I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3147 

To amend the House of Representatives Administrative Reform Technical 

Corrections Act to require that certain types of services be provided 

at no cost to constituents, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 21, 2015 

Mr. PETERS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the House of Representatives Administrative Reform Technical Corrections Act to require that certain 

types of services be provided at no cost to constituents, 

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 ‘‘Constituent Services 

5 Disclosure Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON MEMBERS’ REPRESENTATIONAL 

2 ALLOWANCE RELATING TO CONSTITUENT 

3 SERVICES. 

4 Section 101 of the House of Representatives Admin5 istrative Reform Technical Corrections Act (2 U.S.C. 

6 5341) is amended— 

7 (1) by redesignating subsections (c), (d), and 

8 (e) as subsections (d), (e), and (f), respectively; 

9 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol10 lowing new subsection: 

11 ‘‘(c) CONSTITUENT SERVICES.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Of the Members’ Represen13 tational Allowance, 20 percent shall not be available 

14 to a Member’s office unless such office provides cer15 tain constituent services at no cost. For purposes of 

16 the preceding sentence, such constituent services in17 clude assistance with respect to the following mat18 ters: 

19 ‘‘(A) Passports. 

20 ‘‘(B) Individual Federal income tax re21 turns. 

22 ‘‘(C) Tax-exempt status applications under 

23 section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code 

24 of 1986. 


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1 ‘‘(D) The Medicare program under title 

2 XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

3 1395 et seq.). 

4 ‘‘(E) Social Security benefits under title II 

5 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401 et 

6 seq.). 

7 ‘‘(F) Supplemental security benefits under 

8 title XVI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

9 1381 et seq.). 

10 ‘‘(G) Student loans (as defined in section 

11 5379(a)(1)(B) of title 5, United States Code). 

12 ‘‘(H) Benefits provided under title 38, 

13 United States Code, or other laws administered 

14 by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. 

15 ‘‘(2) ASSISTANCE DEFINED.—In this subsection 

16 the term ‘assistance’, with respect to a matter de17 scribed in paragraph (1), means— 

18 ‘‘(A) requesting information; 

19 ‘‘(B) requesting status reports; 

20 ‘‘(C) arranging appointments; 

21 ‘‘(D) advocating for prompt consideration 

22 of the matter based on the merits of the case; 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(E) expressing an opinion on the matter. 


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1 ‘‘(3) PUBLICATION.—Each Member’s office 

2 shall make publicly available in print or on the con3 gressional website of such office all the constituent 

4 services the office provides. 

5 ‘‘(4) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 

6 take effect on the date that is six months after the 

7 date of the enactment of the Constituent Services 

8 Disclosure Act of 2015.’’; and 

9 (3) in subsection (f), as redesignated by para10 graph (1), by striking ‘‘This section’’ and inserting 

11 ‘‘Except as provided in paragraph (4) of subsection 

12 (c), this section’’. 

13 SEC. 3. REGULATIONS. 

14 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact15 ment of this Act, the Committee on House Administration 

16 of the House of Representatives shall prescribe regulations 

17 with respect to the constituent services described in sec18 tion 101(c) of the House of Representatives Administra19 tive Reform Technical Corrections Act (2 U.S.C. 5341), 

20 as amended by section 2 of this Act. 

21 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

22 It is the sense of Congress that private companies 

23 that provide assistance to individuals that is the same or 

24 similar to the assistance described in section 101 of the 

25 House of Representatives Administrative Reform TechVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:01 Jul 23, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3147.IH H3147

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1 nical Corrections Act (2 U.S.C. 5341), as amended by sec2 tion 2 of this Act, should disclose that such assistance 

3 could be provided at no cost by the office of a Member 

4 of the House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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