I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 923
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
FEBRUARY 13, 1995
Mr. CASTLE (for himself, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. HORN, Mr.
HALL of Texas, Mr. BLUTE, Mr. NEY, Mr. POSHARD, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr.
KILDEE, Mr. BROWDER, Mr. KLUG, Mr. LOBIONDO, Ms. PRYCE, Ms.
DANNER, Mr. SALMON, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. HANCOCK, Mr. FRANK of
Massachusetts, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. BROWNBACK, and Mrs. WALDHOLTZ)
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.
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 ‘‘Franked Mail Savings
Act’’.
SEC. 2. OFFICIAL MASS MAILING ALLOWANCE.
Section 311(f) of the Legislative Branch Appropria-
tions Act, 1991 (2 U.S.C. 59e(f)) is amended to read as
follows:
‘‘(f)(1) There is established in the House of Rep-
resentatives an Official Mass Mailing Allowance for Mem-
bers of the House of Representatives.
‘‘(2) The Official Mass Mailing Allowance of a Mem-
ber of the House of Representatives—
‘‘(A) shall be available only for postage for any
mass mailing sent by such Member as franked mail;
‘‘(B) shall be the sole source of funding for any
such postage; and
‘‘(C) shall be available, in a session of Congress
(subject to paragraph (5)(A)(ii)), in an amount not
to exceed the total amount allocated to the Official
Mail Allowance of such Member in such session.
‘‘(3) No amount may be transferred to or from the
Official Mass Mailing Allowance of a Member of the
House of Representatives (including as described in the
parenthetical matter in subsection (a)(2)(A)), except as
provided in subsection (e)(3)(B).
‘‘(4) For purposes of subsection (b), the Official Mass
Mailing Allowance of (and any mass mailing sent by) a
Member of the House of Representatives shall be treated
separately from the Official Mail Allowance of (and any
other official mail sent by) such Member.
‘‘(5) Otherwise applicable provisions of law relating
to mass mailings sent by a Member of (or Member-elect
to) the House of Representatives shall continue to govern
such mass mailings—
‘‘(A) except that—
‘‘(i) for purposes of carrying out those
other provisions of law, the term ‘mass mailing’
shall have the meaning given it under para-
graph (8); and
‘‘(ii) a mass mailing may not be sent if it
would be postmarked during any session that
begins in an even-numbered calendar year (ex-
cluding any mail sent after the Tuesday next
after the 1st Monday in November of such year,
and any mass mailing described in section
3210(a)(6)(B) of title 39, United States Code);
and
‘‘(B) except as otherwise provided in this sub-
section.
‘‘(6) A Member of the House of Representatives
shall—
‘‘(A) before making any mass mailing, submit a
sample of the mail matter involved to the House
Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards for
an advisory opinion as to whether such proposed
mailing is in compliance with applicable provisions of
law, rule, or regulation;
‘‘(B) before making any mailing of substantially
identical mail which totals 250 pieces or less (but
more than 50), and which in every other respect
meets the definition of a mass mailing, submit a
sample of the mail matter involved to such Commis-
sion; and
‘‘(C) before making any mailing of substantially
identical mail, in the nature of a town meeting no-
tice, which totals more than 50 pieces, and which in
every other respect (aside from such nature and
number) meets the definition of a mass mailing, sub-
mit a sample of the mail matter involved to such
Commission.
‘‘(7)(A) The regulations prescribed in connection with
subsection (a)(3) shall be amended to require, in addition
to the information otherwise required to be included in the
quarterly report referred to therein, a statement of—
‘‘(i) costs charged against the Official Mass
Mailing Allowance of each Member; and
‘‘(ii) the number of pieces of mail in any mass
mailing sent by a Member.
‘‘(B) The House Commission on Congressional Mail-
ing Standards shall by regulation establish procedures
under which there shall be made available to the public
for review and copying any matter submitted to the Com-
mission under paragraph (6). Any copying under the pre-
ceding sentence shall be at the expense of the person who
requests the copying.
‘‘(8) For the purpose of this subsection—
‘‘(A) the term ‘mass mailing’ means, with re-
spect to a session of Congress, any mailing of news-
letters or other pieces of mail with substantially
identical content (whether such mail is deposited sin-
gly or in bulk, or at the same time or different
times), totaling more than 250 pieces in that ses-
sion, except that such term does not include any
mailing—
‘‘(i) of matter in direct response to a com-
munication from a person to whom the matter
is mailed;
‘‘(ii) from a Member of Congress to other
Members of Congress, or to Federal, State, or
local government officials;
‘‘(iii) of a news release to the communica-
tions media; or
‘‘(iv) described in clause (iv) or (v) of sec-
tion 6(b)(1)(B) of the Legislative Branch Ap-
propriations Act, 1995 (39 U.S.C. 3210 note),
subject to the same restriction as specified in
such clause (iv) with respect to a Member of
the Senate;
‘‘(B) the term ‘franked mail’ has the meaning
given such term by section 3201(4) of title 39, Unit-
ed States Code; and
‘‘(C) the term ‘town meeting notice’ means (in-
cluding for purposes of subparagraph (A)(iv)) any
mailing which—
‘‘(i) relates solely to a notice of the time
and place at which a Member of the House of
Representatives or 1 or more members of the
Member’s staff will be available to meet con-
stituents regarding legislative issues or prob-
lems with Federal programs;
‘‘(ii) appears on a mailing 51⁄2″ x 8″ or
smaller;
‘‘(iii) includes not more than 3 references
to the Member (excluding any reference appear-
ing as the frank, consisting of the signature
and name at the end of the mailing, or other-
wise specified in regulations of the House Com-
mission on Congressional Mailing Standards);
and
‘‘(iv) does not include any picture, sketch,
or other likeness of the Member.’’.
SEC. 3. PROVISIONS RELATING TO MEMBERS’ OFFICIAL
MAIL ALLOWANCE.
(a) REDUCTION IN MAXIMUM ALLOCATION.—Section
311(e)(2)(B)(i) of the Legislative Branch Appropriations
Act, 1991 (2 U.S.C. 59e(e)(2)(B)(i)) is amended by strik-
ing ‘‘3’’ and inserting ‘‘0.5’’.
(b) LIMITATION ON TRANSFERS.—Paragraph (3) of
section 311(e) of such Act is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(3)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), no
amount may be transferred to or from the Official Mail
Allowance of a Member of the House of Representatives.
‘‘(B) A Member of the House of Representatives may
transfer amounts from the Official Mass Mailing Allow-
ance of the Member to the Official Mail Allowance of the
Member.’’.
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by this Act shall take effect
as of the first day of the first regular session of Congress
beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Æ