I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4335 

To amend title 39, United States Code, to allow the Postal Regulatory 

Commission to set aside determinations by the United States Postal 

Service to close or consolidate postal facilities that would deny essential 

postal services to rural areas, communities, or small towns, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 29, 2012 

Mr. RAHALL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To amend title 39, United States Code, to allow the Postal 

Regulatory Commission to set aside determinations by 

the United States Postal Service to close or consolidate 

postal facilities that would deny essential postal services 

to rural areas, communities, or small towns, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Postal Service Ac5 countability Act of 2012’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CLOSING OR CONSOLIDATION OF POST OFFICES. 

2 (a) ECONOMIC EFFECTS.—Section 404(d)(2)(A)(i) of 

3 title 39, United States Code, is amended by striking the 

4 semicolon and inserting ‘‘, including any economic ef5 fects;’’. 

6 (b) INCREASE IN LENGTH OF WAITING PERIOD.— 

7 Section 404(d)(4) of title 39, United States Code, is 

8 amended by striking ‘‘60’’ and inserting ‘‘120’’. 

9 (c) SPECIFIC BASIS TO EXERCISE AUTHORITY TO

10 SET ASIDE.—Subparagraph (C) of section 404(d)(5) of 

11 title 39, United States Code, is amended to read as fol12 lows: 

13 ‘‘(C) unsupported by substantial evidence on 

14 the record, including any determination, finding, or 

15 conclusion of the Postal Service with respect to 

16 clause (i), (ii), (iii), or (iv) of paragraph (2)(A) 

17 (each of which clauses the Postal Service shall spe18 cifically address under paragraph (3) with respect to 

19 the post office involved).’’. 

20 (d) PRC CONCURRENCE REQUIRED.—Section 404(d) 

21 of title 39, United States Code, is amended by adding at 

22 the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(7) If an appeal is filed under paragraph (5) with 

24 respect to the closure or consolidation of a post office, the 

25 Postal Service may not proceed with its determination to 


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1 close or consolidate such post office without the written 

2 concurrence of at least 3 of the Commissioners.’’. 

3 (e) REVIEW.—Section 404(d) of title 39, United 

4 States Code, is amended by adding after paragraph (7) 

5 (as added by subsection (d)) the following: 

6 ‘‘(8) Within 1 year after the date on which a post 

7 office is closed or consolidated, the Postal Service shall 

8 conduct a review and make public its findings and deter9 minations in regard to— 

10 ‘‘(A) the accuracy of the findings which the 

11 Postal Service had made earlier, with respect to the 

12 considerations under paragraph (2)(A), in connec13 tion with the proposed closing or consolidation of 

14 such post office; and 

15 ‘‘(B) what substitute services are being pro16 vided for those previously provided by the post office 

17 that was closed or consolidated, and whether those 

18 substitute services are meeting community needs.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. PROVISIONS RELATING TO CERTAIN OTHER FACILI20 TIES. 

21 Section 404 of title 39, United States Code, is 

22 amended by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(f)(1) The Postal Service, prior to making a deter24 mination as to the necessity for the closing or consolida25 tion of any mail processing facility, shall provide adequate 


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1 notice of its intention to close or consolidate such mail 

2 processing facility at least 60 days prior to the proposed 

3 date of such closing or consolidation to the employees at 

4 that facility and the community in which such facility is 

5 located to ensure that such persons will have an oppor6 tunity to present their views. 

7 ‘‘(2) The Postal Service, in making a determination 

8 whether or not to close or consolidate a mail processing 

9 facility— 

10 ‘‘(A) shall consider— 

11 ‘‘(i) the effect of such closing or consolida12 tion on the community in which such facility is 

13 located, including any economic effects; 

14 ‘‘(ii) the effect of such closing or consolida15 tion on employees of the Postal Service em16 ployed at such facility; 

17 ‘‘(iii) whether such closing or consolidation 

18 is consistent with the policy of the Government, 

19 as stated in section 101(b), that the Postal 

20 Service shall provide a maximum degree of ef21 fective and regular postal services to rural 

22 areas, communities, and small towns where post 

23 offices are not self-sustaining; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) the economic savings to the Postal 

2 Service resulting from such closing or consolida3 tion; and 

4 ‘‘(v) such other factors as the Postal Serv5 ice determines are necessary; and 

6 ‘‘(B) may not consider compliance with any 

7 provision of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 

8 of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 651 et seq.). 

9 ‘‘(3) Any determination of the Postal Service to close 

10 or consolidate a mail processing facility shall be in writing 

11 and shall include the findings of the Postal Service with 

12 respect to the considerations required to be made under 

13 paragraph (2). Such determination and findings shall be 

14 made available to employees at the facility and the com15 munity in which such facility is located. 

16 ‘‘(4) The Postal Service shall take no action to close 

17 or consolidate a mail processing facility until 120 days 

18 after its written determination is made available to em19 ployees of that facility and the community in which such 

20 facility is located. 

21 ‘‘(5) A determination of the Postal Service to close 

22 or consolidate any mail processing facility may be ap23 pealed to the Postal Regulatory Commission, by any em24 ployee at such facility or member of the community in 

25 which such facility is located, within 30 days after such 


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1 determination is made available to such person under 

2 paragraph (3). The Commission shall review such deter3 mination on the basis of the record before the Postal Serv4 ice in the making of such determination. The Commission 

5 shall make a determination based upon such review no 

6 later than 120 days after receiving any appeal under this 

7 paragraph. The Commission shall set aside any determina8 tion, findings, and conclusions found to be— 

9 ‘‘(A) arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discre10 tion, or otherwise not in accordance with the law; 

11 ‘‘(B) without observance of procedure required 

12 by law; or 

13 ‘‘(C) unsupported by substantial evidence on 

14 the record, including any determination, finding, or 

15 conclusion of the Postal Service with respect to 

16 clause (i), (ii), (iii), or (iv) of paragraph (2)(A) 

17 (each of which clauses the Postal Service shall spe18 cifically address under paragraph (3) with respect to 

19 the facility involved). 

20 The Commission may affirm the determination of the 

21 Postal Service or order that the entire matter be returned 

22 for further consideration, but the Commission may not 

23 modify the determination of the Postal Service. The Com24 mission may suspend the effectiveness of the determina25 tion of the Postal Service until the final disposition of the 


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1 appeal. The provisions of section 556, section 557, and 

2 chapter 7 of title 5 shall not apply to any review carried 

3 out by the Commission under this paragraph. 

4 ‘‘(6) For purposes of paragraph (5), any appeal re5 ceived by the Commission shall— 

6 ‘‘(A) if sent to the Commission through the 

7 mails, be considered to have been received on the 

8 date of the Postal Service postmark on the envelope 

9 or other cover in which such appeal is mailed; or 

10 ‘‘(B) if otherwise lawfully delivered to the Com11 mission, be considered to have been received on the 

12 date determined based on any appropriate docu13 mentation or other indicia (as determined under reg14 ulations of the Commission). 

15 ‘‘(7) If an appeal is filed under paragraph (5) with 

16 respect to the closure or consolidation of a mail processing 

17 facility, the Postal Service may not proceed with its deter18 mination to close or consolidate such facility without the 

19 written concurrence of at least 3 of the Commissioners. 

20 ‘‘(8) Within 1 year after the date on which a mail 

21 processing facility is closed or consolidated, the Postal 

22 Service shall conduct a review and make public its findings 

23 and determinations in regard to— 

24 ‘‘(A) the accuracy of the findings which the 

25 Postal Service had made earlier, with respect to the 


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1 considerations under paragraph (2)(A), in connec2 tion with the proposed closing or consolidation of 

3 such facility; and 

4 ‘‘(B) what substitute services are being pro5 vided for those previously provided by the facility 

6 that was closed or consolidated, and whether those 

7 substitute services are meeting community needs. 

8 ‘‘(9) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘mail 

9 processing facility’ means a processing and distribution 

10 center, processing and distribution facility, network dis11 tribution center, or other facility which is operated by the 

12 Postal Service, and the primary function of which is to 

13 sort and process mail.’’. 

14 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

15 The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 

16 respect to closings and consolidations taking effect on or 

17 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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