I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1016 

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

Postal Service to sell, at fair market value, any post office building 

subject to relocation, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 6, 2013 

Mr. PETERS of California (for himself, Mrs. DAVIS of California, and Mr. 

VARGAS) 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 authorize the 

United States Postal Service to sell, at fair market value, 

any post office building subject to relocation, 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 ‘‘Community Post Office 

5 Relocation Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SALE OF POST OFFICE BUILDINGS SUBJECT TO RE2 LOCATION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 4 of title 39, United 

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘§ 417. Authority to sell buildings containing post of7 fices subject to relocation 

8 ‘‘(a) In addition to the authority provided under sec9 tion 401(5), the Postal Service may sell, at fair market 

10 value, to an eligible buyer fee simple title to a covered post 

11 office building. 

12 ‘‘(b)(1) Beginning on the date on which the Postal 

13 Service makes an announcement, as described in para14 graph (2), that a covered post office building is for sale, 

15 an eligible buyer shall have 30 days to make an offer to 

16 the Postal Service for the purchase of such building. 

17 ‘‘(2) The announcement under paragraph (1) shall be 

18 posted prominently in a publicly accessible space in the 

19 covered post office building subject to sale. 

20 ‘‘(c)(1) The Postal Service shall enter into negotia21 tions for the sale of such building with the eligible buyer 

22 that submits the first offer, as determined by postmark 

23 date, during such 30-day period. If such negotiations fail, 

24 then the Postal Service shall enter into negotiations for 

25 sale with each subsequent eligible buyer, as determined by 

26 postmark date, that submits an offer during such 30-day 


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1 period until a sale is made or until all such eligible buyers 

2 are exhausted. 

3 ‘‘(2) If an offer under paragraph (1) is for the fair 

4 market value of such building, and all other relevant con5 ditions have been met with respect to making a successful 

6 sale within 45 days after the postmark date of such offer, 

7 the Postal Service shall sell such building to such buyer. 

8 ‘‘(3) The fair market value of a post office building 

9 sold by the Postal Service under this section shall be deter10 mined by an independent professional appraiser, licensed 

11 within the State in which such building is located, mutu12 ally agreed upon by the Postal Service and the eligible 

13 buyer. 

14 ‘‘(d)(1) After the sale of a covered post office building 

15 to an eligible buyer under this section, the Postal Service 

16 may lease, at fair market value, such building from such 

17 buyer for purposes of operating a post office in such build18 ing. 

19 ‘‘(2) If the Postal Service does not require all of the 

20 space in such building while operating a post office pursu21 ant to paragraph (1), the eligible buyer may use the re22 maining space for any purpose permitted under Federal, 

23 State, or local law or regulation. 

24 ‘‘(e) If an eligible buyer makes a covered post office 

25 purchased under this section available for sale, the Postal 


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1 Service shall have the right of first refusal to purchase 

2 such building at fair market value or at the price of such 

3 purchase plus any improvements, whichever is less. 

4 ‘‘(f) For purposes of this section— 

5 ‘‘(1) the term ‘covered post office building’ 

6 means a building owned by the Postal Service that 

7 contains a post office subject to relocation (as that 

8 term is described in section 241.4 of title 39, Code 

9 of Federal Regulations); and 

10 ‘‘(2) the term ‘eligible buyer’ means a private 

11 organization— 

12 ‘‘(A) that is described in section 501(c)(3) 

13 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and ex14 empt from taxation under section 501(a) of 

15 such Code; 

16 ‘‘(B) that operates primarily within the ge17 ographic area served by a covered post office 

18 building subject to sale under this section; and 

19 ‘‘(C) that has been in operation within 

20 such area for at least 5 years prior to the date 

21 on which the announcement of the sale of the 

22 building is made (as described in subsection 

23 (b)(1)).’’. 

24 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

25 of chapter 4 of title 39, United States Code, is amended 


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1 by adding after the item relating to section 416 the fol2 lowing new item: 

‘‘417. Authority to sell buildings containing post offices subject to relocation.’’. 

Æ 


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