Imposes a civil penalty upon any person who mails to any individual or group of individuals at their place of residence: (1) any unsolicited sexually oriented advertisement; or (2) any unsolicited obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecent, filthy, or vile article, matter, thing, device, or substance.
HR 1210 IH 101st CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1210 To prevent the mailing of unsolicited sexually oriented advertisements, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 1, 1989 Mr. RIDGE (for himself, Mr. ATKINS, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. BARTON of Texas, Mr. BATES, Mrs. BENTLEY, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. BEVILL, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. BONIOR, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. BROOMFIELD, Mr. BROWN of California, Mr. BUNNING, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mrs. BYRON, Mr. BRYANT, Mr. CAMPBELL of Colorado, Mr. CHANDLER, Mr. CHAPMAN, Mr. CHENEY, Mr. CLEMENT, Mr. CLINGER, Mr. COBLE, Mr. COMBEST, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. COURTER, Mr. COYNE, Mr. CRAIG, Mr. DANNEMEYER, Mr. DARDEN, Mr. DAVIS, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. DE LUGO, Mr. DERRICK, Mr. DORNAN of California, Mr. EMERSON, Mr. ERDREICH, Mr. FLIPPO, Mr. FRANK, Mr. FRENZEL, Mr. FROST, Mr. GALLO, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. GAYDOS, Mr. GEKAS, Mr. GLICKMAN, Mr. GORDON, Mr. GRANT, Mr. GUNDERSON, Mr. HALL of Ohio, Mr. HAMMERSCHMIDT, Mr. HANCOCK, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. HASTERT, Mr. HAYES of Louisiana, Mr. HEFLEY, Mr. HENRY, Mr. HILER, Mr. HOLLOWAY, Mr. HORTON, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. HUTTO, Mr. HYDE, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. IRELAND, Mr. JENKINS, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. JONTZ, Mr. KOLTER, Mr. LAFALCE, Mr. LAGOMARSINO, Mr. LEATH of Texas, Mr. LENT, Mr. LEWIS of Florida, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. MCDADE, Mr. MCEWEN, Mr. MCGRATH, Mrs. MEYERS of Kansas, Mr. MONTGOMERY, Mr. MOORHEAD, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. NIELSON of Utah, Mr. OWENS of New York, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. PACKARD, Mrs. PATTERSON, Mr. PAYNE of Virginia, Mr. PENNY, Mr. PICKETT, Mr. PORTER, Mr. RAY, Mr. RHODES, Mr. RINALDO, Mr. ROBINSON, Mr. ROE, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mr. ROWLAND of Connecticut, Mrs. SAIKI, Mr. SAVAGE, Mr. SCHAEFER, Mr. SHAW, Mr. SHUMWAY, Mr. SKEEN, Mr. SLATTERY, Ms. SLAUGHTER of New York, Mr. SOLOMON, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. DENNY SMITH, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. SMITH of Florida, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. STALLINGS, Mr. TALLON, Mr. TAUKE, Mr. THOMAS of Georgia, Mr. TORRES, Mr. VALENTINE, Mr. VANDER JAGT, Mr. VOLKMER, Mr. WATKINS, Mr. WHITTAKER, Mr. WOLF, Mr. WOLPE, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. YATRON, and Mr. YOUNG of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on Post Office and Civil Service and the Judiciary A BILL To prevent the mailing of unsolicited sexually oriented advertisements, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a)(1) section 3008 of title 39, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: `Sec. 3008. Prohibition of unsolicited sexually oriented advertisements and other matter `(a) Any person who for himself, or by his agents or assigns, knowingly uses the mails for the mailing, carriage in the mails or delivery of-- `(1) any unsolicited sexually oriented advertisement; or `(2) any unsolicited obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecent, filthy, or vile article, matter, thing, device, or substance; to any individual or group of individuals at their place of residence (or to any place of residence without naming or otherwise identifying any addressee) shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $25,000 for each day during which such person (by his agents or assigns or otherwise) places any such matter into the mails. `(b) Whenever, on the basis of any information available to it, the Postal Service believes that a violation of this section has occurred, the Postal Service may request the Attorney General to commence, and the Attorney General is authorized to commence, a civil action to enforce the penalty under this section. Any such action shall be brought in the district court of the United States within the jurisdiction of which the advertisement or other mail matter involved shall have been sent or received. `(c) All penalties collected under this section shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States. `(d) For purposes of this section, `sexually oriented advertisement' means any advertisement that depicts, in actual or simulated form, or explicitly describes, in a predominantly sexual context, human genitalia, any act of natural or unnatural sexual intercourse, any act of sadism or masochism, or any other erotic subject directly related to the foregoing. Material otherwise within the definition of this subsection shall be deemed not to constitute a sexually oriented advertisement if it constitutes only a small and insignificant part of the whole of a single catalog, book, periodical, or other work the remainder of which is not primarily devoted to sexual matters. `(e) The Postal Service shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry out this section.'. (2)(A) Sections 3010 and 3011 of title 39, United States Code, are repealed. (B)(i) The table of sections for chapter 30 of title 39, United States Code, is amended-- (I) by striking the item relating to section 3008 and inserting the following: `3008. Prohibition of unsolicited sexually oriented advertisements and other matter.'; and (II) by repealing the items relating to sections 3010 and 3011, respectively. (ii) Title 18, United States Code, is amended-- (I) in section 1735(a)(1), by striking out `3010' and inserting `3008' in lieu thereof and by inserting `or other matter' after `advertisement'; (II) in section 1735(a), by striking out paragraph (2); (III) in section 1735(a), by striking out `(1)' at the beginning of paragraph (1), and by striking out the one-m dash after `Whoever' and modifying the margin of the material that formerly was paragraph (1) so that it is flush full measure; (IV) in section 1735(a), by striking out `; or' and running together the matter that was formerly paragraph (1) and the matter that formerly followed paragraph (2); (V) in section 1735(b), by striking out `3010(d)' and inserting `3008(d)' in lieu thereof; (VI) in each of sections 1736(a) and 1736(b) by striking out `3010' and inserting `3008' in lieu thereof; (VII) in section 1737(a), by striking out `or 3010'; and (VIII) in section 1737(b), by striking out `or 3010(d)'. (b) Paragraph (1) of section 1961 of title 18, United States Code, is amended-- (1) by striking out `or' before `(E)'; and (2) by striking out `Act.' at the end of subparagraph (E) and inserting in lieu thereof the following: `Act; (F) any act which is indictable under section 1461 of this title (relating to the mailing of obscene or crime-inciting matter); or (G) any act which is indictable under sections 1735-1737 of this title (relating to the mailing of unsolicited, sexually oriented materials);'. (c) If any amendment made by this Act is invalidated by judgment of a court, then, as of the date when the judicial action involved takes effect, the amendments made by this Act shall cease to apply (and the provisions of law amended by this Act, as in effect immediately before being so amended, shall have full force and effect).
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service.
Referred to the House Committee on Judiciary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Postal Personnel and Modernization.
Executive Comment Requested from OMB, Postal Service.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime.
Subcommittee Hearings Held.
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