II 

Calendar No. 561 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1204 

[Report No. 115–329] 

To authorize the United States Postal Service to carry out emergency suspensions of post offices in accordance with certain procedures, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 23, 2017 

Mrs. MCCASKILL (for herself and Mr. MORAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018 

Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To authorize the United States Postal Service to carry out 

emergency suspensions of post offices in accordance with 

certain procedures, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Post Office Discontinu3 ance Accountability Act of 2017’’. 

4 SEC. 2. EMERGENCY SUSPENSIONS OF POST OFFICES. 

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

6 amended by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(f) EMERGENCY SUSPENSIONS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

9 ‘‘(A) the terms ‘alternate service’ and 

10 ‘temporary location’ include a location at which 

11 customers affected by an emergency suspension 

12 may send and receive mail, which may include 

13 the provision and regular servicing of a Cluster 

14 Box Unit (commonly known as a ‘CBU’) by the 

15 Postal Service; 

16 ‘‘(B) the term ‘discontinuance’ means a 

17 closing or consolidation; 

18 ‘‘(C) the term ‘discontinuance procedures’ 

19 means the procedures required for the dis20 continuance of a post office under subsection 

21 (d) and any regulations promulgated under that 

22 subsection; 

23 ‘‘(D) the term ‘discontinue’ means close or 

24 consolidate; 

25 ‘‘(E) the term ‘emergency suspension’ 

26 means the temporary discontinuance of a post 


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1 office, without following discontinuance proce2 dures for the post office, because of— 

3 ‘‘(i) a natural disaster; 

4 ‘‘(ii) the early, sudden, or unexpected 

5 termination of a lease or rental agreement 

6 by the lessor when suitable alternate quar7 ters are not immediately available in the 

8 same community; 

9 ‘‘(iii) lack of qualified personnel to op10 erate the post office; 

11 ‘‘(iv) severe or irreparable damage to, 

12 or destruction of, the post office when suit13 able alternate quarters are not immediately 

14 available in the community; 

15 ‘‘(v) a challenge to the sanctity of the 

16 mail; or 

17 ‘‘(vi) a lack of adequate measures to 

18 safeguard the post office or its revenues; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(F) the term ‘post office’— 

21 ‘‘(i) means a Post Office, as that term 

22 is defined in section 241.1 of title 39, Code 

23 of Federal Regulations, or any successor 

24 regulation; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) does not include a post office 

2 branch or station. 

3 ‘‘(2) AUTHORITY.—A District Manager may 

4 implement an emergency suspension of a post office 

5 in accordance with the requirements under para6 graphs (3) through (7). 

7 ‘‘(3) NOTIFICATION.—If a District Manager im8 plements an emergency suspension of a post office, 

9 the District Manager shall provide immediate notice 

10 of the suspension to— 

11 ‘‘(A) the Headquarters Review Coordinator 

12 or the Field Performance office; 

13 ‘‘(B) local officials of the Postal Service, 

14 including— 

15 ‘‘(i) all direct reports to the District 

16 Manager; 

17 ‘‘(ii) the Vice President, Area Oper18 ations; 

19 ‘‘(iii) State and national postmaster 

20 organizations; 

21 ‘‘(iv) relevant local transportation and 

22 logistics officials of the Postal Service; 

23 ‘‘(v) accounting services of the Postal 

24 Service and Postmaster accounts; 


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1 ‘‘(vi) each upstream Processing and 

2 Distributions Center responsible for proc3 essing mail to and from the relevant post 

4 office; 

5 ‘‘(vii) the Address Management divi6 sion of the Postal Service; 

7 ‘‘(viii) the Shared Human Resources 

8 Center of the Postal Service; 

9 ‘‘(ix) the Discontinuance Coordinator 

10 of the Postal Service; 

11 ‘‘(x) the Facilities Service Office of 

12 the Postal Service; 

13 ‘‘(xi) local political officials; 

14 ‘‘(xii) the Vice President, Facilities; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(xiii) the Customer Relationship 

17 Manager; and 

18 ‘‘(C) customers, notification to whom shall 

19 include— 

20 ‘‘(i) the effective date of the suspen21 sion; 

22 ‘‘(ii) the reason for the suspension; 

23 ‘‘(iii) any alternate service available, 

24 including how to request curbside delivery; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) the nearest post offices and 

2 hours of service; and 

3 ‘‘(v) the name, telephone number, and 

4 email address of an individual to contact 

5 for more information. 

6 ‘‘(4) ALTERNATE SERVICE.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a District Manager 

8 implements an emergency suspension of a post 

9 office, the District Manager shall establish al10 ternate service as quickly as possible. 

11 ‘‘(B) DETERMINATION TO DISCONTINUE.— 

12 If the Postal Service appears likely to make a 

13 determination under subsection (a)(3) to dis14 continue a post office that is under an emer15 gency suspension, the District Manager shall 

16 make every effort to provide the alternate serv17 ice under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph 

18 that is most likely to be recommended in the 

19 determination to discontinue the post office. 

20 ‘‘(5) EMPLOYEE REASSIGNMENT.—If a District 

21 Manager implements an emergency suspension of a 

22 post office, the District Manager shall temporarily 

23 reassign each employee of the post office in accord24 ance with each applicable statute, regulation, and 

25 collective bargaining agreement. 


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1 ‘‘(6) SUSPENSION REVIEW TEAM.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 10 

3 days after the date on which a District Man4 ager implements an emergency suspension of a 

5 post office, the District Manager shall form a 

6 suspension review team to review the decision to 

7 implement the emergency suspension. 

8 ‘‘(B) MEMBERS.—The members of a sus9 pension review team shall include— 

10 ‘‘(i) the Discontinuance Coordinator; 

11 ‘‘(ii) the Manager of Post Office Op12 erations or a designee; 

13 ‘‘(iii) a representative from the Facil14 ity Services Office; and 

15 ‘‘(iv) in the case of the suspension of 

16 a post office staffed by a postmaster, State 

17 presidents of each postmaster organization 

18 or their designees. 

19 ‘‘(C) DECISIONS.—All decisions of the sus20 pension review team shall be by an affirmative 

21 vote of a majority of the members of the sus22 pension review team. 

23 ‘‘(D) SITE VISIT.—The suspension review 

24 team for a post office shall conduct a site visit 

25 to the post office. 


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1 ‘‘(E) RECOMMENDATION.— 

2 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 10 

3 business days after the site visit under 

4 subparagraph (D), the suspension review 

5 team shall notify the District Manager and 

6 the Vice President, Delivery Operations of 

7 its recommendation to— 

8 ‘‘(I) continue the emergency sus9 pension; or 

10 ‘‘(II) reopen the post office. 

11 ‘‘(ii) POSTMASTER ORGANIZATIONS.— 

12 In the case of the suspension of a post of13 fice staffed by a postmaster, the suspen14 sion review team shall also notify the na15 tional postmaster organizations of its rec16 ommendation under clause (i). 

17 ‘‘(F) CONTINUED SUSPENSION.— 

18 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If the suspension 

19 review team recommends under subpara20 graph (E) that the emergency suspension 

21 of a post office continue, the District Man22 ager shall— 

23 ‘‘(I) not later than 10 days after 

24 being notified of that recommendaVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Sep 04, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1204.RS S1204

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1 tion, initiate discontinuance proce2 dures for the post office; or 

3 ‘‘(II) not later than 30 days after 

4 being notified of that recommenda5 tion, publish and submit to the Vice 

6 President, Delivery Operations, a plan 

7 of action to restore service to the af8 fected community— 

9 ‘‘(aa) within a reasonable 

10 period of time; and 

11 ‘‘(bb) in any event, not later 

12 than 180 days after the date on 

13 which the emergency suspension 

14 was implemented. 

15 ‘‘(ii) DELAY IN RESTORATION OF

16 SERVICE.—If a District Manager publishes 

17 and submits a plan of action to restore 

18 service to an affected community under 

19 clause (i)(II) and service to the affected 

20 community is not restored within 180 days 

21 of the date on which the emergency sus22 pension was implemented, the District 

23 Manager shall— 

24 ‘‘(I)(aa) publish notice of the 

25 delay, including— 


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1 ‘‘(AA) a reason for the 

2 delay; and 

3 ‘‘(BB) an anticipated date 

4 of restoration of service; and 

5 ‘‘(bb) not later than 10 days 

6 after publishing the notice, host a live, 

7 in-person question-and-answer forum 

8 in the affected community; or 

9 ‘‘(II) initiate discontinuance pro10 cedures for the post office. 

11 ‘‘(iii) FURTHER DELAYS IN RESTORA12 TION OF SERVICE.—Upon the expiration of 

13 each 30-day period after the date that is 

14 180 days after the date on which the emer15 gency suspension of a post office was im16 plemented, if service has not been restored 

17 to the affected community, the District 

18 Manager shall publish an updated notice of 

19 the delay that includes the anticipated date 

20 of restoration of service. 

21 ‘‘(iv) 1-YEAR DELAY.—If 1 year has 

22 elapsed since the implementation of an 

23 emergency suspension of a post office and 

24 service has not been restored to the af25 fected community, the District Manager— 


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1 ‘‘(I) shall host— 

2 ‘‘(aa) a second live, in-per3 son question-and-answer forum 

4 in the affected community; and 

5 ‘‘(bb) additional live, in-per6 son question-and-answer fora in 

7 the affected community every 

8 subsequent 180 days until— 

9 ‘‘(AA) service is re10 stored; or 

11 ‘‘(BB) the District 

12 Manager initiates dis13 continuance procedures for 

14 the post office; and 

15 ‘‘(II) if no alternate services are 

16 located within 10 miles of the post of17 fice, not later than 60 days after the 

18 date that is 1 year after the date on 

19 which the emergency suspension was 

20 implemented, shall develop and pub21 lish a plan to establish a temporary 

22 location from which to provide service 

23 within 10 miles of the suspended facil24 ity. 


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1 ‘‘(G) REOPENING OF POST OFFICE.—If the 

2 suspension review team recommends under sub3 paragraph (E) that a post office be reopened— 

4 ‘‘(i) not later than 5 business days 

5 after the date on which the suspension re6 view team provides notice of the rec7 ommendation under clause (i) of that sub8 paragraph, the District Manager shall re9 open the post office; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) the Inspector General shall con11 duct an investigation to determine the le12 gitimacy of the concerns that resulted in 

13 the emergency suspension. 

14 ‘‘(7) RESTORATION OF SERVICE.—Upon res15 toration of service under paragraph (6)(F) or the re16 opening of a post office under paragraph (6)(G), the 

17 District Manager shall immediately notify— 

18 ‘‘(A) the affected community; 

19 ‘‘(B) the Headquarters Review Coordi20 nator; and 

21 ‘‘(C) the local Facilities Database Coordi22 nator. 

23 ‘‘(8) LEASE OR RENTAL AGREEMENT EXPIRA24 TION.— 

25 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) PROHIBITION ON EMERGENCY

2 SUSPENSIONS.—A District Manager may 

3 not implement an emergency suspension of 

4 a post office based on the expiration of the 

5 lease or rental agreement for the post of6 fice. 

7 ‘‘(ii) ALTERNATIVE PROCESS.—The 

8 Postal Service may establish an alternative 

9 process for the suspension of postal serv10 ices to a community based on the expira11 tion of a lease or rental agreement for a 

12 post office in accordance with subpara13 graphs (B) through (I) of this paragraph. 

14 ‘‘(B) PREPARATION FOR EXPIRATION.— 

15 Before the expiration of a lease or rental agree16 ment for a post office, the District Manager 

17 shall— 

18 ‘‘(i) initiate or attempt to initiate ne19 gotiations for an extension of the lease or 

20 rental agreement, or sale of the property to 

21 the Postal Service, with a sufficient 

22 amount of time, which shall be not less 

23 than 18 months, to allow for the likely 

24 completion of negotiations before the expi25 ration of the lease or rental agreement; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) initiate discontinuance proce2 dures for the post office with a sufficient 

3 amount of time, which shall be not less 

4 than 18 months, to allow for likely comple5 tion of the procedures before the expiration 

6 of the lease or rental agreement. 

7 ‘‘(C) DISCONTINUANCE.—If the District 

8 Manager does not initiate or attempt to initiate 

9 negotiations described in subparagraph (B)(i) 

10 with a sufficient amount of time (as defined in 

11 that subparagraph) to allow for likely comple12 tion of negotiations before the expiration of the 

13 lease or rental agreement, discontinuance proce14 dures may not be initiated for the post office 

15 earlier than the date that is 3 years after the 

16 date on which the lease or rental agreement ex17 pires. 

18 ‘‘(D) FAILURE TO REACH AGREEMENT.— 

19 If, as of 30 days before the expiration of a lease 

20 or rental agreement for a post office, the Dis21 trict Manager has not reached an agreement 

22 with the lessor to extend the lease or rental 

23 agreement or to sell the property to the Postal 

24 Service, the District Manager shall— 


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1 ‘‘(i) notify the affected community of 

2 a possible disruption in service due to the 

3 possible expiration of the lease or rental 

4 agreement; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) include in the notification under 

6 clause (i)— 

7 ‘‘(I) the expiration date of the 

8 lease or rental agreement; 

9 ‘‘(II) alternate services available 

10 if the lease or rental agreement ex11 pires, including how to request 

12 curbside delivery; 

13 ‘‘(III) the nearest post offices 

14 and hours of service; and 

15 ‘‘(IV) the name, telephone num16 ber, and email address of an indi17 vidual to contact for more informa18 tion. 

19 ‘‘(E) NEW LEASE OR RENTAL AGREE20 MENT.—Not later than 30 days after the date 

21 on which a lease or rental agreement for a post 

22 office expires, the District Manager shall make 

23 best efforts to enter into a new lease or rental 

24 agreement for a post office in, or within a rea25 sonable distance of, the community in which the 


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1 post office that was the subject of the expired 

2 lease or rental agreement is located. 

3 ‘‘(F) FAILURE TO ENTER INTO NEW LEASE

4 OR RENTAL AGREEMENT.—If, within 30 days 

5 after the expiration of a lease or rental agree6 ment for a post office, the District Manager is 

7 unable to execute a new lease or rental agree8 ment at the same location or another location 

9 within the affected community, the District 

10 Manager shall— 

11 ‘‘(i) publish notice of intent to submit 

12 to the Vice President, Delivery Operations 

13 a plan of action to restore service to the 

14 affected community— 

15 ‘‘(I) within a reasonable period of 

16 time; and 

17 ‘‘(II) in any event, not later than 

18 180 days after the date on which the 

19 lease or rental agreement expired; or 

20 ‘‘(ii) if no suitable alternate quarters 

21 are available in the community— 

22 ‘‘(I) publish notice of intent to 

23 initiate discontinuance procedures for 

24 the post office; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) initiate discontinuance pro2 cedures. 

3 ‘‘(G) DELAY IN RESTORATION OF SERV4 ICE.—If a District Manager publishes and sub5 mits a plan of action to restore service to an af6 fected community under subparagraph (F)(i) 

7 and service to the affected community is not re8 stored within 180 days of the date on which the 

9 lease or rental agreement for the post office ex10 pired, the District Manager shall— 

11 ‘‘(i)(I) publish notice of the delay, in12 cluding— 

13 ‘‘(aa) a reason for the delay; and 

14 ‘‘(bb) an anticipated date of res15 toration of service; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) not later than 10 days after pub17 lishing the notice, host a live, in-person 

18 question-and-answer forum in the affected 

19 community. 

20 ‘‘(H) FURTHER DELAYS IN RESTORATION

21 OF SERVICE.—Upon the expiration of each 30- 

22 day period after the date on which the District 

23 Manager publishes notice under subparagraph 

24 (G)(i), if service has not been restored to the 

25 affected community, the District Manager shall 


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1 publish an updated notice of the delay that in2 cludes the anticipated date of restoration of 

3 service. 

4 ‘‘(I) 1-YEAR DELAY.—If service to the af5 fected community is not restored within 1 year 

6 of the date on which the lease or rental agree7 ment for the post office expired, the District 

8 Manager— 

9 ‘‘(i) shall host— 

10 ‘‘(I) a second live, in-person 

11 question-and-answer forum in the af12 fected community; and 

13 ‘‘(II) additional live, in-person 

14 question-and-answer fora in the af15 fected community every subsequent 

16 180 days until— 

17 ‘‘(aa) service is restored; or 

18 ‘‘(bb) the District Manager 

19 initiates discontinuance proce20 dures for the post office; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) if no alternate services are lo22 cated within 10 miles of the post office, 

23 not later than 60 days after the date that 

24 is 1 year after the date on which the lease 

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1 pired, shall develop and publish a plan to 

2 establish a temporary location from which 

3 to provide service within 10 miles of the 

4 post office. 

5 ‘‘(9) DELEGATION.—A District Manager may 

6 delegate any authority or responsibility under this 

7 subsection except under paragraph (2), (4)(B), or 

8 (6)(A). 

9 ‘‘(10) APPLICABILITY.—This subsection shall 

10 apply to any emergency suspension of a post office 

11 that is implemented on or after the date of enact12 ment of the Post Office Discontinuance Account13 ability Act of 2017.’’. 

14 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

15 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Post Office Discontinu16 ance Accountability Act of 2018’’. 

17 SEC. 2. EMERGENCY SUSPENSIONS OF POST OFFICES. 

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

19 amended by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(7)(A) The Postal Service may temporarily suspend 

21 operations at a post office if the Postal Service follows the 

22 procedures set forth in subchapter 61 of Postal Service 

23 Handbook PO–101. 

24 ‘‘(B) If the lease or rental agreement for a post office 

25 expires, and the Postal Service does not reasonably expect 


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1 to reach a new lease or rental agreement, the Postal Service 

2 shall notify affected customers of the possible suspension of 

3 the post office in accordance with section 613.3 of Postal 

4 Service Handbook PO–101. 

5 ‘‘(C) If a post office has been suspended for not less 

6 than 1 year, any person served by the post office may file 

7 an appeal with the Postal Regulatory Commission. On re8 view, the Commission may consider the suspension to be 

9 an action that is subject to the procedures required under 

10 paragraphs (1) through (6) unless— 

11 ‘‘(i) the Postal Service demonstrates that— 

12 ‘‘(I) the need for a suspension under sub13 chapter 61 of Postal Service Handbook PO–101 

14 continues to exist; and 

15 ‘‘(II) the Postal Service is complying with 

16 the applicable procedures under subchapter 61 of 

17 Postal Service Handbook PO–101; or 

18 ‘‘(ii) the Commission has already established a 

19 process for resolving the suspension of the post office. 

20 ‘‘(D) If the Postal Service demonstrates the need for 

21 a continued suspension under subparagraph (C)(i), the 

22 Postal Service shall— 

23 ‘‘(i) conduct a community meeting to— 

24 ‘‘(I) explain the circumstances of the sus25 pension and obtain customer opinion about alVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Sep 04, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S1204.RS S1204

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1 ternate service in a manner similar to the com2 munity meeting described in part 714 of Postal 

3 Service Handbook PO–101; and 

4 ‘‘(II) present the plan of action to restore 

5 service required under part 618 of Postal Service 

6 Handbook PO–101; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) periodically update the affected community 

8 if service is not restored in accordance with the plan 

9 described in clause (i)(II) of this subparagraph. 

10 ‘‘(E) The Postal Service shall consult with the Postal 

11 Regulatory Commission in making any changes to suspen12 sion procedures in Postal Service Handbook PO–101. 

13 ‘‘(F) In this paragraph— 

14 ‘‘(i) the term ‘Postal Service Handbook PO–101’ 

15 means the document titled ‘Postal Service-Operated 

16 Retail Facilities Discontinuance Guide’ (Handbook 

17 PO–101), published by the Postal Service in October 

18 2012, or any appropriate successor to that document; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(ii) a reference to a provision of Postal Service 

21 Handbook PO–101 shall be deemed to include any ap22 propriate successor to that provision.’’. 


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Calendar No. 561 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1204 

[Report No. 115–329] 

A BILL 

To authorize the United States Postal Service to 

other purposes. in accordance with certain procedures, and for carry out emergency suspensions of post offices 

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018 

Reported with an amendment 


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