I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4437
To grant to the United States Postal Service the authority to issue
semipostals, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 11, 2000
Mr. MCHUGH (for himself and Mr. FATTAH) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform, and in ad-
dition to the Committees on Commerce, and Armed Services, for a period
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
A BILL
To grant to the United States Postal Service the authority
to issue semipostals, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Semipostal Authoriza-
tion Act’’.
SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO ISSUE SEMIPOSTALS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 4 of title 39, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘§ 416. Authority to issue semipostals
‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the
term ‘semipostal’ means a postage stamp which is issued
and sold by the Postal Service, at a premium, in order
to help provide funding for a particular area of medical
research.
‘‘(b) AUTHORITY.—The Postal Service is hereby au-
thorized to issue and sell semipostals under this section.
‘‘(c) RATES.—The rate of postage on a semipostal
issued under this section shall be established by the Gov-
ernors, in accordance with such procedures as they shall
by regulation prescribe (in lieu of the procedures under
chapter 36), except that—
‘‘(1) the rate established for a semipostal under
this section shall be equal to the rate of postage that
would otherwise regularly apply, plus a differential
of not to exceed 25 percent; and
‘‘(2) no regular rates of postage or fees for
postal services under chapter 36 shall be any dif-
ferent from what they otherwise would have been if
this section had not been enacted.
The use of any semipostal issued under this section shall
be voluntary on the part of postal patrons.
‘‘(d) AMOUNTS BECOMING AVAILABLE.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The amounts becoming
available from the sale of a semipostal under this
section shall be transferred to the appropriate agen-
cy or agencies under such arrangements as the Post-
al Service shall by mutual agreement with each such
agency establish.
‘‘(2) AREAS OF MEDICAL RESEARCH AND AGEN-
CIES.—Decisions under this section concerning areas
of medical research, and the appropriate agency or
agencies to receive amounts becoming available
under this section, shall be made applying the cri-
teria and procedures established under subsection
(e).
‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATIVE
COSTS.—The amounts
becoming available from the sale of a semipostal
under this section shall be determined in a manner
similar to that provided for under section 414(c)(2)
(as in effect on July 1, 2000). Any regulations
under subsection (e) shall specifically address how
the costs incurred by the Postal Service in carrying
out this section shall be computed, recovered, and
kept to a minimum.
‘‘(4) OTHER
FUNDING
NOT
TO
BE
AF-
FECTED.—Amounts which have or may become
available from the sale of a semipostal under this
section shall not be taken into account in any deci-
sion relating to the level of appropriations or other
Federal funding to be furnished to an agency in any
year.
‘‘(5) AGENCY DEFINED.—For purposes of this
section, the term ‘agency’ means an Executive agen-
cy (as defined by section 105 of title 5).
‘‘(e) REGULATIONS.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Postal Service shall
prescribe any regulations necessary to carry out this
section, including provisions relating to—
‘‘(A) which office or other body within the
Postal Service will be responsible for making
the decisions described in subsection (d)(2);
‘‘(B) what criteria and procedures will be
applied in making those decisions;
‘‘(C) any limitations relating to the
issuance of semipostals, such as whether more
than 1 semipostal may be offered for sale at
any given time; and
‘‘(D) how the price of a semipostal will be
established.
‘‘(2) NOTICE AND COMMENT.—Before any regu-
lation is prescribed under this section, a copy of the
proposed regulation shall be published in the Federal
Register and an opportunity provided to interested
parties to present written comment and, where prac-
ticable, oral comment. Initial regulations shall be
prescribed not later than 30 days before the date on
which semipostals are first made available to the
public under this section.
‘‘(f) ANNUAL REPORTS.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Postmaster General
shall include in each report rendered under section
2402, with respect to any period during any portion
of which this section is in effect, information con-
cerning the operation of any program established
under this section.
‘‘(2) 
SPECIFIC
REQUIREMENT.—If 
any
semipostal ceases to be offered during the period
covered by a report, the information contained in
such report shall also include—
‘‘(A) the dates as of which the sale of such
semipostal commenced and terminated;
‘‘(B) the total amount that became avail-
able from the sale of such semipostal; and
‘‘(C) of that total amount, how much was
applied toward medical research and how much
toward administrative costs.
For each year before the year in which a semipostal
ceases to be offered, any report under this sub-
section shall include, for that semipostal and for the
year covered by that report, the information de-
scribed in subparagraphs (B) and (C).
‘‘(g) TERMINATION.—This section shall cease to be
effective at the end of the 10-year period beginning on
the date on which semipostals are first made available to
the public under this section.’’.
(b) REPORTS BY AGENCIES.—Each agency that re-
ceives any funding in a year under section 416 of title
39, United States Code (as amended by this section) shall
submit a written report under this subsection with respect
to such year to the congressional committees with jurisdic-
tion over the United States Postal Service. Each report
under this subsection shall include—
(1) the total amount of funding received by
such agency under section 416 of such title 39 dur-
ing the year to which the report pertains;
(2) an accounting of how any funds received by
such agency under section 416 of such title 39 were
allocated or otherwise used by such agency in such
year; and
(3) a description of any medical advances or ac-
complishments achieved in such year that were fund-
ed, in whole or in part, out of amounts made avail-
able under section 416 of such title 39.
(c) REPORTS BY THE GENERAL ACCOUNTING OF-
FICE.—
(1) INTERIM REPORT.—The General Account-
ing Office shall submit to the President and each
House of Congress an interim report on the oper-
ation of the program established under section 416
of title 39, United States Code (as amended by this
section) not later than 4 years after semipostals are
first made available to the public under such section.
(2) FINAL REPORT.—The General Accounting
Office shall transmit to the President and each
House of Congress a final report on the operation of
the program established under such section 416, not
later than 6 months before the date it is scheduled
to terminate. The final report shall contain a de-
tailed statement of the findings and conclusions of
the General Accounting Office, together with any
recommendations it considers appropriate.
(d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections
for chapter 4 of title 39, United States Code, is amended
by adding at the end the following:
‘‘416. Authority to issue semipostals.’’.
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The program under section
416 of title 39, United States Code (as amended by this
section) shall be established within 6 months after the
date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY TO ISSUE SEMIPOSTALS
FOR BREAST CANCER RESEARCH.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (g) of section 414 of
title 39, United States Code, is amended to read as fol-
lows:
‘‘(g) This section shall cease to be effective after July
29, 2002, or the end of the 2-year period beginning on
the date of enactment of the Semipostal Authorization
Act, whichever is later.’’.
(b) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—No later than 3
months and no earlier than 6 months before the date as
of which section 414 of title 39, United States Code (as
amended by this section) is scheduled to expire, the Comp-
troller General of the United States shall submit to the
Congress a report on the operation of such section. Such
report shall be in addition to the report required by section
2(b) of Public Law 105–41, and shall address at least the
same matters as were required to be included in that ear-
lier report.
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