I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 287
To amend chapter 4 of title 39, United States Code, to require the Postal
Service to use a mobile retail unit to provide retail postal services
to an area when the post office for such area is temporarily unable
to provide such services, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2025
Mr. L
ALOTAintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
A BILL
To amend chapter 4 of title 39, United States Code, to
require the Postal Service to use a mobile retail unit
to provide retail postal services to an area when the
post office for such area is temporarily unable to provide
such services, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mobile Post Office Re-4
lief Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. DEPLOYMENT OF MOBILE RETAIL UNITS. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 4 of title 39, United 2
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-3
lowing new section: 4
‘‘§ 417. Deployment of mobile retail units 5
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than three business 6
days after the date on which a postal retail facility be-7
comes a covered postal retail facility, the Postal Service 8
shall station in the geographic area served by the covered 9
postal retail facility a vehicle or mobile facility of the Post-10
al Service that shall provide the services described in sub-11
section (b) to the extent that the covered postal retail facil-12
ity provided such services immediately before temporarily 13
ceasing to provide retail postal services. 14
‘‘(b) R
ETAILPOSTALSERVICES.—The services de-15
scribed in this subsection are the following services not 16
available from the covered postal retail facility: 17
‘‘(1) Retail postal services, including the sale of 18
boxes and other packaging material sold by the 19
Postal Service. 20
‘‘(2) A means for holders of post office boxes at 21
the covered postal facility to receive mail sent to the 22
post office box of such holder. 23
‘‘(3) Providing, accepting, and processing forms 24
necessary for persons to request a change of mailing 25
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address or a temporary halt to the delivery of mail 1
to such person. 2
‘‘(c) D
URATION.—For each covered postal retail facil-3
ity, the Postal Service shall provide the services required 4
under subsection (a) using a vehicle or mobile facility of 5
the Postal Service until the covered postal retail facility 6
ceases to be a covered postal retail facility. 7
‘‘(d) D
EFINITIONS.—In this Act: 8
‘‘(1) C
OVERED POSTAL RETAIL FACILITY .—The 9
term ‘covered postal retail facility’ means a postal 10
retail facility that— 11
‘‘(A) is located not less than half a mile 12
away from all other postal retail facilities; 13
‘‘(B) is temporarily not providing retail 14
postal services; 15
‘‘(C) has not provided such services in the 16
immediately preceding 60-day period; and 17
‘‘(D) in the case of a postal retail facility 18
operated by a contractor, the contractor ceased 19
providing such services at such facility prior to 20
the expiration or termination by the Postal 21
Service of the contract or other agreement 22
under which the contractor was providing such 23
services at such facility. 24
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‘‘(2) POSTAL RETAIL FACILITY .—The term 1
‘postal retail facility’ means a facility, other than a 2
mobile facility— 3
‘‘(A) of the Postal Service providing retail 4
postal services: or 5
‘‘(B) operated by a contractor, at which 6
the contractor provides retail postal services 7
under a contract or other agreement with the 8
Postal Service.’’. 9
(b) A
PPLICABILITY.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided by para-11
graph (2), section 417 of title 39, United States 12
Code, shall apply with respect to each postal retail 13
facility that, as of the date of the enactment of this 14
Act, is a covered postal retail facility in the same 15
manner as if such postal retail facility became a cov-16
ered postal retail facility immediately after the en-17
actment of this Act. 18
(2) D
EADLINE.—For the purposes of applying 19
section 417 of title 39, United States Code, to a cov-20
ered postal retail facility under paragraph (1), the 21
Postal Service shall be deemed to comply with sub-22
section (a) of such section if, not later than 30 days 23
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Post-24
al Service stations in the geographic area served by 25
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the covered postal retail facility a vehicle or mobile 1
facility of the Postal Service providing the services 2
required under such subsection. 3
(3) C
OVERED POSTAL RETAIL FACILITY ; POST-4
AL RETAIL FACILITY.—In this subsection, the terms 5
‘‘covered postal retail facility’’ and ‘‘postal retail fa-6
cility’’ have the meanings given such terms in sec-7
tion 417(d) of title 39, United States Code. 8
(c) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 9
for chapter 4 of title 39, United States Code, is amended 10
by adding at the end the following new item: 11
‘‘417. Deployment of mobile retail units.’’.
Æ
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