Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Post Office Community
Partnership Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. PROCEDURES RELATING TO THE PROPOSED CLOS-
ING, CONSOLIDATION, RELOCATION, OR CON-
STRUCTION OF A POST OFFICE.
(a) APPLICABILITY.—Section 404(b) of title 39,
United States Code, is amended by redesignating para-
graphs (2) through (5) as paragraphs (3) through (6), re-
spectively, by striking ‘‘(b)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘(2)’’, and
by inserting before paragraph (2) (as so redesignated) the
following:
‘‘(b)(1) This subsection shall apply in the case of any
proposed closing, consolidation, relocation, or construction
of a post office.’’.
(b) ADVANCE NOTICE.—Paragraph (2) of such sec-
tion 404(b) (as so redesignated) is amended to read as
follows:
‘‘(2)(A) The Postal Service, before making a deter-
mination under subsection (a)(3) as to the necessity for
a proposed action described in paragraph (1), shall, in
order to ensure that local government officials and the
persons who are (or would be) served by the post office
involved will have an opportunity to present their views,
provide adequate notice of its intention to take such action
with respect to such post office at least 60 days before—
‘‘(i) in the case of the proposed construction of
a post office, the date of the determination under
subsection (a)(3); or
‘‘(ii) in the case of an action other than the
proposed construction of a post office, the proposed
date of such action.
‘‘(B) The requirements of this paragraph shall not
be considered met unless the notice—
‘‘(i) has, by the deadline specified in subpara-
graph (A)—
‘‘(I) been hand delivered or delivered by
mail to local government officials and the other
persons required under subparagraph (A); and
‘‘(II) been published once a week for at
least 4 weeks in 1 or more newspapers regularly
issued and of general circulation within the zip
code areas which are (or would be) served by
the post office involved; and
‘‘(ii) includes a description of the action pro-
posed to be taken with respect to the post office in-
volved, a summary of the reasons for the proposed
action, and the date on which such action is pro-
posed to be taken (or, if the construction of a post
office is involved, the proposed timetable therefor).’’.
(c) CONSIDERATIONS.—Paragraph (3) of such sec-
tion 404(b) (as so redesignated) is amended—
(1) in the matter before subparagraph (A), by
striking ‘‘to close or consolidate’’ and inserting ‘‘to
take a proposed action with respect to’’;
(2) by striking ‘‘such closing or consolidation’’
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘such action’’;
(3) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking the
semicolon and inserting ‘‘, taking into account (I)
the extent to which the post office is part of a core
downtown business area (if at all), and (II) the na-
ture and the extent of any opposition within the
community to the proposed action;’’;
(4) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking ‘‘Serv-
ice employed at such office;’’ and inserting ‘‘Serv-
ice;’’;
(5) in subparagraph (A)(iv), by inserting
‘‘quantified long-term’’ before ‘‘economic’’; and
(6) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and’’ at
the end of clause (iv), by redesignating clause (v) as
clause (viii), and by inserting after clause (iv) the
following:
‘‘(v) any views or concerns expressed by
any officials or other representatives of local
government, including whether the proposed ac-
tion is reasonable in light of local population
projections;
‘‘(vi) consistency with the size, scale, de-
sign, and general character of the surrounding
community;
‘‘(vii) whether all reasonable alternatives to
such action have been explored; and’’.
(d) NOTICE OF DETERMINATION.—Paragraph (4) of
such section 404(b) (as so redesignated) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘to close or consolidate’’ and in-
serting ‘‘to take a proposed action (described in
paragraph (1)) with respect to’’;
(2) by striking ‘‘paragraph (2)’’ and inserting
‘‘paragraph (3)’’; and
(3) by striking ‘‘office.’’ and inserting ‘‘office
(including by posting a copy of such determination
in the post office or each post office serving the per-
sons who will be affected by such action) and shall
be transmitted to appropriate local officials.’’.
(e) ADDITIONAL
REQUIREMENTS.—Such section
404(b) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(7) In any case in which a community has promul-
gated any procedures to address the relocation, closing,
consolidation, or construction of buildings in the commu-
nity, and the public participation requirements of those
procedures are more stringent than those provided in this
subsection, the Postal Service shall apply those procedures
to the relocation, closing, consolidation, or construction of
a post office in that community in lieu of applying the
procedures established in this subsection.
‘‘(8) In making a determination to relocate, close,
consolidate, or construct any post office, the Postal Serv-
ice shall comply with any applicable zoning, planning, or
land use laws (including design guidelines, building codes,
and all other provisions of law) to the same extent and
in the same manner as if the Postal Service were not an
establishment of the Government of the United States.
‘‘(9) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to
apply to a temporary customer service facility to be used
by the Postal Service for a period of less than 60 days.
‘‘(10)(A) For purposes of this paragraph the term
‘emergency’ means any occurrence that forces an imme-
diate relocation from an existing facility, including natural
disasters, fire, health and safety factors, and lease termi-
nations.
‘‘(B) If the Postmaster General determines that there
exists an emergency affecting a particular post office, the
Postmaster General may suspend the application of this
subsection, with respect to such post office, for a period
not to exceed 180 days.
‘‘(C) The Postmaster General may exercise the sus-
pension authority under this paragraph with respect to a
post office once for each discrete emergency affecting such
post office.
‘‘(11) The relocation, closing, consolidation, or con-
struction of any post office shall be conducted in accord-
ance with applicable provisions of the National Historic
Preservation Act.’’.
(f) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
Such section 404(b) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (5) (as so redesignated) by
striking ‘‘take no action to close or consolidate’’ and
inserting ‘‘take no action described in paragraph (1)
with respect to’’; and
(2) in paragraph (6) (as so redesignated)—
(A) by striking ‘‘to close or consolidate’’
and inserting ‘‘to take any action described in
paragraph (1) with respect to’’; and
(B) by striking ‘‘paragraph (3)’’ and in-
serting ‘‘paragraph (4)’’.
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