I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1755

To provide for the establishment of an Official Mass Mailing Allowance

for Members of the House of Representatives, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 7, 1995

Mr. CASTLE (for himself, Mr. MCHALE, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. DEAL of Georgia,

Mrs. WALDHOLTZ, Mr. KLUG, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mr. MINGE,

Mr. DICKEY, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. ZIMMER, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. ROBERTS,

Mr. HORN, Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. BLUTE, Mr. LAUGHLIN, Mr.

POSHARD, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. BROWDER, Mr. LOBIONDO,

Ms. PRYCE, Ms. DANNER, Mr. SALMON, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. HANCOCK, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr.

UPTON, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. SANFORD, Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina, Mr.

JACOBS, Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania, Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania, Mr.

HUTCHINSON, Mr. PARKER, Mrs. LINCOLN, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr.

BALLENGER, Ms. FURSE, Mr. LEACH, Mr. GOSS, Mr. TORKILDSEN, Mr.

BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. WHITE, Mrs. SCHROEDER, Mr.

THORNBERRY, Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. SCHAEFER, Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska, Mr. WAMP, Mr. DORNAN, and Mr. BAKER of Louisiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House

Oversight

A BILL

To provide for the establishment of an Official Mass Mailing

Allowance for Members of the House of Representatives,

and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Franked Mail Savings

3 Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. OFFICIAL MASS MAILING ALLOWANCE.

5 Section 311(f) of the Legislative Branch Appropria6 tions Act, 1991 (2 U.S.C. 59e(f)) is amended to read as

7 follows:

8 ‘‘(f)(1) There is established in the House of Rep9 resentatives an Official Mass Mailing Allowance for Mem10 bers of the House of Representatives.

11 ‘‘(2) The Official Mass Mailing Allowance of a Mem12 ber of the House of Representatives—

13 ‘‘(A) shall be available only for postage for any

14 mass mailing sent by such Member as franked mail;

15 ‘‘(B) shall be the sole source of funding for any

16 such postage; and

17 ‘‘(C) shall be available, in a session of Congress

18 (subject to paragraph (5)(A)(ii)), in an amount not

19 to exceed the total amount allocated to the Official

20 Mail Allowance of such Member in such session.

21 ‘‘(3) No amount may be transferred to or from the

22 Official Mass Mailing Allowance of a Member of the

23 House of Representatives (including as described in the

24 parenthetical matter in subsection (a)(2)(A)), except as

25 provided in subsection (e)(3)(B).
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1 ‘‘(4) For purposes of subsection (b), the Official Mass

2 Mailing Allowance of (and any mass mailing sent by) a

3 Member of the House of Representatives shall be treated

4 separately from the Official Mail Allowance of (and any

5 other official mail sent by) such Member.

6 ‘‘(5)(A) Otherwise applicable provisions of law relat7 ing to mass mailings sent by a Member of (or Member8 elect to) the House of Representatives shall continue to

9 govern such mass mailings—

10 ‘‘(i) except that—

11 ‘‘(I) for purposes of carrying out those

12 other provisions of law, the term ‘mass mailing’

13 shall have the meaning given it under para14 graph (8); and

15 ‘‘(II) a mass mailing may not be sent if it

16 would be postmarked during any session that

17 begins in an even-numbered calendar year, sub18 ject to subparagraph (B); and

19 ‘‘(ii) except as otherwise provided in this sub20 section.

21 ‘‘(B) Nothing in subclause (II) of subparagraph

22 (A)(i) shall be considered to preclude the mailing of any

23 mail matter—

24 ‘‘(i) sent after the Tuesday next after the 1st

25 Monday in November of such year, and any mass
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1 mailing described in section 3210(a)(6)(B) of title

2 39, United States Code; or

3 ‘‘(ii) which relates to an emergency or disaster

4 declared by the President, if—

5 ‘‘(I) the mailing is sent within 60 days

6 after the emergency or disaster is declared;

7 ‘‘(II) the recipients of the mailing are lo8 cated in a congressional district any portion of

9 which is within (or adjacent to) an area in10 cluded in the President’s declaration;

11 ‘‘(III) the mailing complies with clauses

12 (iii) and (iv) of paragraph (8)(C);

13 ‘‘(IV) the mailing complies with clauses (i)

14 and (ii)(II) of section 3210(a)(6)(A) of title 39,

15 United States Code; and

16 ‘‘(V) the mailing relates solely to the emer17 gency or disaster.

18 ‘‘(6) A Member of the House of Representatives

19 shall—

20 ‘‘(A) before making any mass mailing, submit a

21 sample of the mail matter involved to the House

22 Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards for

23 an advisory opinion as to whether such proposed

24 mailing is in compliance with applicable provisions of

25 law, rule, or regulation;
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1 ‘‘(B) before making any mailing of substantially

2 identical mail which totals 250 pieces or less (but

3 more than 50) in the same session, and which in

4 every other respect meets the definition of a mass

5 mailing (determined disregarding the exclusion

6 under subclause (II) of paragraph (8)(A)(i)), submit

7 a sample of the mail matter involved to such Com8 mission; and

9 ‘‘(C) before making any mailing of substantially

10 identical mail, in the nature of a town meeting no11 tice, which totals more than 50 pieces in the same

12 session, and which in every other respect (aside from

13 such nature and number) meets the definition of a

14 mass mailing, submit a sample of the mail matter

15 involved to such Commission.

16 ‘‘(7)(A) The regulations prescribed in connection with

17 subsection (a)(3) shall be amended to require, in addition

18 to the information otherwise required to be included in the

19 quarterly report referred to therein, a statement of—

20 ‘‘(i) costs charged against the Official Mass

21 Mailing Allowance of each Member; and

22 ‘‘(ii) the number of pieces of mail in any mass

23 mailing sent by a Member.

24 ‘‘(B)(i) The House Commission on Congressional

25 Mailing Standards shall by regulation establish procedures
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1 under which there shall be made available to the public

2 for review and copying any matter submitted to the Com3 mission under paragraph (6). Any copying under the pre4 ceding sentence shall be at the expense of the person who

5 requests the copying.

6 ‘‘(ii) Under the regulations, mail matter shall be

7 made available within 2 weeks after the date on which it

8 is requested in accordance with applicable procedures.

9 ‘‘(8) For the purpose of this subsection—

10 ‘‘(A) the term ‘mass mailing’ means, with re11 spect to a session of Congress, any mailing of news12 letters or other pieces of mail with substantially

13 identical content (whether such mail is deposited sin14 gly or in bulk, or at the same time or different

15 times), totaling more than 250 pieces in that ses16 sion, except that such term does not include—

17 ‘‘(i)(I) any mailing of matter in direct re18 sponse to a communication from a person to

19 whom the matter is mailed; or

20 ‘‘(II) a single follow-up to any such direct

21 response, if it is made before the end of the

22 Congress in which the direct response was

23 made, it occurs within 6 weeks after any signifi24 cant congressional action (as defined by the

25 House Commission on Congressional Mailing
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1 Standards) on the subject matter involved, and

2 it complies with any requirements which would

3 be applicable to it under clause (i) or (ii)(II) of

4 section 3210(a)(6)(A) of title 39, United States

5 Code, if it were a mass mailing;

6 ‘‘(ii) any mailing from a Member of Con7 gress to other Members of Congress, or to Fed8 eral, State, or local government officials;

9 ‘‘(iii) any mailing of a news release to the

10 communications media; or

11 ‘‘(iv) any mailing described in clause (iv)

12 or (v) of section 6(b)(1)(B) of the Legislative

13 Branch Appropriations Act, 1995 (39 U.S.C.

14 3210 note), subject to the same restriction as

15 specified in such clause (iv) with respect to a

16 Member of the Senate;

17 ‘‘(B) the term ‘franked mail’ has the meaning

18 given such term by section 3201(4) of title 39, Unit19 ed States Code; and

20 ‘‘(C) the term ‘town meeting notice’ means (in21 cluding for purposes of subparagraph (A)(iv)) any

22 mailing which—

23 ‘‘(i) relates solely to a notice of the time

24 and place at which a Member of the House of

25 Representatives or 1 or more members of the
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1 Member’s staff will be available to meet con2 stituents regarding legislative issues or prob3 lems with Federal programs;

‘‘(ii) appears on a mailing 51 4 ⁄2′′ x 8′′ or

5 smaller;

6 ‘‘(iii) includes not more than 3 references

7 to the Member (excluding any reference appear8 ing as the frank, consisting of the signature

9 and name at the end of the mailing, or other10 wise specified in regulations of the House Com11 mission on Congressional Mailing Standards);

12 and

13 ‘‘(iv) does not include any picture, sketch,

14 or other likeness of the Member.’’.

15 SEC. 3. PROVISIONS RELATING TO MEMBERS’ OFFICIAL

16 MAIL ALLOWANCE.

17 (a) REDUCTION IN MAXIMUM ALLOCATION.—Section

18 311(e)(2)(B)(i) of the Legislative Branch Appropriations

19 Act, 1991 (2 U.S.C. 59e(e)(2)(B)(i)) is amended by strik20 ing ‘‘3’’ and inserting ‘‘0.5’’.

21 (b) LIMITATION ON TRANSFERS.—Paragraph (3) of

22 section 311(e) of such Act is amended to read as follows:

23 ‘‘(3)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), no

24 amount may be transferred to or from the Official Mail

25 Allowance of a Member of the House of Representatives.
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1 ‘‘(B) A Member of the House of Representatives may

2 transfer amounts from the Official Mass Mailing Allow3 ance of the Member to the Official Mail Allowance of the

4 Member.’’.

5 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

6 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect

7 as of the first day of the first regular session of Congress

8 beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.

Æ