarked, applies.

    [[Page 904]]

    of mail are deposited singly or in bulk, or at the same time or
    different times), totaling more than 500 pieces of mail in that session,
    except that such term does not include a mailing--
      9. In this rule the term ``mass mailing'' means, with respect to a
    session of Congress, a mailing of newsletters or other pieces of mail
    with substantially identical content (whether such pieces

          (a) of matter in direct response to a communication from a person
    to whom the matter is mailed;

          (b) from a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner to other
    Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, or Senators, or to
    Federal, State, or local government officials; or

          (c) of a news release to the communications media.

      This provision (formerly rule XLVI) was adopted in the 95th Congress
    (H. Res. 287, Mar. 2, 1977, pp. 5933-53). In the 102d Congress it was
    extensively amended to conform to restrictions on franking and mass
    mailings included in the legislative branch appropriations acts for
    fiscal years 1990 and 1991 (P.L. 101-163 and 101-520, respectively) (H.
    Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. 39). Clause 7 (formerly clause 4) was rewritten
    in the 103d Congress to conform to the statutory prohibition against
    mass mailings outside the congressional district from which a Member was
    elected. Before the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress,
    this provision was found in former rule XLVI (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999,
    p. 47). In the 109th Congress clause 8 was amended to expand the window
    during which a mass mailing is not frankable from 60 days before the
    date of an election to 90 days, thereby conforming the rule to section
    3210 of title 39, United States Code (sec. 2(j), H. Res. 5, Jan. 4,
    2005, p. ----).

    Prohibition on use of funds by Members not elected to succeeding
      For an in-depth discussion of this rule prepared by the Committee on
    Standards of Official Conduct, see the House Ethics Manual (102d Cong.,
    2d Sess.).

            Congress

    [[Page 905]]

    not be made available for travel by a Member, Delegate, Resident
    Commissioner, or Senator after the date of a general election in which
    he was not elected to the succeeding Congress or, in the case of a
    Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who is not a candidate in a
    general election, after the earlier of the date of such general election
    or the adjournment sine die of the last regular session of the Congress.

    1098. Travel by Members not reelected.

      10.  Funds from the
    applicable accounts described in clause 1(j)(1) of rule X, including
    funds from committee expense resolutions, and funds in any local
    currencies owned by the United States may

      This provision was added in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 287, Mar. 2,
    1977, p. 5941). In the 105th and 106th Congresses this clause was
    amended to update archaic references to the ``contingent fund'' (H. Res.
    5, Jan. 7, 1997, p. 121; H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. 47). When the House
    recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, it consolidated the second
    sentence of former clause 8 of rule I and former clauses 2(n)(5) and
    5(e) of rule XI under clause 10 of former rule XXV (redesignated as rule
    XXIV in the 107th Congress) (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. 47). A
    conforming change was effected in the 109th Congress (sec. 2(a), H. Res.
    5, Jan. 4, 2005, p. ----).