I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5377 

To provide for certain safeguards with respect to the sale of historic postal 

facilities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 31, 2014 

Mr. SERRANO (for himself and Ms. LEE of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To provide for certain safeguards with respect to the sale 

of historic postal facilities, 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 Facilities Pres5 ervation and Sales Reform Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 39, UNITED STATES CODE, 

7 WITH RESPECT TO THE CLOSURE AND CON8 SOLIDATION OF POSTAL FACILITIES. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 404(d) of title 39, United 

10 States Code, is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking subsection (d)(1) and inserting 

2 the following: 

3 ‘‘(d)(1) Prior to making a determination under sub4 section (a)(3) of this section as to the necessity for the 

5 closing or consolidation of any postal facility, the Postal 

6 Service shall— 

7 ‘‘(A) hold at least 3 public meetings, located 

8 within the area affected by the closing or consolida9 tion, at least 120 days prior to such determination; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(B) provide adequate notice of its intention to 

12 close or consolidate such facility at least 180 days 

13 prior to the proposed date of such closing or consoli14 dation to persons served by such facility to ensure 

15 that such persons will have an opportunity to 

16 present their views. 

17 ‘‘(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), ‘adequate notice’ 

18 with respect to a closure or consolidation of a post office 

19 means written notification to— 

20 ‘‘(A) each person served by such post office; 

21 ‘‘(B) each officer or employee who is employed 

22 at such post office; and 

23 ‘‘(C) each Federal, State, and local elected offi24 cial who represents the ZIP code in which such post 

25 office is located.’’; 


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1 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through 

2 (6) as paragraphs (3) through (7), respectively; and 

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

4 ‘‘(8) The following entities shall have a right of first 

5 refusal, in descending order of priority, to purchase any 

6 postal facility offered for sale by the Postal Service under 

7 this section: 

8 ‘‘(A) A Federal agency (as that term is defined 

9 in section 2671 of title 28). 

10 ‘‘(B) The State in which such facility is located. 

11 ‘‘(C) The city, town, or local unit of government 

12 with jurisdiction over the area in which such facility 

13 is located. 

14 ‘‘(9) The Postal Service may not enter into any con15 tract or agreement with a person where such contract per16 mits such person to represent, with respect to a sale of 

17 a postal facility under this section, the Postal Service and 

18 the proposed buyer of the facility.’’. 

19 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

20 Section 404(d) of title 39, United States Code, is amend21 ed— 

22 (1) in paragraphs (3) through (7) (as redesig23 nated by subsection (a)(2)), by striking ‘‘post office’’ 

24 in each instance it appears and inserting ‘‘postal fa25 cility’’; 


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1 (2) in paragraph (3) (as so redesignated), by 

2 striking ‘‘post offices’’ and inserting ‘‘postal facili3 ties’’; in each instance it appears 

4 (3) in paragraph (4) (as so redesignated), by 

5 striking ‘‘paragraph (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

6 (3)’’; 

7 (4) in paragraph (6) (as so redesignated), by 

8 striking ‘‘paragraph (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

9 (4)’’; and 

10 (5) in paragraph (7) (as so redesignated), by 

11 striking ‘‘paragraph (5)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

12 (6)’’. 

13 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 39, UNITED STATES CODE, 

14 WITH RESPECT TO HISTORIC POSTAL FACILI15 TIES. 

16 (a) SALE OF POSTAL FACILITIES.—Section 404(d) of 

17 title 39, United States Code, is further amended by adding 

18 at the end the following new paragraph: 

19 ‘‘(10) With respect to any historic postal facility (as 

20 that term is defined in section 417) offered for sale or 

21 proposed for relocation or cessation of services by the 

22 Postal Service under this section, the Postal Service may 

23 not enter into any contract or agreement to sell the facility 

24 or relocate or cease services at such facility until the pro25 posed decision to sell or relocate such facility is reviewed 


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1 pursuant to section 106 of the National Historic Preserva2 tion Act (16 U.S.C. 470f).’’. 

3 (b) GENERAL HISTORIC POSTAL FACILITY REQUIRE4 MENTS.—Chapter 4 of title 39, United States Code, is 

5 amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘§ 417. Historic postal facilities 

7 ‘‘(a) HISTORIC SURPLUS PROPERTY PROGRAM.—If 

8 the Postal Service makes a determination to sell a historic 

9 postal facility under section 404, and the preservation of 

10 such facility has been determined by the State Historic 

11 Preservation Officer or the Keeper of the National Reg12 ister of Historic Places to be of national significance, the 

13 Postal Service shall use the Historic Surplus Property 

14 Program (administered by the National Park Service and 

15 the General Services Administration) to dispose of such 

16 facility. 

17 ‘‘(b) FEDERAL PRESERVATION OFFICER DUTIES.— 

18 The Federal preservation officer at the Postal Service 

19 shall be consulted in any decision with respect to the sale 

20 or lease of any historic postal facility or any historic art 

21 at such facility. 

22 ‘‘(c) LIST OF HISTORIC POSTAL FACILITIES; BUDG23 ET.—The Postmaster General shall maintain— 

24 ‘‘(1) a list of historic postal facilities and pub25 lish such list on the Postal Service Web site; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) a separate preservation budget to track ob2 ligations and expenditures by the Postal Service with 

3 respect to historic preservation activities. 

4 ‘‘(d) NEW DEAL ART.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal preservation 

6 officer at the Postal Service shall promptly notify 

7 the National Museum of American Art in any in8 stance where New Deal art owned by the Postal 

9 Service is loaned or relocated. 

10 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF POLICIES.—The Post11 master General shall make all Postal Service policies 

12 relating to historic preservation and New Deal art 

13 available to the public. 

14 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

15 ‘‘(1) the term ‘historic postal facility’ means 

16 any postal facility listed, or eligible to be listed, in 

17 the National Register of Historic Places; and 

18 ‘‘(2) the term ‘New Deal art’ means any work 

19 of art located at a postal facility that— 

20 ‘‘(A) was commissioned by the Federal 

21 Government between 1933 and 1936; and 

22 ‘‘(B) is owned by the Postal Service.’’. 

23 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

24 for title 39, United States Code, is amended by inserting 


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1 after the item relating to section 416 the following new 

2 item: 

‘‘417. Historic postal facilities.’’. 

3 SECTION 4. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS WITH RESPECT 

4 TO HISTORIC POSTAL FACILITIES. 

5 (a) MORATORIUM ON SALE OF HISTORIC POSTAL FA6 CILITIES.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 

7 the Postmaster General of the United States Postal Serv8 ice may not enter into any agreement to sell a postal facil9 ity that is listed, or eligible to be listed, in the National 

10 Register of Historic Places unless the sale is conducted 

11 pursuant to the procedures established under section 

12 404(d) of title 39, United States Code, as amended by 

13 sections 2 and 3. 

14 (b) APPLICATION OF NATIONAL HISTORIC PRESER15 VATION ACT.—Congress reaffirms that sections 106, 110, 

16 and 111 of the National Historic Preservation Act apply 

17 to the United States Postal Service. 

18 (c) DEVELOPMENT OF POSTAL SERVICE POLICIES

19 AND PROCEDURES WITH RESPECT TO HISTORIC POSTAL

20 FACILITIES.— 

21 (1) MODEL HISTORIC PROPERTY COVENANT.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

23 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 

24 the Postmaster General shall, in consultation 

25 with the Advisory Council on Historic PreservaVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:45 Aug 15, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5377.IH H5377

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1 tion, the National Conference of State Historic 

2 Preservation Officers, and the National Trust 

3 for Historic Preservation, develop a model cov4 enant, to be used and applied with respect to 

5 any historic postal facility offered for sale by 

6 the Postal Service. 

7 (B) COVENANT REQUIREMENTS.—Such 

8 covenant shall provide that— 

9 (i) the purchaser of such a facility 

10 shall allow public access to any historic 

11 artwork located within such facility; 

12 (ii) the Postal Service shall contribute 

13 sufficient funds to the maintenance of any 

14 such artwork; and 

15 (iii) the purchaser of such a facility 

16 shall not demolish the historic postal facil17 ity or alter it in any way that is incompat18 ible with the historic character of such fa19 cility. 

20 (C) COVENANT GUIDANCE.—Not later 

21 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 

22 Act, the Postmaster General shall, in consulta23 tion with the Advisory Council on Historic 

24 Preservation, the National Conference of State 

25 Historic Preservation Officers, and the National 


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1 Trust for Historic Preservation, develop and 

2 implement guidelines with respect to notifying 

3 any private entity of the responsibilities of such 

4 entity under the covenant developed under sub5 section (a), including stewardship requirements 

6 and any pertinent information on Federal or 

7 State tax incentive programs. 

8 (2) TRAINING.—Not later than 180 days after 

9 the date of enactment of this Act, the Postmaster 

10 General shall, in consultation with the Advisory 

11 Council on Historic Preservation, develop guidance 

12 and training procedures for officers and employees 

13 of the Postal Service on the processes, requirements, 

14 and special considerations with respect to the sale of 

15 any historic postal facility, including— 

16 (A) the application of section 106 of the 

17 National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 

18 470f) to such sale; and 

19 (B) consultation with stakeholders with re20 spect to such sale. 

21 (3) LEASING.—Not later than 1 year after the 

22 date of enactment of this Act, the Postmaster Gen23 eral shall develop and implement a policy with re24 spect to, as an alternative to selling any historical 

25 postal facility, leasing such facility, as permitted 


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1 under section 111 of the National Historic Preserva2 tion Act (16 U.S.C. 470h–3). 

3 (4) REPORT ON USE OF GSA FOR SALE OF

4 PROPERTY.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

5 of enactment of this Act, the Postmaster General 

6 shall publish a report on whether the Postal Service 

7 should use the Office of Real Property Disposal of 

8 the General Services Administration with respect to 

9 selling any historic postal facility. 

10 SEC. 5. PROPOSED POSTAL SERVICE RULE UNDER THE NA11 TIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT. 

12 The proposed rule published by the Postal Service in 

13 the Federal Register on January 13, 2014 (79 Fed. Reg. 

14 2102 et seq.), and any subsequent rule that is substan15 tially the same shall have no force or effect. 

Æ 


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