[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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