Today, the Senate “unanimously passed the Prevent Deceptive Census Look-Alike Mailings Act (H.R.4621), legislation that aims to ban non-government mailings that intentionally mimic official census forms,” according to a press release from Senator Tom Carper’s (D-DE) office.
The House of Representatives had also passed the legislation unanimously on March 10, 2010 and the bill now goes to President Obama for his signature.
What the bill would do:
The legislation would require any mailing with an envelope marked "Census" to clearly indicate the sender and return address. It would also trigger an existing requirement in federal law to include a disclaimer that the mailing is not from, or affiliated with, the federal government. The bill would not prohibit the use of the word "Census" on a mailing, but the mailer must make clear that it was not sent by the United States Census Bureau.
Senator Carper is Chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security which has jurisdiction over the census.
(credit image – getty)
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