Submit a Request

Submit a new request for an Advisory Opinion using the online portal: https://masscomms.house.gov/

On January 3, 2020, the House Communications Standards Commission launched a new My Service Requests portal for Member and Committee office (Offices) requests for Advisory Opinions. Offices must be connected to the House network to access the portal.

Tutorial videos for each function are available here:

• Submitting new requests; 
• Updating or revising existing requests; 
• Verifying the distribution of requests; 
• Obtaining advisory opinions; 
• Uploading a notice of an unsolicited mass email (sent to non-opt-ins), and;  
• Creating a notice of an approved template. 

For assistance, please call the House Communications Standards Commission Office at 202-225-9337.

Updated Communications Standards Manual. The new Communications Standards, or Purple Book was made effective on January 7, 2020.

Final Approval (Receipt of your Advisory Opinion and Public Disclosure):

An office must finalize all requests submitted to the House Communications Standards Commission. Once an office has distributed the preliminarily approved communication, they must verify what they sent out was what the House Communications Standards Commission approved. Upon said verification, an Advisory Opinion will be generated for the purposes of reimbursement, and the request will be made available for public review through the Legislative Resource Center. An office can do this through the portal by selecting the “Certify Distribution” option from the “What do you want to do” dropdown.

NEW: Updated Procedures for Submitting a NOTICE OF AN UNSOLICTED MASS EMAIL. The updated guidelines do not require unsolicited mass emails to be reviewed by the Commission prior to distribution, however, within two business days an unsolicted mass email was distributed, the Member must notify the Commission and provide the communication through the portal by selecting the “Notice of an Unsolicited Mass Email” option from the “What do you want to do” dropdown.

As of January 3, 2020 – the Commission will no longer accept such notices forwarded to MassEmailNotice@mail.house.gov

Note: This does not apply to emails sent to subscribers. There are no requirements for the Commission to review or post such communications.

Note: Blackout rules still apply to unsolicited mass emails