I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1861

To amend title 39, United States Code, to provide that the procedures

relating to the closing or consolidation of a post office be extended

to the relocation or construction of a post office, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 16, 2001

Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. ALLEN, Mr.

BALDACCI, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. BORSKI, Mr. BROWN of

Ohio, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. DOYLE, Mr.

ENGLISH, Mr. FILNER, Mr. FRANK, Mr. FROST, Mr. GANSKE, Mr.

GREENWOOD, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HEFLEY, Mr. HINCHEY,

Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. ISAKSON, Mrs. KELLY,

Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KLECZKA, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr.

LATOURETTE, Ms. LEE, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. MASCARA, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York,

Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California,

Mr. MOORE, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PALLONE, Mr.

PETERSON of Pennsylvania, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Ms.

SANCHEZ, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mr. STUPAK, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, and Mr. WOLF) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform

A BILL

To amend title 39, United States Code, to provide that

the procedures relating to the closing or consolidation

of a post office be extended to the relocation or construction of a post office, and for other purposes.
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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 ‘‘Post Office Community

5 Partnership Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. PROCEDURES RELATING TO THE PROPOSED CLOS7 ING, CONSOLIDATION, RELOCATION, OR CON8 STRUCTION OF A POST OFFICE.

9 (a) APPLICABILITY.—Section 404(b) of title 39,

10 United States Code, is amended by redesignating para11 graphs (2) through (5) as paragraphs (3) through (6), re12 spectively, by striking ‘‘(b)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘(2)’’, and

13 by inserting before paragraph (2) (as so redesignated) the

14 following:

15 ‘‘(b)(1) This subsection shall apply in the case of any

16 proposed closing, consolidation, relocation, or construction

17 of a post office.’’.

18 (b) ADVANCE NOTICE.—Paragraph (2) of such sec19 tion 404(b) (as so redesignated) is amended to read as

20 follows:

21 ‘‘(2)(A) The Postal Service, before making a deter22 mination under subsection (a)(3) as to the necessity for

23 a proposed action described in paragraph (1), shall, in

24 order to ensure that local government officials and the

25 persons who are (or would be) served by the post office
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1 involved will have an opportunity to present their views,

2 provide adequate notice of its intention to take such action

3 with respect to such post office at least 60 days before—

4 ‘‘(i) in the case of the proposed construction of

5 a post office, the date of the determination under

6 subsection (a)(3); or

7 ‘‘(ii) in the case of an action other than the

8 proposed construction of a post office, the proposed

9 date of such action.

10 ‘‘(B) The requirements of this paragraph shall not

11 be considered met unless the notice—

12 ‘‘(i) has, by the deadline specified in subpara13 graph (A)—

14 ‘‘(I) been hand delivered or delivered by

15 mail to local government officials and the other

16 persons required under subparagraph (A); and

17 ‘‘(II) been published once a week for at

18 least 4 weeks in 1 or more newspapers regularly

19 issued and of general circulation within the zip

20 code areas which are (or would be) served by

21 the post office involved; and

22 ‘‘(ii) includes a description of the action pro23 posed to be taken with respect to the post office in24 volved, a summary of the reasons for the proposed

25 action, and the date on which such action is pro-
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1 posed to be taken (or, if the construction of a post

2 office is involved, the proposed timetable therefor).’’.

3 (c) CONSIDERATIONS.—Paragraph (3) of such sec4 tion 404(b) (as so redesignated) is amended—

5 (1) in the matter before subparagraph (A), by

6 striking ‘‘to close or consolidate’’ and inserting ‘‘to

7 take a proposed action with respect to’’;

8 (2) by striking ‘‘such closing or consolidation’’

9 each place it appears and inserting ‘‘such action’’;

10 (3) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking the

11 semicolon and inserting ‘‘, taking into account (I)

12 the extent to which the post office is part of a core

13 downtown business area (if at all), and (II) the na14 ture and the extent of any opposition within the

15 community to the proposed action;’’;

16 (4) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking ‘‘Serv17 ice employed at such office;’’ and inserting ‘‘Serv18 ice;’’;

19 (5) in subparagraph (A)(iv), by inserting

20 ‘‘quantified long-term’’ before ‘‘economic’’; and

21 (6) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and’’ at

22 the end of clause (iv), by redesignating clause (v) as

23 clause (viii), and by inserting after clause (iv) the

24 following:
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1 ‘‘(v) any views or concerns expressed by

2 any officials or other representatives of local

3 government, including whether the proposed ac4 tion is reasonable in light of local population

5 projections;

6 ‘‘(vi) consistency with the size, scale, de7 sign, and general character of the surrounding

8 community;

9 ‘‘(vii) whether all reasonable alternatives to

10 such action have been explored; and’’.

11 (d) NOTICE OF DETERMINATION.—Paragraph (4) of

12 such section 404(b) (as so redesignated) is amended—

13 (1) by striking ‘‘to close or consolidate’’ and in14 serting ‘‘to take a proposed action (described in

15 paragraph (1)) with respect to’’;

16 (2) by striking ‘‘paragraph (2)’’ and inserting

17 ‘‘paragraph (3)’’; and

18 (3) by striking ‘‘office.’’ and inserting ‘‘office

19 (including by posting a copy of such determination

20 in the post office or each post office serving the per21 sons who will be affected by such action) and shall

22 be transmitted to appropriate local officials.’’.

23 (e) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—Such section

24 404(b) is amended by adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘(7) In any case in which a community has promul2 gated any procedures to address the relocation, closing,

3 consolidation, or construction of buildings in the commu4 nity, and the public participation requirements of those

5 procedures are more stringent than those provided in this

6 subsection, the Postal Service shall apply those procedures

7 to the relocation, closing, consolidation, or construction of

8 a post office in that community in lieu of applying the

9 procedures established in this subsection.

10 ‘‘(8) In making a determination to relocate, close,

11 consolidate, or construct any post office, the Postal Serv12 ice shall comply with any applicable zoning, planning, or

13 land use laws (including design guidelines, building codes,

14 and all other provisions of law) to the same extent and

15 in the same manner as if the Postal Service were not an

16 establishment of the Government of the United States.

17 ‘‘(9) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to

18 apply to a temporary customer service facility to be used

19 by the Postal Service for a period of less than 60 days.

20 ‘‘(10)(A) For purposes of this paragraph the term

21 ‘emergency’ means any occurrence that forces an imme22 diate relocation from an existing facility, including natural

23 disasters, fire, health and safety factors, and lease termi24 nations.
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1 ‘‘(B) If the Postmaster General determines that there

2 exists an emergency affecting a particular post office, the

3 Postmaster General may suspend the application of this

4 subsection, with respect to such post office, for a period

5 not to exceed 180 days.

6 ‘‘(C) The Postmaster General may exercise the sus7 pension authority under this paragraph with respect to a

8 post office once for each discrete emergency affecting such

9 post office.

10 ‘‘(11) The relocation, closing, consolidation, or con11 struction of any post office shall be conducted in accord12 ance with applicable provisions of the National Historic

13 Preservation Act.’’.

14 (f) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

15 Such section 404(b) is amended—

16 (1) in paragraph (5) (as so redesignated) by

17 striking ‘‘take no action to close or consolidate’’ and

18 inserting ‘‘take no action described in paragraph (1)

19 with respect to’’; and

20 (2) in paragraph (6) (as so redesignated)—

21 (A) by striking ‘‘to close or consolidate’’

22 and inserting ‘‘to take any action described in

23 paragraph (1) with respect to’’; and
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1 (B) by striking ‘‘paragraph (3)’’ and in2 serting ‘‘paragraph (4)’’.

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