[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 118th Congress]
[118th Congress]
[House Document 117-161]
[Rules of the House of Representatives]
[Pages 1000-1004]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 1000]]
 
                                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).

  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 transmission to the Chief Administrative Officer for credit 
to the Official Expenses Allowance.


  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.).



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.

  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 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--

      (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 1004]]

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 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 


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).