I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8303 

To require the United States Postal Service to notify postal customers and 

relevant officials when operations are temporarily suspended at a post 

office, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 8, 2024 

Mr. DIAZ-BALART introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Oversight and Accountability 

A BILL 

To require the United States Postal Service to notify postal 

customers and relevant officials when operations are temporarily suspended at a post office, 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. NOTICE OF TEMPORARY POST OFFICE CLO4 SURE. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—If the United States Postal Serv6 ice temporarily suspends operations at a post office, either 

7 voluntarily or involuntarily, the United States Postal Serv8 ice shall— 


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1 (1) submit the notices required by subsection 

2 (b); 

3 (2) provide persons served by such post office 

4 an opportunity for comment in accordance with sub5 section (c); and 

6 (3) provide services to persons served by such 

7 post office in accordance with subsection (d). 

8 (b) NOTICES.— 

9 (1) SUSPENSION NOTICE.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—The United States 

11 Postal Service shall notify persons served by a 

12 post office and the relevant officials for such 

13 post office of the temporary suspension of oper14 ations at such post office. 

15 (B) CONTENTS.— 

16 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

17 by clause (ii), the notice required under 

18 subparagraph (A) with respect to the tem19 porary suspension of operations at a post 

20 office shall include— 

21 (I) in the case of a temporary 

22 suspension of operations that the 

23 United States Postal Service plans or 

24 expects, the expected date on which 


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1 such temporary suspension of oper2 ations will begin; 

3 (II) the reasons for such tem4 porary suspension of operations; 

5 (III) plans for— 

6 (aa) providing retail postal 

7 services to persons served by 

8 such post office during such tem9 porary suspension of operations; 

10 (bb) providing persons 

11 served by such post office the op12 portunity required by subsection 

13 (c); and 

14 (cc) resuming the operations 

15 of such post office; and 

16 (IV) an estimate of when the op17 erations of such post office will re18 sume. 

19 (ii) ONSITE NOTICES.—Notwith20 standing clause (i), a notice required under 

21 subparagraph (A) placed at the physical lo22 cation of a post office shall include instruc23 tions for accessing a website of the United 

24 States Postal Service containing the inforVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Jun 10, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8303.IH H8303

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1 mation described in clause (i) and may 

2 contain such information. 

3 (C) TIMING.—The United States Postal 

4 Service shall provide the notice required under 

5 subparagraph (A)— 

6 (i) in the case of a temporary suspen7 sion of operations that the United States 

8 Postal Service plans or expects, not later 

9 than the later of— 

10 (I) 60 days prior to the expected 

11 date on which such temporary suspen12 sion of operations will begin; or 

13 (II) the earliest date on which 

14 the United States Postal Service plans 

15 or expects such temporary suspension 

16 of operations; and 

17 (ii) in all other cases, not later than 

18 14 days after the date on which operations 

19 are temporarily suspended. 

20 (D) NOTICE REQUIRED.—The United 

21 States Postal Service may not temporarily sus22 pend operations at a post office unless the 

23 United States Postal Service provides the notice 

24 required under this paragraph, except that this 

25 subparagraph shall not apply if such temporary 


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1 suspension of operations is not at the discretion 

2 of the United States Postal Service or is nec3 essary due to health or safety concerns. 

4 (2) STATUS UPDATES.—If the United States 

5 Postal Service temporarily suspends operations at a 

6 post office for a period of more than six months, not 

7 later than six months after the date on which such 

8 temporary suspension of operations begins, and 

9 every three months thereafter until the date on 

10 which such temporary suspension of operations ends, 

11 the United States Postal Service shall provide to 

12 persons served by such post office and the relevant 

13 officials for such post office a notice on the status 

14 of such temporary suspension of operations. 

15 (3) REOPENING NOTICE.—Upon determining 

16 the date on which operations will resume at a post 

17 office at which operations are temporarily sus18 pended, the United States Postal Service shall notify 

19 persons served by such post office and the relevant 

20 officials for such post office of the date of such re21 sumption of operations at such post office and, in 

22 the case of a post office that has been relocated, the 

23 location of such post office. 


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1 (4) NOTICE DISTRIBUTION.—For each notice 

2 required under this subsection with respect to a post 

3 office, the United States Postal Service shall— 

4 (A) mail such notice to persons served by 

5 such post office; 

6 (B) place such notice at the physical loca7 tion of such post office; 

8 (C) make such notice publicly available on 

9 a website of the United States Postal Service; 

10 (D) publish such notice on relevant social 

11 media websites; and 

12 (E) send such notice to a valid email of 

13 each relevant official. 

14 (5) RELEVANT OFFICIALS DEFINED.—In this 

15 subsection, the term ‘‘relevant officials’’, with re16 spect to a post office, means— 

17 (A) each Member of the House of Rep18 resentatives (including a Delegate or Resident 

19 Commissioner to Congress) representing a con20 gressional district which includes all or part of 

21 the geographic area served by such post office; 

22 (B) each Senator representing a State 

23 which includes all or part of the geographic 

24 area served by such post office; and 


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1 (C) the head of each local government with 

2 jurisdiction over all or part of the geographic 

3 area served by such post office. 

4 (c) OPPORTUNITY FOR COMMENT.—The United 

5 States Postal Service shall provide persons served by a 

6 post office at which operations are temporarily suspended 

7 an opportunity to present their views on such temporary 

8 suspension of operations, including the relocation of such 

9 post office. 

10 (d) REPLACEMENT RETAIL POSTAL SERVICES.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 10 days after 

12 the temporary suspension of operations at a post of13 fice, the United States Postal Service shall provide 

14 to persons served by such post office the services de15 scribed in paragraph (2)— 

16 (A) in the same geographic area as such 

17 post office, to the extent practicable; and 

18 (B) to the extent that such post office pro19 vided such services immediately before such 

20 temporary suspension of operations. 

21 (2) RETAIL POSTAL SERVICES.—The services 

22 described in this paragraph are the following serv23 ices not available from the post office at which oper24 ations are temporarily suspended: 


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1 (A) Retail postal services, including the 

2 sale of boxes and other packaging material sold 

3 by the United States Postal Service. 

4 (B) A means for holders of post office 

5 boxes at such post office to receive mail sent to 

6 the post office box of such holder. 

7 (C) Providing, accepting, and processing 

8 forms necessary for persons to request a change 

9 of mailing address or a temporary halt to the 

10 delivery of mail to such person. 

11 (3) DURATION.—The United States Postal 

12 Service shall provide the services required by para13 graph (1) until the end of the temporary suspension 

14 of operations with respect to which the United 

15 States Postal Service is providing such services 

16 under such paragraph. 

17 (e) APPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply only 

18 with respect to temporary suspensions of operations at 

19 post offices that begin after the date of the enactment of 

20 this Act. 

Æ 


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