II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1854 

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

Service, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 23, 2015 

Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 39, United States Code, to improve the 

United States Postal Service, 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 Innovation 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITION. 

7 In this Act, the term ‘‘Postal Service’’ means the 

8 United States Postal Service. 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 1854 IS

1 SEC. 3. EXPANDED SERVICES. 

2 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF NEW NONPOSTAL SERV3 ICES.—Section 404(a) of title 39, United States Code, is 

4 amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (6) through 

6 (8) as paragraphs (7) through (9), respectively; and 

7 (2) by inserting after paragraph (5) the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(6) on and after the date of enactment of the 

10 Postal Innovation Act, to provide other services that 

11 are not postal services, including financial services, 

12 warehousing, public Internet access, experimental 

13 postal products market testing, shipment of beer, 

14 wine and spirits, and community support services 

15 such as accepting passports through partnerships 

16 with State and local governments, if the provision of 

17 such services— 

18 ‘‘(A) uses the processing, transportation, 

19 delivery, retail network, or technology of the 

20 Postal Service; 

21 ‘‘(B) is consistent with the public interest; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(C) has the potential to improve the net 

24 financial position of the Postal Service;’’. 

25 (b) GOVERNMENTAL SERVICES.—Section 411 of title 

26 39, United States Code, is amended— 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 1854 IS

1 (1) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘this 

2 section’’ and inserting ‘‘this subsection’’; 

3 (2) by striking ‘‘Executive agencies’’ and insert4 ing ‘‘(a) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.—Executive agen5 cies’’; and 

6 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(b) STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS.— 

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

9 ‘‘(A) the term ‘local government’ means— 

10 ‘‘(i) a county, municipality, city, town, 

11 township, local public authority, school dis12 trict, special district, intrastate district, 

13 council of governments, or regional or 

14 interstate government entity; 

15 ‘‘(ii) an agency or instrumentality of 

16 an entity described in clause (i); or 

17 ‘‘(iii) a rural community, an unincor18 porated town or village, or an instrumen19 tality of a rural community or an unincor20 porated town or village; 

21 ‘‘(B) the term ‘State’ includes the District 

22 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

23 Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, 

24 American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 1854 IS

1 Northern Mariana Islands, and any other terri2 tory or possession of the United States; and 

3 ‘‘(C) the term ‘tribal government’ means 

4 the government of an Indian tribe (as defined 

5 in section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determination 

6 Act (25 U.S.C. 450b(e))). 

7 ‘‘(2) AUTHORITY OF POSTAL SERVICE.—The 

8 Postal Service is authorized to furnish property and 

9 services to States, local governments, and tribal gov10 ernments, under such terms and conditions, includ11 ing the possibility for reimbursement, as the Postal 

12 Service and the applicable State, local government, 

13 or tribal government shall determine appropriate.’’. 

14 (c) PILOT PROGRAM.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Postal Service may con16 duct a pilot program to assess the most cost-effec17 tive implementation of providing nonpostal services 

18 to communities through public-private partnerships 

19 at post offices in 5 cities, of which— 

20 (A) not fewer than 1 post office shall be lo21 cated in a rural area; and 

22 (B) not fewer than 1 post office shall be 

23 located in an urban area. 

24 (2) SERVICES.—The nonpostal services de25 scribed in paragraph (1)— 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 1854 IS

1 (A) shall include— 

2 (i) municipal broadband Internet serv3 ice; 

4 (ii) public wireless broadband Internet 

5 service; and 

6 (iii) Internet voting; and 

7 (B) may include— 

8 (i) emergency broadband Internet 

9 service; 

10 (ii) financial services; 

11 (iii) passport services; and 

12 (iv) shipment of beer, wine, and spir13 its. 

14 SEC. 4. UPGRADING THE FLEET OF THE POSTAL SERVICE. 

15 (a) CONTRACTING.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Postal Service may 

17 enter into contracts to upgrade the postal fleet to in18 crease long-term savings by reducing collision, main19 tenance, fuel, or other costs. 

20 (2) REVIEW.—In determining whether to enter 

21 into contracts under paragraph (1), the Postal Serv22 ice shall review and identify routes for which the 

23 Postal Service provides delivery to determine if 

24 motor vehicles used on such routes can be replaced 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 1854 IS

1 or retrofitted with commercially available tech2 nologies that— 

3 (A) increase average fuel economy; 

4 (B) reduce collisions with other vehicles, 

5 pedestrians, bicycle riders, and joggers; or 

6 (C) reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. 

7 (b) GUIDELINES.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Postal Service shall de9 velop guidelines for contracted vehicles and vehicles 

10 purchased or leased for use by the Postal Service, 

11 that, at a minimum, require that— 

12 (A) light-duty vehicles— 

13 (i) with respect to emissions of carbon 

14 dioxide— 

15 (I) comply with applicable stand16 ards developed by the Administrator 

17 of the Environmental Protection 

18 Agency under title II of the Clean Air 

19 Act (42 U.S.C. 7521 et seq.); and 

20 (II) are not more than, on aver21 age, 250 grams per vehicle mile; 

22 (ii) are equipped with commercially 

23 available crash avoidance technologies; and 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 1854 IS

1 (iii) meet applicable average fuel econ2 omy standards of 34.1 miles per gallon; 

3 and 

4 (B) medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles 

5 comply with applicable standards— 

6 (i) for emissions of carbon dioxide de7 veloped by the Administrator of the Envi8 ronmental Protection Agency under title II 

9 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7521 et 

10 seq.); 

11 (ii) for average fuel economy devel12 oped by the Secretary of Transportation 

13 under chapter 329 of title 49, United 

14 States Code; and 

15 (iii) for safety such that the vehicles 

16 are equipped with commercially available 

17 crash avoidance technologies. 

18 (2) APPLICABILITY.—The standards described 

19 in paragraph (1) shall apply to contracted vehicles 

20 and vehicles purchased or leased for use by the Post21 al Service after 1 year after the date of enactment 

22 of this Act. 

23 (c) REDUCTION OF CONSUMPTION OF PETROLEUM

24 PRODUCTS.—The Postal Service shall reduce the total 

25 consumption of petroleum products by vehicles in the postVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Jul 27, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1854.IS S1854

smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 1854 IS

1 al fleet by not less than 2 percent annually through the 

2 end of fiscal year 2025, relative to the baseline established 

3 for fiscal year 2005. 

4 SEC. 5. INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF THE POSTAL SERV5 ICE. 

6 (a) INNOVATION.—The Postal Service may use cost 

7 savings from section 3 to reinvest in innovation, research 

8 and development, and operations of the Postal Service. 

9 (b) SAFETY.—The Postal Service shall use commer10 cially available crash avoidance technologies to improve 

11 safety across the postal fleet. 

12 SEC. 6. GAO STUDY. 

13 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

14 of this Act, the Comptroller General shall conduct a study 

15 on the opportunities and challenges related to the Postal 

16 Service providing access to public broadband Internet 

17 service and Internet voting that would— 

18 (1) be based on cost-effective strategies for uti19 lizing the infrastructure, technology, or processing, 

20 transportation, delivery, and retail networks of the 

21 Postal Service; 

22 (2) be consistent with the public interest; and 

23 (3) have the potential to improve the financial 

24 position of the Postal Service. 

Æ 


smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with BILLS