[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4618 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4618
To limit the closure or consolidation of any United States Postal
Service processing and distribution center if the United States Postal
Service has failed to meet certain conditions, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 20, 2024
Ms. Rosen introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To limit the closure or consolidation of any United States Postal
Service processing and distribution center if the United States Postal
Service has failed to meet certain conditions, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Protect Our Mail Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON CLOSING OR CONSOLIDATING PROCESSING AND
DISTRIBUTION CENTERS.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Postal service.--The term ``Postal Service'' means the
United States Postal Service.
(2) Processing and distribution center.--The term
``processing and distribution center'' means a facility of the
United States Postal Service that processes, distributes, and
dispatches, part or all of both originating and destinating
volumes of mail for a designated service area.
(3) State.--The term ``State'' means a State or the
District of Columbia.
(b) Limitation.--The Postal Service may not proceed on any decision
to close, consolidate, downgrade, or take any other similar action with
respect to a processing and distribution center in a State--
(1) if--
(A) at any time during the calendar year
immediately preceding the action, a processing and
distribution center located within any Postal Service
area in the State failed to meet the targets described
in the fiscal year 2023 performance plan of the Postal
Service of--
(i) not less than 93 percent on-time
delivery performance for 2-day single first-
class mail, as measured by the service
standards in effect on the date of enactment of
this Act; and
(ii) not less than 90.3 percent on-time
delivery performance for 3- to 5-day first-
class mail, as measured by the service
standards in effect on the date of enactment of
this Act; or
(B) such action would result in there being no
processing and distribution center located--
(i) in the State; or
(ii) within 125 miles of the processing and
distribution center subject to such action; and
(2) unless--
(A) the Postal Service has submitted a proposal
relating to such action to the Postal Regulatory
Commission using the procedures described in section
3661(b) of title 39, United States Code, and provided
the Postal Regulatory Commission any information and
records necessary to issue an opinion on the proposal,
including any access to Postal Service facilities;
(B) the Postal Regulatory Commission has issued an
opinion on the proposal under subparagraph (A) using
the procedures described in section 3661(c) of title
39, United States Code, within 180 business days of
submission of the proposal, that--
(i) includes a comprehensive review of
geographical considerations, including mountain
passes, and the impact of those considerations
on the effects of the proposal on local mail
delivery within the State; and
(ii) finds that the proposal would not
negatively impact service standards and
performance measures for mail originating and
destinating within the State; and
(C) the deadline for appeals described in
subsection (c) has passed and the Postal Regulatory
Commission has heard all appeals under that subsection
and all such appeals are unsuccessful.
(c) Affected Customer Right To Appeal.--
(1) In general.--Any person regularly served by a
processing and distribution center subject to closure,
consolidation, downgrading, or any other similar action shall
have the right to appeal to the Postal Regulatory Commission a
decision described in subsection (b).
(2) Deadline.--Any appeal under paragraph (1) shall be
filed not later than the later of--
(A) 180 days after the date of enactment of this
Act; or
(B) 180 days after the date of a decision described
in subsection (b).
(3) Notice required.--Not later than 7 days after the date
of a decision described in subsection (b), the Postal Service
shall publicly and conspicuously display on the website of the
Postal Service and at the facility impacted by such decision
information relating to the right to appeal under paragraph (1)
and the process to file such appeal.
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