    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 117th Congress]
    [117th Congress]
    [House Document 116-177]
    [Rules of the House of Representatives]
    [Pages 987-991]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 987]]

                                    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 the use of such individual, 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 the
    principal campaign committee of such individual 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, office furniture, office equipment, or any
    associated information technology services (excluding handheld
    communications devices).

    [[Page 988]]

    transmission to the Chief Administrative Officer 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 Studio revolving fund for
    telecommunications satellite services, the Member, Delegate, or Resident
    Commissioner may accept reimbursement from nonpolitical entities in that
    amount for

      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.
    43). In the 111th Congress a technical correction to clause 1(b)(2) was
    effected and gender-based references in clause 1 were eliminated (secs.
    2(l), 2(m), H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 2009, pp. 7, 9). In the 113th Congress
    clause 2 was amended to replace the Clerk with the Chief Administrative
    Officer (sec. 2(f), H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 2013, p. 26).

    Limitations on use of the frank
      For an in-depth discussion of this rule prepared by the Committee on
    Standards of Official Conduct (now Ethics), see the House Ethics Manual
    (110th Cong., 2d Sess.).

    [[Page 989]]

    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 Communications Standards Commission 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 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 such individual 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 990]]

    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,
    or any other unsolicited communication of substantially identical
    content which is transmitted to 500 or more persons in that session or,
    in the case of a digital communication of substantially identical
    content, which is disseminated at a cost exceeding a designated amount,
    as provided under regulations of the House Communications Standards
    Commission, 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.

    [[Page 991]]

    States Code (P.L. 116-260, Dec. 27, 2020). In the 117th Congress, clause
    5 was amended to conform the name of the House Communications Standards
    Commission with a recent name change in current law (sec. 2(z), H. Res.
    8, Jan. 4, 2021, p. _). Gender-based references were eliminated in the
    111th Congress (sec. 2(l), H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 2009, p. 7).
      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 appropriation 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 to 90 days before the date
    of an election (from 60 days), thereby conforming the rule to section
    3210 of title 39, United States Code (sec. 2(j), H. Res. 5, Jan. 4,
    2005, p. 43). In the 116th Congress clause 9 was amended to expand the
    definition of ``mass mailing'' to conform with a corresponding change to
    section 3210 of title 39, United

    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 (now Ethics), see the House Ethics Manual
    (110th Cong., 2d Sess.).

            Congress

    1098. Travel by Members not reelected.

      10.  Funds from the
    applicable accounts described in clause 1(k)(1) of rule X, including
    funds from committee expense resolutions, and funds in any local
    currencies owned by the United States may not be made available for
    travel by a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or Senator after
    the date of a general election in which such individual 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.

      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). Conforming
    changes were effected in the 109th and 112th Congresses (sec. 2(a), H.
    Res. 5, Jan. 4, 2005, p. 42; sec. 2(e)(8), H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 2011, p.
    80). A gender-based reference was eliminated in the 111th Congress (sec.
    2(l), H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 2009, p. 7).