I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3577 

To authorize the United States Postal Service to provide certain nonpostal 

property, products, and services on behalf of State, local, and tribal 

governments. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 27, 2019 

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

Committee on Oversight and Reform 

A BILL 

To authorize the United States Postal Service to provide 

certain nonpostal property, products, and services on behalf of State, local, and tribal governments. 

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

3 SECTION 1. POSTAL SERVICE PROGRAM FOR STATE, 

4 LOCAL, AND TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS. 

5 (a) POSTAL SERVICE PROGRAM FOR STATE, LOCAL, 

6 AND TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS.—Part IV of title 39, United 

7 States Code, is amended by adding after chapter 36 the 

8 following: 


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1 ‘‘CHAPTER 37—POSTAL SERVICE PRO2 GRAM FOR STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIB3 AL GOVERNMENTS 

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘3701. Purpose. 

‘‘3702. Definitions. 

‘‘3703. Postal Service program for State, local, and tribal governments. 

4 ‘‘§ 3701. Purpose 

5 ‘‘The purpose of this chapter is to enable the Postal 

6 Service to increase its net revenues through providing spe7 cific nonpostal property, products, and services that are 

8 expressly authorized by this chapter. Postal Service reve9 nues and expenses under this chapter shall be funded 

10 through the Postal Service Fund. 

11 ‘‘§ 3702. Definitions 

12 ‘‘In this chapter— 

13 ‘‘(1) the term ‘costs attributable’ has the mean14 ing given such term in section 3631; and 

15 ‘‘(2) the term ‘year’ means a fiscal year. 

16 ‘‘§ 3703. Postal Service program for State, local, and 

17 tribal governments 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (d), and 

19 notwithstanding any other provision of this title, the Post20 al Service may establish a program under which the Postal 

21 Service may enter into an agreement with an agency of 

22 a State government, local government, or tribal govern23 ment to provide property, products, or services on behalf 


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1 of the agency, if providing the property, products, or serv2 ices— 

3 ‘‘(1) provides enhanced value to the public, such 

4 as by lowering the cost or raising the quality of the 

5 property, products, or services or by making the 

6 property, products, or services more accessible; 

7 ‘‘(2) does not interfere with or detract from the 

8 value of postal services, including— 

9 ‘‘(A) with respect to the cost and efficiency 

10 of postal services; and 

11 ‘‘(B) that providing the property, products, 

12 or services will not unreasonably restrict access 

13 to postal retail service, such as through in14 creased customer waiting time or reduced ac15 cess to parking; and 

16 ‘‘(3) will provide a reasonable contribution to 

17 the institutional costs of the Postal Service, which 

18 shall include reimbursement that covers not less 

19 than 100 percent of the costs attributable to pro20 viding the property, products, and services under the 

21 agreement in each year. 

22 ‘‘(b) PUBLIC NOTICE.—Not later than 90 days before 

23 beginning to provide property, products, or services under 

24 an agreement described in subsection (a), the Postal ServVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:56 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3577.IH H3577

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1 ice shall make available to the public on the website of 

2 the Postal Service— 

3 ‘‘(1) the agreement with the agency regarding 

4 providing the property, products, or services; and 

5 ‘‘(2) a business plan that describes— 

6 ‘‘(A) the specific property, products, and 

7 services to be provided; 

8 ‘‘(B) the enhanced value to the public; 

9 ‘‘(C) the terms of reimbursement; 

10 ‘‘(D) the estimated annual reimbursement 

11 to the Postal Service; and 

12 ‘‘(E) the estimated percentage of the costs 

13 attributable to providing the property, products, 

14 and services that will be covered by reimburse15 ment (with documentation to support the esti16 mates). 

17 ‘‘(c) PUBLIC COMMENT.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Before beginning to provide 

19 property, products, or services under an agreement 

20 described in subsection (a), the Postal Service shall 

21 provide for a public comment period of not less than 

22 30 days, during which the public may post com23 ments relating to the provision of the property, prod24 ucts, or services on the website of the Postal Service. 


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1 ‘‘(2) RESPONSE.—The Postal Service shall 

2 make reasonable efforts to provide written responses 

3 to the comments described in paragraph (1) on the 

4 website of the Postal Service not later than 30 days 

5 before beginning to provide the property, products, 

6 or services. 

7 ‘‘(d) APPROVAL REQUIRED.—The Postal Service may 

8 not enter into an agreement under subsection (a) unless 

9 a majority of the Board of Governors of the Postal Service 

10 approve, by a recorded vote that is publicly disclosed on 

11 the website of the Postal Service— 

12 ‘‘(1) the agreement; or 

13 ‘‘(2) an agreement under subsection (a) with 

14 another agency of a State government, local govern15 ment, or tribal government to provide property, 

16 products, or services on behalf of the agency under 

17 the same or similar terms and conditions. 

18 ‘‘(e) DESIGNATION.—The Postal Regulatory Com19 mission shall designate whether property, products, or 

20 services provided under an agreement described in sub21 section (a) shall be regulated under this title as a market 

22 dominant product, a competitive product, or an experi23 mental product. 

24 ‘‘(f) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Before beginning 

25 to provide property, products, or services under an agreeVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:56 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3577.IH H3577

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1 ment described in subsection (a), the Postal Service shall 

2 submit to the Postal Regulatory Commission a separate 

3 report for each agreement entered into under subsection 

4 (a), analyzing the costs, revenues, rates, and quality of 

5 the property, products, and services provided under the 

6 agreement, including information demonstrating that the 

7 agreement satisfies the requirements of paragraphs (1) 

8 through (3) of subsection (a). 

9 ‘‘(g) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Postal Service shall 

11 issue such regulations as are necessary to carry out 

12 subsections (a) through (d) of this section. 

13 ‘‘(2) PRC.—The Postal Regulatory Commission 

14 shall issue such regulations as are necessary to carry 

15 out subsections (e) and (f) of this section. 

16 ‘‘(h) CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.—Subsections (b) 

17 and (c) shall not be construed as requiring the Postal 

18 Service to disclose to the public any information that is— 

19 ‘‘(1) described in section 410(c); or 

20 ‘‘(2) exempt from public disclosure under sec21 tion 552(b) of title 5. 

22 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—For the purpose of this sec23 tion— 

24 ‘‘(1) the term ‘local government’ means a coun25 ty, municipality, city, town, township, local public 


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1 authority, school district, special district, intrastate 

2 district, council of governments, or regional or inter3 state government entity; 

4 ‘‘(2) the term ‘State government’ includes each 

5 of the several States, the government of the District 

6 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 

7 United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American 

8 Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 

9 Islands, and any other territory or possession of the 

10 United States; and 

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

12 government of an Indian tribe, as that term is de13 fined in section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determina14 tion Act (25 U.S.C. 450b(e)).’’. 

15 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

16 (1) The table of chapters for part IV of title 39, 

17 United States Code, is amended by adding after the 

18 item relating to chapter 36 the following: 

‘‘37. Postal Service program for State, local, and tribal 

governments ............................................................ 3701’’. 

19 (2) Section 404(e) of title 39, United States 

20 Code, is amended— 

21 (A) in paragraph (2), by inserting after 

22 ‘‘subsection,’’ the following: ‘‘or any property, 

23 products, or services authorized to be provided 

24 under chapter 37,’’; and 


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1 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(6) Nothing in this section shall be construed to pre3 vent the Postal Service from providing property, products, 

4 or services that are expressly authorized by chapter 37.’’. 

Æ 


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