Constituent Services Disclosure Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-3147
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Peters, Scott H. [D-CA-52]
Introduced: 2015-07-21
Policy area: Congress
Subjects: Congressional operations and organization

Government information and archives

House of Representatives

Medicare

Members of Congress

Poverty and welfare assistance

Social security and elderly assistance

Student aid and college costs

Tax administration and collection, taxpayers

Tax-exempt organizations

Veterans' medical care

Veterans' pensions and compensation

Visas and passports
Latest action: action_date: 2015-07-21
text: Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.

Summaries:
action_date: 2015-07-21
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Constituent Services Disclosure Act of 2015</b></p> <p>This bill amends the House of Representatives Administrative Reform Technical Corrections Act to prohibit the availability of 20% of the Members' Representational Allowance to a Member's office unless it provides certain free assistance with respect to:</p> <ul> <li>passports;</li> <li>individual federal income tax returns;</li> <li>501(c)(3) tax-exempt status applications;</li> <li>benefits under titles XVIII (Medicare), II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance), and XVI (Supplemental Security Income) of the Social Security Act;</li> <li>student loans; and</li> <li>veterans' benefits or other laws administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs.</li> </ul> <p>Each Member's office must make publicly available in print or on its congressional website all the constituent services it provides.</p> <p>It is the sense of Congress that private companies that provide the same or similar assistance to individuals as described in the House of Representatives Administrative Reform Technical Corrections Act (as amended by this Act) should disclose that such assistance could be provided free by the office of a Member of the House of Representatives.</p>

tv_txt: I 114th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3147 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. Short title This Act may be cited as the Constituent Services Disclosure Act of 2015 . 2. Limitation on Members’ Representational Allowance relating to constituent services Section 101 of the House of Representatives Administrative Reform Technical Corrections Act ( 2 U.S.C. 5341 ) is amended— (1) by redesignating subsections (c), (d), and (e) as subsections (d), (e), and (f), respectively; (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new subsection: (c) Constituent services (1) In general Of the Members’ Representational Allowance, 20 percent shall not be available to a Member’s office unless such office provides certain constituent services at no cost. For purposes of the preceding sentence, such constituent services include assistance with respect to the following matters: (A) Passports. (B) Individual Federal income tax returns. (C) Tax-exempt status applications under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. (D) The Medicare program under title XVIII of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq. ). (E) Social Security benefits under title II of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 401 et seq. ). (F) Supplemental security benefits under title XVI of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1381 et seq. ). (G) Student loans (as defined in section 5379(a)(1)(B) of title 5, United States Code). (H) Benefits provided under title 38, United States Code, or other laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. (2) Assistance defined In this subsection the term assistance , with respect to a matter described in paragraph (1), means— (A) requesting information; (B) requesting status reports; (C) arranging appointments; (D) advocating for prompt consideration of the matter based on the merits of the case; and (E) expressing an opinion on the matter. (3) Publication Each Member’s office shall make publicly available in print or on the congressional website of such office all the constituent services the office provides. (4) Effective Date This subsection shall take effect on the date that is six months after the date of the enactment of the Constituent Services Disclosure Act of 2015. ; and (3) in subsection (f), as redesignated by paragraph (1), by striking This section and inserting Except as provided in paragraph (4) of subsection (c), this section . 3. Regulations Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Committee on House Administration of the House of Representatives shall prescribe regulations with respect to the constituent services described in section 101(c) of the House of Representatives Administrative Reform Technical Corrections Act ( 2 U.S.C. 5341 ), as amended by section 2 of this Act. 4. Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that private companies that provide assistance to individuals that is the same or similar to the assistance described in section 101 of the House of Representatives Administrative Reform Technical Corrections Act ( 2 U.S.C. 5341 ), as amended by section 2 of this Act, should disclose that such assistance could be provided at no cost by the office of a Member of the House of Representatives.