U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

1 

39–010 

" ! SENATE 113TH CONGRESS

2d Session 

REPORT

2014

113–235 

Calendar No. 503 

MULTINATIONAL SPECIES CONSERVATION 

FUNDS SEMIPOSTAL STAMP 

REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2013 

R E P O R T 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

TO ACCOMPANY

S. 231 

TO REAUTHORIZE THE MULTINATIONAL SPECIES CONSERVATION 

FUNDS SEMIPOSTAL STAMP 

JULY 31, 2014.—Ordered to be printed 


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(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

JON TESTER, Montana 

MARK BEGICH, Alaska 

TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin 

HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

RAND PAUL, Kentucky 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming 

KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire 

GABRIELLE A. BATKIN, Staff Director 

JOHN P. KILVINGTON, Deputy Staff Director 

MARY BETH SCHULTZ, Chief Counsel 

ROBERT H. BRADLEY, Legislative Assistant 

KEITH B. ASHDOWN, Minority Staff Director 

CHRISTOPHER J. BARKLEY, Minority Deputy Staff Director 

ANDREW C. DOCKHAM, Minority Chief Counsel 

JOSEPH D. MOELLER, Minority U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General Detailee 

LAURA W. KILBRIDE, Chief Clerk 


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Calendar No. 503 

113TH CONGRESS SENATE REPORT " ! 2d Session 113–235 

MULTINATIONAL SPECIES CONSERVATION FUNDS 

SEMIPOSTAL STAMP 

JULY 31, 2014.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. CARPER, from the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 231] 

The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 

to which was referred the bill (S. 231) to reauthorize the Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp, having 

considered the same, reports favorably thereon without amendment 

and recommends that the bill do pass. 

CONTENTS 

Page 

I. Purpose and Summary .................................................................................. 1 

II. Background and Need for the Legislation ................................................... 2 

III. Legislative History ......................................................................................... 3 

IV. Section-by-Section Analysis .......................................................................... 3 

V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact .................................................................. 4 

VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate ................................................ 4 

VII. Changes to Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported ........................... 5 

I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

S. 231 would require the United States Postal Service to continue 

offering the Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal 

Stamp for an additional four years. The Multinational Species Conservation Funds is a small program administered by the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service. It supports conservation efforts benefiting tigers, rhinoceroses, Asian and African elephants, marine turtles and 

great apes. Semipostal stamps are stamps bearing a surcharge 

above typical postal rates. Members of the public may voluntarily 

purchase semipostal stamps as a means of donating to the cause 

promoted by the stamp. Continuing to direct funds raised from the 

sale of this semipostal stamp to the Multinational Species ConVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:11 Aug 05, 2014 Jkt 039010 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\SR235.XXX SR235

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1 In 2000, Congress gave the Postal Service authority to issue semipostal stamps pursuant to 

the Semipostal Authorization Act (P.L. 106–253). However, the Postal Service has not yet issued 

a semipostal stamp pursuant to the Act because it decided not to approve new semipostal 

stamps while any other semipostal stamps are in circulation. Such stamps have been on sale 

continuously since the initial enactment of the Stamp Out Breast Cancer Act (P.L. 105–41). 2Stamp Out Breast Cancer Act (P.L. 105–41). 

3Stamp Out Domestic Violence Act of 2001 (P.L. 107–67). 

4The 9/11 Heroes Stamp Act of 2001 (P.L. 107–67). 

5The Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Act of 2010 (P.L. 111–241) 

6The MSCF (16 U.S.C. 4246) was created as part of Title I of the Department of the Interior 

and Relation Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 which was later incorporated into the Omnibus 

Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999 (P.L. 105–277). 7 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Multinational Species Conservation Funds FY13 Update, 

http://www.fws.gov/international/pdf/factsheet-species-funding.pdf. 

servation Funds is an effective way to increase financial support 

for the program’s important work without having to increase its 

annual appropriations. 

II. BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR THE LEGISLATION

Since 1998, the U.S. Postal Service (‘‘the Postal Service’’ or 

‘‘USPS’’) has issued several ‘‘semipostal’’ stamps—stamps purchasers may use to mail a First-Class letter, but for which they voluntarily pay a surcharge over the usual First-Class Mail rates as 

a means to donate to the cause commemorated by the stamp. Each 

of these semipostal stamps has been issued at the direction of Congress.1 A variety of causes have benefited from the sale of these 

stamps, including breast cancer research,2 domestic violence prevention programs,3 and assistance to the families of rescue workers 

killed or disabled in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.4

To help fund conservation efforts, in 2010 Congress authorized 

the creation of a semipostal stamp 5 to benefit the Multinational 

Species Conservation Funds (‘‘MSCF’’). Congress created the MSCF 

in 1999 to recognize an unprecedented international decline of certain species and to help save some of the world’s fastest disappearing animals in their natural habitats.6 The MSCF currently 

benefits tigers, six species of rhinoceroses, Asian and African elephants, marine turtles, and great apes. The MSCF supports conservation efforts benefiting these species, often in conjunction with 

efforts under the Convention of International Trade in Endangered 

Species (CITES), to which the United States is a party. The MSCF 

provides funding in the form of cost-sharing grants for species and 

habitat conservation as well as efforts to combat poaching activities 

and illegal trafficking of these species. Additionally, the MSCF offers technical assistance for conserving the species benefitted by 

the program. These efforts also benefit from funding and in-kind 

support provided by partners and collaborators. 

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which runs the program, more than $122 million was provided by non-federal 

sources for efforts under the MSCF from Fiscal Year 2007 to Fiscal 

Year 2013. This is significantly more than the amount appropriated for these efforts by Congress during the same time period.7

Despite the success and popularity of the MSCF projects, annual appropriations for the MSCF have never exceeded $10 million. Demand for grant funding, however, remains high, and applications 

under the different MSCF initiatives far exceed available funding. 

In addition, proponents of MSCF note that each federal dollar invested in the MSCF routinely leverages three or four times the 

amount in non-federal matching contributions and increases overall 


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8 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, ‘‘Americans Play Key Role in Conservation of Elephants, 

Rhinos, and Other Imperiled Species by Purchasing Save Vanishing Species Semipostal Stamps’’ 

(December 19, 2013), http://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ID=0C9AE706-AC3D-DD24- 

F83EB0530D58FD72; See also http://www.fws.gov/international/save-vanishing-speciesstamp.html. 9 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, ‘‘Americans Play Key Role in Conservation of Elephants, 

Rhinos, and Other Imperiled Species by Purchasing Save Vanishing Species Semipostal Stamps’’ 

(December 19, 2013), http://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ID=0C9AE706-AC3D-DD24- 

F83EB0530D58FD72. 10Data provided to the Committee on June 20, 2014 by the United States Postal Service’s 

Stamp Services. 11Since the authorizing statute requires not just that the stamp exist, but that it be available 

to the public for a period of time, the Committee expects that any time since January 1, 2014 

when the stamp was taken out of circulation will not count toward the new time frame established in S. 231. 

financial support for wildlife conservation. The issuance of a 

semipostal stamp for the MSCF was therefore an effective way to 

increase financial support for wildlife conservation without affecting appropriations for other programs outside of the MSCF. 

Since its establishment in September 2011, the semipostal stamp program has generated approximately $2.5 million in revenue for 

47 MSCF projects in 31 different countries, with nearly 25 million 

stamps sold to the public over the course of the 27 months it was 

available to purchase.8 Moreover, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the funds raised by this stamp have led to an 

additional $3.6 million donated to MSCF projects through outside 

contributions.9 Due to a lack of a legislative mandate for the Postal 

Service to continue offering the stamp, the Postal Service ceased 

sales of the stamps after December 2013. The unsold stamps were 

put into storage in January 2014 and have remained there ever 

since. The Committee, recognizing that the Postal Service currently 

possesses 75 million of these semipostal stamps,10 recommends 

passage of this legislation in order to enable the continued sale of 

these stamps for an additional four years.11

III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

S. 231 was introduced by Senators Portman and Udall (NM) on 

February 7, 2013. The bill was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The bill is cosponsored by 

Senators Feinstein, Gillibrand, Levin, Stabenow, Warren and 

Whitehouse. 

The Committee considered the bill at its business meeting on 

June 25, 2014, and ordered the bill favorably reported by voice 

vote. Members present for the voice vote on the bill were Senators 

Carper, Levin, McCaskill, Tester, Heitkamp, Coburn, McCain, 

Johnson and Portman. 

IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Short title 

Section 1 designates the name of the act as the ‘‘Multinational 

Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Reauthorization Act 

of 2013.’’ 

Section 2. Reauthorization 

Section 2 amends Section 2(c)(2) of the Multinational Species 

Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Act of 2010 (39 U.S.C. 416 

note) by striking ‘‘2 years’’ and inserting ‘‘6 years,’’. The MultiVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:11 Aug 05, 2014 Jkt 039010 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\SR235.XXX SR235

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national Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Act of 2010 

directs the U.S. Postal Service to issue a Multinational Species 

Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp which would be available 

for voluntary purchase on the part of postal patrons for a period 

of time (currently two years) after the enactment of this bill. In 

keeping with the requirements of the Semipostal Authorization Act 

(39 U.S.C. Sec. 14), the statute sets the rate of the semipostal 

stamp at a cost equal to the rate of a First-Class stamp, plus a differential of no less than 15%. It also requires the rate to be evenly 

divisible by 5. 

The 2010 law also directs the transfer of all amounts available 

from the sale of the stamp twice yearly to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and directs the Fish and Wildlife Service to divide the 

proceeds equally for operations among the African Elephant Conservation Fund, the Asian Elephant Conservation Fund, the Great 

Ape Conservation Fund, the Marine Turtle Conservation Fund, the 

Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund, and other international 

wildlife conservation funds authorized by Congress after the date 

of the enactment of the Act. These funds are not to be considered 

as an offset in the level of appropriations or other federal funding. 

V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT

Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of 

the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has considered 

the regulatory impact of this bill. The Congressional Budget Office 

states that the bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 

mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandate Reform Act and 

would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments, or private entities. The enactment of this legislation will not have significant regulatory impact. 

VI. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

JULY 18, 2014. 

Hon. TOM CARPER, 

Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. 

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 231, the Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Reauthorization Act of 

2013. 

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Mark Grabowicz. 

Sincerely, 

DOUGLAS W. ELMENDORF. 

Enclosure. 

S. 231—Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal 

Stamp Reauthorization Act of 2013 

CBO estimates that implementing S. 231 would have no significant discretionary cost to the federal government. Because the act 

would affect on-budget direct spending, pay-as-you-go procedures 

apply, but CBO estimates that those effects would not be significant. S. 231 would not affect revenues. 


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The Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal 

Stamp Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–241) directed the United States 

Postal Service (USPS) to issue a special stamp for first-class mail. 

Any amounts collected from the special stamp (called a semipostal), 

after accounting for USPS administrative costs, were transferred to 

the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for expenditure on programs to support endangered species. The Postal Service stopped selling these stamps at the end of 2013; S. 231 would 

direct USPS to make these stamps available until at least October 

of 2017. 

We anticipate that the Postal Service would charge 60 cents for 

each multinational species semipostal stamp, and payments above 

the regular first-class postage rate (currently 49 cents) would be 

treated as offsetting collections (that is, a credit against spending) 

of the Postal Service. Based on past sales of this semipostal, we expect that the increase in offsetting collections from enacting S. 231 

would be about $1 million annually. Payments of those funds to the 

USFWS would be outlays of the Postal Service and offsetting collections to the USFWS, which would spend those amounts, mostly in 

the same year. CBO estimates that the net change in outlays of the 

Postal Service (which is off-budget) and the USFWS (which is onbudget) would not be significant in any year. 

S. 231 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates 

as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not 

affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Mark Grabowicz. The 

estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis. 

VII. CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by S. 231, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted 

is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italic, and 

existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman): 

MULTINATIONAL SPECIES CONSERVATION FUNDS 

SEMIPOSTAL STAMP ACT OF 2010 

* * * * * * * 

(2) Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp 

(a) * * * 

(b) * * * 

(c) OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS.— 

(1) * * * 

(2) DURATION.—The Multinational Species Conservation 

Funds Semipostal Stamp shall be made available to the public 

for a period of at least ø2 years¿ 6 years, beginning no later 

than 12 months after the date of the enactment of this Act 

[Sept. 30, 2010]. 

* * * * * * * 

Æ 


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