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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1595

To require that all Federal lithographic printing be performed using ink

made from vegetable oil, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 1, 1993

Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. LEACH, Mr. PENNY, and Mr. BEREUTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on

House Administration and Government Operations

A BILL

To require that all Federal lithographic printing be performed using ink made from vegetable oil, 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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Vegetable Ink Printing

5 Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—
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1 (1) more than 95 percent of Federal printing

2 involving documents or publications is performed

3 using lithographic inks;

4 (2) various types of oil, including petroleum and

5 vegetable oil, are used in lithographic ink;

6 (3) increasing the amount of vegetable oil used

7 in a lithographic ink would—

8 (A) help reduce the Nation’s use of

9 nonrenewable energy resources;

10 (B) result in the use of products that are

11 less damaging to the environment;

12 (C) result in a reduction of volatile organic

13 compound emissions; and

14 (D) increase the use of renewable agricul15 tural products.

16 (4) the technology exists to use vegetable oil in

17 lithographic ink and, in some applications, to use

18 lithographic ink that uses no petroleum distillates in

19 the liquid portion of the ink;

20 (5) some lithographic inks have contained vege21 table oils for many years; other lithographic inks

22 have more recently begun to use vegetable oil;

23 (6) according to the Government Printing

24 Office, using vegetable-based ink appears to add lit25 tle if any additional cost to Government printing;
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1 (7) use of vegetable-based ink in Federal Gov2 ernment printing should further develop—

3 (A) the commercial viability of vegetable4 based ink, which could result in demand, for

5 domestic use alone, for 2,500,000,000 pounds

6 of vegetable crops or 500,000,000 pounds of

7 vegetable oil; and

8 (B) a product that could help the United

9 States retain or enlarge its share of the world

10 market for vegetable ink.

11 SEC. 3. FEDERAL PRINTING REQUIREMENTS.

12 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section, ‘‘Federal agency’’

13 means—

14 (1) an executive department, military depart15 ment, Government corporation, Government-con16 trolled corporation, or other establishment in the ex17 ecutive branch of the Government (including the Ex18 ecutive Office of the President), or any independent

19 regulatory agency; and

20 (2) an establishment or component of the legis21 lative or judicial branch of the Government.

22 (b) VEGETABLE-BASED INKS.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

24 law, beginning on the date that is 180 days after the

25 date of enactment of this Act, all lithographic print-
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1 ing performed or procured by a Federal agency that

2 uses oil in its ink shall use the maximum amount of

3 vegetable oil that is technologically feasible and re4 sults in printing costs that are cost-competitive with

5 printing using petroleum-based inks.

6 (2) MINIMUM PERCENTAGES.—Except as pro7 vided in paragraph (3), in no event shall a Federal

8 agency use any ink that contains less than the fol9 lowing percentages of vegetable oil in its ink used for

10 lithographic printing:

11 (A) In the case of news inks, 40 percent.

12 (B) In the case of sheet-fed inks, 20 per13 cent.

14 (C) In the case of forms inks, 20 percent.

15 (D) In the case of heat-set inks, 10 per16 cent.

17 (3) SUSPENSION OF EFFECTIVENESS OF PARA18 GRAPH (2).—(A) At any time at which a Federal

19 agency determines that the cost of printing with veg20 etable-based ink is significantly greater than the cost

21 of printing with petroleum-based ink, the Federal

22 agency may perform or procure lithographic printing

23 using ink that contains less than the percentages of

24 vegetable oil in its ink than those specified in para25 graph (2) until such time as the cost of printing
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1 with vegetable-based ink is not significantly greater

2 than the cost of printing with petroleum-based ink.

3 (B) A determination made under subparagraph

4 (A) shall be reviewed—

5 (i) at least once every quarter, for the per6 formance or procurement of printing of mate7 rials that are printed on a regular basis; and

8 (ii) prior to performing or procuring the

9 printing of particular material of significant

10 size that is printed once or is printed at inter11 vals of 6 months or more.

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