[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. ----).